RUI: Switching Between Single and Social Motility in Bacillus subtilis

这个项目的长期目标是确定模式革兰氏阳性有机体枯草芽孢杆菌是如何决定从事单一或社会运动的。本研究的目的是研究鞭毛基因在游动(单个)和群聚(社会)细胞中的差异表达。这项工作的中心假设是，枯草杆菌染色体中鞭毛基因簇的差异表达使细菌能够阐述游泳或集群运动。这一假说是基于初步发现，表明鞭毛基因在枯草杆菌中聚集，似乎受到不同的调控。了解细菌中的社会行为具有重要意义，因为人们越来越多地认识到社会行为在自然环境中占主导地位。目前，关于细菌生理学的大部分知识都是基于对它们在实验室中生长时单个细胞特性的分析，而不是对它们在自然多细胞群落中复杂行为的分析。这项拟议研究的完成将产生关于枯草杆菌单一行为和社会行为的分子控制的基本科学知识，使这种微生物成为研究细菌多细胞过程的重要模型。这项研究将在一个为少数群体服务的机构进行，并在该项目每年培训6-8名本科生和硕士研究生，从而促进研究与教育之间的联系，并增加科学工作者的多样性。

The long-term goal of this project is to determine how the model Gram-positive organism, Bacillus subtilis, decides to engage in single or social motility. The objective of this research is to study the differential expression of flagellar genes in swimming (single) and swarming (social) cells. The central hypothesis for the work is that differential expression of the clusters of flagellar genes in the B. subtilis chromosome enables the bacterium to elaborate either swimming or swarming motility. This hypothesis is based on preliminary findings that demonstrate that flagellar genes are clustered in B. subtilis and appear to be regulated differently. An understanding of social behaviors in bacteria is significant due to the increased recognition that social behaviors prevail in the natural environment. Currently, much of what is known about bacterial physiology is based on analysis of individual cell properties as they grow in the laboratory, instead of the analysis of their sophisticated behaviors in natural multicellular communities. Completion of the proposed research will generate basic scientific knowledge about the molecular control of single and social behaviors in B. subtilis, establishing this microbe as an important model for the study of multicellular processes in bacteria. The research will be undertaken at a minority-serving institution and 6-8 undergraduates and master's students trained in each year of the project, thereby promoting the connection between research and education, as well as increasing the diversity of the scientific workforce.