Quantitative AFM Investigations of Adhesion of a Planktonic Bacterial Predator to Biofilm Prey

项目摘要 细菌在包括人体组织在内的表面上定居，因为它们是复杂的和结构化的。 称为生物膜。因此，细菌生物膜影响人类健康。一些 生物膜是致病性的，并且因为生物膜中的细菌可以是表型的， 它们的代谢与它们的无张力的、自由游动的表亲不同，它们很难 用常规方法控制或根除。因此，持续的慢性感染， 生物膜代表了一个严重的问题，其特征在于约三分之二的感染通过 发达国家的医生（Costerton JW，Stewart PS，Greenberg EP.细菌生物膜： 持续感染的常见原因。科学1999; 284：1318 - 1322）。细菌 捕食者噬菌蛭弧菌已被证明能强烈地消耗细菌生物膜， 因此有希望作为潜在的生物膜控制剂。然而，关键是要了解， 捕食者如何在分子水平上区分猎物和非猎物细胞。从B开始。 噬菌菌对真核生物无害，并且是人类微生物组的成员， 由这些实验产生的特定和一般的生物化学知识可能导致新的， 控制革兰氏阴性细菌生物膜的创新手段。拟议的实验使用 非致病性模式生物，但有近亲引起人类 致病性此外，鉴于没有赋予对B的遗传抗性。食菌动物 自第一篇关于这种细菌捕食者的论文发表以来的53年里， 影响人类健康的抗性和致病菌株（例如，被污染的关节植入物， 囊性纤维化患者肺部的生物膜、皮肤感染）是最相关的 建议的研究成果的应用。

Project Summary Bacteria colonize surfaces, including the tissues of the human body, as complex and structured communities called biofilms. As a result, bacterial biofilms influence human health. Some biofilms are pathogenic, and because the bacteria in biofilms can be phenotypically and metabolically distinct from their planktonic, free-swimming cousins, they can be difficult to control or eradicate using conventional means. As a result, persistent chronic infection from biofilms represents a serious problem that characterizes about two-thirds of infections treated by physicians in the developed world (Costerton JW, Stewart PS, Greenberg EP. Bacterial biofilms: A common cause of persistent infections. Science. 1999;284:1318–1322). The bacterial predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus has been shown to consume bacterial biofilms robustly, and thus holds promise as a potential biofilm control agent. However, it is critical to understand at the molecular level how the predator differentiates between prey and non-prey cells. Since B. bacteriovorus is harmless to eukaryotes and is member of the human microbiome, both the specific and general biochemical knowledge produced by these experiments may lead to new, innovative means to control Gram-negative bacterial biofilms. The proposed experiments use model organisms that are nonpathogenic but that have close relatives that cause human pathogenicity. Moreover, given that no conferred genetic resistance to B. bacteriovorus has been found in the 53 years since the first published paper on this bacterial predator, drug- resistant and pathogenic strains affecting human health (e.g., contaminated joint implants, biofilms in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, skin infections) are among the most relevant applications of the proposed research findings.