Abstract: Salmonella spp. is a major foodborne pathogen that poses a hazard to global public health. There are ten millions of people suffering from food poisoning caused by Salmonella spp. every year globally. The biofilm adhered to food contact surfaces during food processing is the source of Salmonella cross-contamination. It has a strong resistance to sanitizers used in food processing, which can cause large-scale food poisoning and food recalls. In this review, the exact contributions of fimbriae and flagella together with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) to biofilm formation, and the regulatory mechanisms at the transcriptional level are discussed firstly. Then, this review concentrates on small non-coding small RNA (sRNA), a regulatory factor at the post-transcriptional level, and its regulatory mechanism on the core mRNA pathways including motility and EPS. In addition, the four modes of action of sRNA in regulating Salmonella biofilm formation are summarized. Finally, we conclude with an outlook on the future of this field. We expect that this review can provide a reference for sparking new research ideas, improving the scientific theory of Salmonella biofilm formation, and developing effective control technologies against Salmonella biofilm.

Key words: Salmonella; biofilm; non-coding small RNA; regulatory pathway; mode of action