RUI: Switching Between Single and Social Motility in Bacillus subtilis

RUI：枯草芽孢杆菌的单一运动性和社会运动性之间的切换

• 批准号: 0519482
• 负责人: Leticia Marquez-Magana
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: San Francisco State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0519482&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Switching; Between; Single; Social

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.

该项目的长期目标是确定模型革兰氏阳性菌枯草芽孢杆菌如何决定参与单一或社会运动。本研究的目的是研究鞭毛基因在游泳（单个）和群体（社会）细胞中的差异表达。这项工作的中心假设是，枯草芽孢杆菌染色体中鞭毛基因簇的差异表达使细菌能够精心设计游泳或群体运动。这一假设是基于初步的发现，证明鞭毛基因聚集在枯草芽孢杆菌中，似乎受到不同的调节。了解细菌的社会行为是重要的，因为人们越来越认识到社会行为在自然环境中占主导地位。目前，我们对细菌生理学的了解大多是基于对实验室中生长的单个细胞特性的分析，而不是对它们在自然多细胞群落中的复杂行为的分析。本研究的完成将为枯草芽孢杆菌单细胞和群居行为的分子调控提供基本的科学知识，并将该微生物建立为研究细菌多细胞过程的重要模型。该研究将在一所少数民族服务机构进行，每年将培训6-8名本科生和硕士生，从而促进研究与教育之间的联系，并增加科学劳动力的多样性。