RUI: Light-controlled Morphogenesis in Early Development of Myxobacteria

许多生物体主要通过被称为光感受器的一大家族蛋白质来感知和响应光。这项本科院校研究提案将通过解决光感受器在独特微生物中的作用，为生物系统中的基本光诱导机制提供见解，粘细菌以不同寻常的光控子实体形态发生而闻名。该项目将促进对微生物光感知和光感受器进化的理解，吸引本科生和硕士水平的学生（包括科学界代表性不足的群体成员）参与微生物遗传学，光谱学和结构生物学的跨学科研究。该项目解决了被称为细菌色素的红光光感受器在非光合作用的粘杆菌和镰刀囊杆菌在饥饿条件下形成子实体中的生理作用。红蓝光对子实体有明显的刺激作用，但这些物种基因组中编码的细菌色素在控制形态发生中的确切作用尚不清楚。该项目将通过粘菌遗传学、高通量RNA序列分析、时间分辨光谱和x射线晶体学对细菌色素结构的阐明等综合研究来研究细菌色素的作用。

Many living organisms sense and respond to light, primarily through a large family of proteins known as photoreceptors. This Research in Undergraduate Institutions proposal will provide insights into fundamental, light-induced mechanisms in biological systems by addressing the role of photoreceptors in unique microorganisms, the myxobacteria, which are distinguished by unusual light-controlled morphogenesis of fruiting bodies. This project will advance the understanding of microbial light perception and the evolution of photoreceptors, engaging undergraduate and Master's level students (including members of groups under-represented in science) in interdisciplinary research in microbial genetics, spectroscopy and structural biology.This project addresses the physiological role of red-light photoreceptors known as bacteriophytochromes in the non-photosynthetic myxobacteria Stigmatella aurantiaca and Cystobacter fuscus which form fruiting bodies under starvation conditions. Fruiting bodies are markedly stimulated by red and blue light but the exact role of the bacteriophytochromes that are encoded in the genomes of these species in controlling morphogenesis is unknown. This project will investigate the role of bacteriophytochromes through integrated studies of myxobacterial genetics, high-throughput RNA sequence analysis, time-resolved spectroscopy, and elucidation of bacteriophytochrome structures by X-ray crystallography.