SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Communications Faculty of Sciences University of Ankara Series C Biology / 2026 / Volume: 35 Issue: 1

Development of A Machine Learning-Based Predictive Model for Klebsiella pneumoniae Biofilm Formation

Nahlah Alalaqi(KASTAMONU UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE)0000-0002-0551-7629
Ergin Murat Altuner(KASTAMONU UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND LETTERS)0000-0001-5351-8071
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-06-30
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

These findings provide valuable insights into the regulation of K. pneumoniae biofilm formation, which could have practical uses in diverse industrial, medical, and food safety settings.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Klebsiella pneumoniae is a critical Gram-negative pathogen frequently associated with severe hospital-acquired infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and bloodstream infections.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Its increasing multi-drug resistance, particularly to carbapenems, poses a significant global health challenge.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:These findings provide valuable insights into the regulation of K. pneumoniae biofilm formation, which could have practical uses in diverse industrial, medical, and food safety settings.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Klebsiella pneumoniae · Biofilm formation · Machine learning

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a critical Gram-negative pathogen frequently associated with severe hospital-acquired infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and bloodstream infections. Its increasing multi-drug resistance, particularly to carbapenems, poses a significant global health challenge. Biofilm formation is a key virulence factor, allowing K. pneumoniae to persist on medical devices and evade antibiotic treatment. This study aimed to develop a predictive model to quantify the individual and synergistic effects of key environmental factors, namely temperature, pH, glucose and sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations, on K. pneumoniae biofilm formation. To establish the intricate relationships between these environmental parameters and biofilm development, and to construct a robust predictive model, experimental data were analysed using statistical regression and machine learning approaches to construct a predictive model. Among the tested models, XGBoost demonstrated the best predictive performance (R² = 0.6209, Adjusted R² = 0.6209, RMSE = 1.2355, MAE = 0.9384). Feature importance analysis revealed temperature and glucose concentration as the most influential factors, significantly impacting biofilm formation. Partial dependence analysis showed optimal biofilm production was observed at neutral pH and glucose concentrations over 1%, with high temperatures. In addition, high NaCl concentrations significantly stimulated biofilm formation. These findings provide valuable insights into the regulation of K. pneumoniae biofilm formation, which could have practical uses in diverse industrial, medical, and food safety settings.

🔖

Cite This Article

Alalaqi, N., Altuner, E. M. (2026). Development of A Machine Learning-Based Predictive Model for Klebsiella pneumoniae Biofilm Formation. Communications Faculty of Sciences University of Ankara Series C Biology, Volume: 35 Issue: 1. https://doi.org/10.53447/communc.1809445

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (36)

