Harvesting the Photonic Properties of Self-Organising Bacteria Colonies

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The overarching aim of the project is to investigate and utilise the photonic properties of colonies of a novel type of Flavobacterium (strain IR1), which self-assembles into photonic crystals. The strain is a rod-shaped marine bacterium with a diameter of roughly 400nm, that packs in colonies with a tight hexagonal lattice. The colonies appear bright, sparkling green since a part of the visible spectrum is strongly reflected by this organisation. The effect can be described by photonic crystal theory and does not involve pigmentation. In particular we wish to understand:(i) how light scattering relates to the structural organisation (periodicity, regularity) such that we can screen them optically;(ii) how genetic modifications change the optical properties and reveal the important genetic pathways for colouration;(iii) how to fixate the bacterial colonies while retaining their optical properties.We have identified a wide range of methods to reversibly and irreversibly change organisation (and hence colour) of the living colonies through growth conditions and many types of external stimuli. The studentship will use our well-established characterisation methods and knowledge to explore how this bacterial system can be modified towards controlled photonic applications. This will involve a wide range of traditional microbiology tools ranging from screening of growth conditions to DNA genetics via CRISPR.