ICOB: Intercellular Communication Underlying Biofilm Development in Cyanobacteria

蓝藻通常与称为生物膜的微生物组合有关，可导致工业表面的污染，但也可以是有益的，例如在水净化过程中。尽管蓝藻生物膜的环境流行和经济后果，这些结构形成的分子机制很少受到关注。目前的建议使用分子遗传学和复杂的分子和化学技术来了解模式蓝藻长聚球菌生物膜形成的调控。最近的数据表明，该项目将表征一种生物膜形成的分泌抑制剂，确定感知抑制剂的机制，并确定长形葡萄产生生物膜的途径。了解这种天然生物膜抑制系统将有助于设计策略，以尽量减少有害生物膜的损害，并引发有益的蓝藻生物膜的形成。该项目将对来自美国和以色列实验室的学生进行微生物学、深度测序和尖端成像技术方面的培训。该项目将产生遗传工具和菌株，这些工具和菌株将提供给研究界，并且从这项工作中产生的任何有用的知识产权都将公开用于商业化。作为ICOB项目的一部分，它还将与以色列建立国际研究合作。

Cyanobacteria are often associated with microbial assemblages called biofilms that can cause fouling of industrial surfaces, but can also be beneficial, e.g., in water purification processes. Despite the environmental prevalence and economic consequences of cyanobacterial biofilms, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation of these structures have received little attention. The current proposal uses molecular genetics and sophisticated molecular and chemical techniques to understand the regulation of biofilm formation in the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus. Recent data suggest that the project will characterize a secreted inhibitor of biofilm formation, identify mechanisms of sensing the inhibitor, and determine the pathways for producing a biofilm in S. elongatus. Understanding this natural biofilm-inhibition system will be useful in designing strategies to minimize damage from detrimental biofilms and to elicit the formation of beneficial cyanobacterial biofilms. The project will train students from US and Israeli labs in microbiology, deep sequencing, and cutting-edge imaging technologies. The project will generate genetic tools and strains that will be made available to the research community, and any useful intellectual property that emerges from the work will be disclosed for commercialization. As part of the ICOB program it will also establish international research collaborations with Israel.