  1. Achinas, S., Charalampogiannis, N., Euverink, G.J.W., A brief recap of microbial adhesion and biofilms. Applied Sciences, 9 (2019), 2801. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9142801
  2. Donlan, R.M., Biofilms: microbial life on surfaces. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 8 (2002), 881-890. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0809.020063
  3. Du Toit, A., Bacterial architects build the biofilm structures. Nature Reviews Microbiology (2024), 187. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01020-6
  4. Dufrêne, Y.F., Viljoen, A., Binding strength of gram-positive bacterial adhesins. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11 (2020), 554551. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01457
  5. Feng, X., Wu, Q., Che, L., Ren, N., Analyzing the inhibitory effect of metabolic uncoupler on bacterial initial attachment and biofilm development and the underlying mechanism. Environmental Research, 185 (2020), 109390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109390
  6. Joseph, R.L., Prosthetic joint infections: Bane of orthopedists, challenge for infectious disease specialists. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 36 (2004), 1157-1161. https://doi.org/10.1086/374554
  7. Roy, R., Tiwari, M., Donelli, G., Tiwari, V., Strategies for combating bacterial biofilms: A focus on anti-biofilm agents and their mechanisms of action. Virulence, 9 (2018), 522-554. https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2017.1313372
  8. Samrot, A.V., Abubakar Mohamed, A., Faradjeva, E., Si Jie, L., Hooi Sze, C., Arif, A., Sean, T.C., Michael, E.N., Mun, C. Y., Qi, N.X., Mok, P.L., Kumar, S.S., Mechanisms and impact of biofilms and targeting of biofilms using bioactive compounds: A review. Medicina, 57 (2021), 839. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina57080839
  9. Markou, G., Georgakakis, D., Cultivation of filamentous cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) in agro-industrial wastes and wastewaters: a review. Applied Energy, 88 (2011), 3389-3401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.12.042
  10. Pan, M., Lyu, T., Zhang, M., Zhang, H., Bi, L., Wang, L., Chen, J., Yao, C., Ali, J., Best, S., Ray, N., Pan, G., Synergistic recapturing of external and internal phosphorus for in situ eutrophication mitigation. Water, 12 (2019), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12010002
  11. Liu, H. Y., Prentice, E. L., Webber, M. A., Mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in biofilms. NPJ Antimicrobials and Resistance, 2 (1) (2024), 27. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44259-024-00046-3
  12. Li, L., Gao, X., Li, M., Liu, Y., Ma, J., Wang, X., Yu, Z., Cheng, W., Zhang, W., Sun, H., Song, X., Relationship between biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae and updates on antibiofilm therapeutic strategies. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 14 (2024), 1324895. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2024.1324895
  13. Guerra, M.E.S., Destro, G., Vieira, B., Lima, A.S., Ferraz, L.F.C., Hakansson, A.P., Darrieux, M., Converso, T.R., Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilms and their role in disease pathogenesis. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 12 (2022), 877995. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2022.877995
  14. Khalefa, H.S., Arafa, A.A., Hamza, D., El-Razik, K.A.A., Ahmed, Z., Emerging biofilm formation and disinfectant susceptibility of ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. Scientific Reports, 15 (1) (2025), 1599. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84149-x
  15. Rahdar, H.A., Malekabad, E.S., Dadashi, A.R., Takei, E., Keikha, M., Kazemian, H., Karami-Zarandi, M., Correlation between biofilm formation and carbapenem resistance among clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences, 29 (6) (2019). https://doi.org/10.4314/ejhs.v29i6.11
  16. Al-Bayati, M., Samarasinghe, S., Biofilm and gene expression characteristics of the carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales, Escherichia coli IMP, and Klebsiella pneumoniae NDM-1 associated with common bacterial infections. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (8) (2022), 4788. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084788
  17. Sooriyakumar, P., Bolan, N., Kumar, M., Singh, L., Yu, Y., Li, Y., Weralupitiya, C., Vithanage, M., Ramanayaka, S., Sarkar, B., Wang, F., Gleeson, D.B., Zhang, D., Kirkham, M.B., Rinklebe, J., Siddique, K.H.M., Biofilm formation and its implications on the properties and fate of microplastics in aquatic environments: a review. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances, 6 (2022), 100077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hazadv.2022.100077
  18. Pan, Y., Breidt Jr, F., Gorski, L., Synergistic effects of sodium chloride, glucose, and temperature on biofilm formation by Listeria monocytogenes serotype 1/2a and 4b strains. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76 (5) (2010), 1433-1441. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02185-09
  19. Silva, V., Pereira, J.E., Maltez, L., Poeta, P., Igrejas, G., Influence of environmental factors on biofilm formation of Staphylococci isolated from wastewater and surface water. Pathogens, 11 (10) (2022), 1069. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11101069
