Characterization of Fluorescence-Based Bacterial Biosensors that are Responsive to Water Stress

响应水分胁迫的基于荧光的细菌生物传感器的表征

• 批准号: 9974059
• 负责人: Gwyn Beattie
• 金额: $ 7万
• 依托单位: Iowa State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-08-01 至 2002-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9974059&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Characterization; Fluorescence; Based; Bacterial; Biosensors

Microbial growth, survival and activity are strongly influenced by environmental conditions. Although the average environmental conditions across a given habitat can be easily measured, the conditions that are actually sensed by bacteria in individual microhabitats are more important to the ecology of the bacteria than the average conditions. Currently, there are few environmental monitoring tools that function on the scale of a microorganism. The goal of this study is to develop a new tool that will allow us to "see a microhabitat from a bacterium's perspective." This tool, called a bacteria] biosensor, is a bacterium that visibly changes when it senses a particular environmental condition. The biosensors that are the focus of this study are bacteria that "glow" or fluoresce when they sense limited water availability. This study will characterize the range of detection and specificity of several water stress-responsive bacterial biosensors that are designed for use on plant leaves. This study will also test whether the operating range of these biosensors is appropriate for evaluating bacterial exposure to limited water availability on plant leaves.Bacteria on plant leaves are exposed to large and frequent changes in environmental conditions, particularly in water availability. Understanding the extent to which these bacteria are limited for water is crucial to identifying the survival strategies bacteria employ on leaves, to identifying the process by which bacteria colonize leaves, and to our general understanding of the ecology of these organisms. This information will contribute to strategies for maximizing the survival of bacteria introduced onto leaves, such as for controlling plant diseases or promoting plant growth. Furthermore, demonstrating the effectiveness of these water-stress responsive bacterial biosensors will lay the foundation for building similar tools to evaluate other microbial habitats, as well as other environmental conditions in the leaf surface habitat.

微生物的生长、存活和活动受环境条件的强烈影响。虽然给定栖息地的平均环境条件可以很容易地测量，但在单个微栖息地中细菌实际感知的条件对细菌的生态比平均条件更重要。目前，很少有环境监测工具在微生物的规模上发挥作用。这项研究的目标是开发一种新的工具，使我们能够“从细菌的角度来看微生境”。“这种工具，称为细菌生物传感器，是一种细菌，当它感知到特定的环境条件时，它会发生明显的变化。生物传感器是这项研究的重点，是细菌，“发光”或荧光时，他们感觉到有限的水的可用性。本研究将描述几种水胁迫响应细菌生物传感器的检测范围和特异性，这些传感器被设计用于植物叶片。这项研究还将测试这些生物传感器的操作范围是否适合于评估植物叶片上的细菌暴露于有限的水供应。植物叶片上的细菌暴露于环境条件的大而频繁的变化，特别是在水供应方面。了解这些细菌对水的限制程度对于确定细菌在叶子上采用的生存策略，确定细菌在叶子上定植的过程以及我们对这些生物生态学的一般理解至关重要。这些信息将有助于最大限度地提高引入叶片的细菌的存活率，例如控制植物疾病或促进植物生长。此外，证明这些水分胁迫响应细菌生物传感器的有效性将为建立类似的工具来评估其他微生物栖息地以及叶表面栖息地的其他环境条件奠定基础。