RUI: Switching Between Single and Social Motility in Bacillus subtilis

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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.