RUI: Interfacial Chemistry of the Bacterial Predator Bdellovibrio

西方学院的Eileen Spain教授和Mt Holyoke学院的Megan Nunez教授正在一个由分析和表面化学项目支持的项目中合作，应用物理方法研究细菌的生物膜。特别地，目标是研究捕食者细菌Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus与革兰氏阴性猎物细菌的生物膜相互作用的机制。这项工作解决了三个挑战：在攻击和感染期间测量猎物细胞表面的化学/物理变化，了解蛭弧菌如何识别大肠杆菌猎物细胞，并重新检查猎物分子在蛭弧菌膜上的摄取。构建荧光标记的DNA序列将被喂给蛭形弧菌，以确定摄取偏好。方法包括原子力显微镜、Langmuir-Blodgett技术、标记技术、分子生物学、基因工程和其他显微镜技术。这个项目将有助于我们了解生物膜中捕食者-猎物相互作用的分子基础。更详细地了解蛭弧菌的生命周期可以在生态学、医学、工业和生物防御等方面开辟新的应用。该项目使本科生研究人员接触到许多高度相关、互补的问题，并采用了一种涉及生物化学、物理化学、微生物学和纳米科学的原创跨学科方法。

Professors Eileen Spain of Occidental College and Megan Nunez of Mt. Holyoke College are collaborating in a project supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program to apply physical methods to study biofilms from bacteria. In particular, the goal is to investigate the mechanisms by which the predator bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus interacts with biofilms of Gram-negative prey bacteria. The work addresses three challenges: measuring chemical/physical changes in prey cell surfaces during attack and infection, understanding how Bdellovibrio recognize E. coli prey cells and re-examining the uptake of prey molecules across the Bdellovibrio membrane. Constructed fluorescently-labeled DNA sequences will be fed to the Bdellovibrio to determine uptake preferences. Approaches include atomic force microscopy, the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, labeling techniques, molecular biology, genetical engineering, and other microscopy techniques.This project will contribute to our understanding of the molecular bases of predator-prey interactions in biofilms. A more detailed understanding of the Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus life cycle could open new applications in, for example, ecology, medicine, industry and bio-defense. The project exposes undergraduate researchers to a number of highly relevant, complementary issues and uses an original cross-discipline approach involving biochemistry, physical chemistry, microbiology and nanosciences.