Archaeal biofilms: Composition of extracellular polymeric substances, exopolysaccharide synthesis and transport in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

古菌生物膜：酸热硫化叶菌胞外聚合物的组成、胞外多糖的合成和运输

• 批准号: 393406057
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Oliver Schmitz
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Arbeitsgruppe Aquatische Mikrobiologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/393406057?language=en
• 关键词: Archaeal; biofilms; Composition; extracellular; polymeric

Biofilms represent the common mode of life for the vast majority of microorganisms on earth. Biofilms formed by bacteria and eukaryotic microorganisms (fungi, algae) and their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) have been intensively studied. Members of the third domain of life, Archaea, have gained special research interest due to their adaptation to extreme environments. However, there exists comparatively little information on archaeal biofilms. In the current project, Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a thermoacidophilic, aerobic member of the Crenarchaeota, will be used to study archaeal biofilm formation and architecture, EPS composition and the biosynthesis and transport of exopolysaccharides (PS) as the major EPS components. S. acidocaldarius qualifies as a model organism, because the ability to form biofilms was demonstrated, it is easy to grow under laboratory conditions and it is genetically tractable. In the S. acidocaldarius genome a gene cluster with 11 glycosyltransferases and 8 membrane proteins was identified and initial studies with two deletion strains confirmed the predicted function of the encoded proteins in PS synthesis and transport. The aim is to combine state of the art techniques for biofilm characterisation, EPS analysis and a mutational/biochemical approach to unravel PS synthesis and transport and changes of EPS composition in response to environmental conditions. This project will provide new insights into composition and formation of archaeal biofilms as well as new extremozymes (GTs) of biotechnological interest.

生物膜代表了地球上绝大多数微生物的共同生活模式。细菌和真核微生物（真菌、藻类）形成的生物膜及其胞外聚合物（EPS）已被广泛研究。第三个生命领域的成员-海洋生物，因其对极端环境的适应而获得了特殊的研究兴趣。然而，关于古细菌生物膜的信息相对较少。在本项目中，嗜酸热硫化叶菌，嗜热嗜酸，好氧成员的Crenarchaeota，将被用来研究古生物膜的形成和架构，EPS组成和胞外多糖（PS）的生物合成和运输的主要EPS组分。S.热酸菌有资格作为模式生物，因为已证明其具有形成生物膜的能力，它易于在实验室条件下生长，并且在遗传上易于处理。在S.鉴定了嗜酸热菌基因组中含有11种糖基转移酶和8种膜蛋白的基因簇，并对两种缺失菌株进行了初步研究，证实了编码蛋白在PS合成和转运中的预测功能。目的是结合联合收割机最先进的技术，生物膜表征，EPS分析和突变/生物化学方法，以解开PS合成和运输和EPS组成的变化，以响应环境条件。该项目将为古细菌生物膜的组成和形成以及生物技术感兴趣的新极端酶（GT）提供新的见解。