  20. Zurnacı, M., Şenturan, M., Şener, N., Gür, M., Altınöz, E., Şener, İ., Altuner, E.M., Studies on antimicrobial, antibiofilm, efflux pump inhibiting, and ADMET properties of newly synthesised 1, 3, 4‐thiadiazole derivatives. ChemistrySelect, 6 (45) (2021), 12571-12581. https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202103214
  21. R Core Team. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/. (accessed 2025).
  22. Chen, T., Guestrin, C., Xgboost: A scalable tree boosting system. In Proceedings of the 22nd acm sigkdd international conference on knowledge discovery and data mining, (2016), 785-794. https://doi.org/10.1145/2939672.2939785
  23. Singh, A.K., Yadav, S., Chauhan, B.S., Nandy, N., Singh, R., Neogi, K., Roy, J.K., Srikrishna, S., Singh, R.K., Prakash, P., Classification of clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae based on their in vitro biofilm forming capabilities and elucidation of the biofilm matrix chemistry with special reference to the protein content. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10 (2019), 669. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00669
  24. Li, Y., Ni, M., Regulation of biofilm formation in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Frontiers in Microbiology, 14 (2023), 1238482. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1238482
  25. Chen, T., Xu, Y., Xu, W., Liao, W., Xu, C., Zhang, X., Cao, J., Zhou, T., Hypertonic glucose inhibits growth and attenuates virulence factors of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. BMC Microbiology, 20 (1) (2020), 203. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-020-01889-2
  26. Vashchenko, A.O., Voronkova, Y.S., Kulyk, E.E., Snisar, O.S., Sidashenko, O.I., Voronkova, O.S., Influence of sugars on biofilm formation of Staphylococcus epidermidis. Regulatory Mechanisms in Biosystems, 12 (2) (2021), 321-325. https://doi.org/10.15421/022143
  27. Mohammed, S., Hadi, H.M., Hamed, N.A.H.K., Abbas, N.K., The effect of Different concentrations of glucose solution on the growth and biofilm formation of sensitive and resistant Pseudomonas aeroginosa isolates. Kerbala Journal of Pure Sciences, 19 (2) (2022), 140-148.
  28. Ramakrishnan, R., Nair, A.V., Parmar, K., Rajmani, R.S., Chakravortty, D., Das, D., Combating biofilm-associated Klebsiella pneumoniae infections using a bovine microbial enzyme. NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes, 10 (1) (2024), 119. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-024-00593-7
  29. Beckman, I.V., R.L., Cella, E., Azarian, T., Rendueles, O., Fleeman, R.M., Diverse polysaccharide production and biofilm formation abilities of clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae. NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes, 10 (1) (2024), 151. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-024-00629-y
  30. Müller, J.U., Schwabe, M., Swiatek, L.S., Heiden, S.E., Schlüter, R., Sittner, M., Bohnert, J.A., Becker, K., Idelevich, E.A., Guenther, S., Schaufler, K., Temperatures above 37° C increase virulence of a convergent Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 307 strain. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 14 (2024), 1411286. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2024.1411286
  31. Gual-de-Torrella, A., Delgado-Valverde, M., Perez-Palacios, P., Oteo-Iglesias, J., Rojo-Molinero, E., Macià, M.D., Oliver, A., Pascual, A., Fernandez-Cuenca, F., Prevalence of the fimbrial operon mrkABCD, mrkA expression, biofilm formation and effect of biocides on biofilm formation in carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates belonging or not belonging to high-risk clones. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 60 (4) (2022), 106663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2022.106663
  32. Herrera-Espejo, S., Domínguez-Miranda, J.L., Rodríguez-Mogollo, J.I., Pachón, J., Cordero, E., Pachón-Ibáñez, M.E., Effects of pH on the pathogenicity of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae on the kidney: In vitro and in vivo studies. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 25 (14) (2024), 7925. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25147925
  33. Jastaniah, S.D., Jamal, T.Y., Amashah, R.H., Aly, M.M., New strategies for inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes and Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm formation and persistence. Journal of Contemporary Medical Sciences, 8 (6) (2022), 400-407. https://doi.org/10.22317/jcms.v8i6.1302
  34. Monsi, T.P., Giami, L.K., Ganabel, C.B., Modulation of virulent factors in Klebsiella pneumoniae exposed to different hydrogen ion concentrations. Microbiology Archives, an International Journal, 6 (2) (2024), 27-32. https://doi.org/10.51470/MA.2024.6.2.27
  35. Murugavel, A., Gunasekaran, S., Ramakrishnan, J., Elucidating the effect of cations on Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm and related genes. bioRxiv, (2024), 2024-01. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.24.577145
  36. Mirkar, K., Rawat, A., Satish, R., Effect of environmental factors on biofilm formation. Indian Journal of Life Sciences, 5 (2) (2016), 53-64.