Claudia Trappetti et al.
The Journal of infectious diseases, 199(10), 1497-1505 (2009-04-28)
The correlation between carbohydrate availability, pneumococcal biofilm formation, nasopharyngeal colonization, and invasion of the host has been investigated. Of a series of sugars, only sialic acid (i.e., N-acetylneuraminic acid) enhanced pneumococcal biofilm formation in vitro, at concentrations similar to those