Visualizing Flagella While Tracking Bacteria

在这个项目中，PI将结合联合收割机的跟踪和成像技术，以了解鞭毛做什么细胞运行和翻滚。利用目前的技术，PI将能够跟踪细胞，无论是原核细胞还是真核细胞，它们的移动速度甚至比E。大肠杆菌，如果生长在丰富的培养基上，每秒游动近40个直径。该项目的目标之一是比较具有不同数量鞭毛的细胞的奔跑翻滚行为。另一个目标是研究响应调节剂CheY-P浓度恒定的突变体。后面的实验可以证实或排除鞭毛协调是由响应调节剂CheY-P的浓度波动驱动的可能性，已知野生型细胞中发生的波动。此外，PI将可视化鞭毛束中的单丝。细菌运动性对人类健康非常重要，它有助于促进感染，包括那些因生物膜形成而复杂的感染。细菌趋化性是生物学中最好理解的行为系统，对化学感受，信号转导和运动输出的理解足以激发生产性数学建模。PI将建立一个设施，任何生物体的行为可以被描述，学生将参与。PI将利用物理本科生的才能，无论是编程还是跟踪，这将把他们引入这个令人兴奋的跨学科领域。

In this project the PI will combine the tracking and imaging technologies to understand what flagella do as cells run and tumble. Using current technology the PI will be able to track cells, either prokaryotic or eukaryotic, that move even faster than E. coli, which, if grown on a rich medium, swims nearly 40 diameters per second. One of the goals of the project is to compare the run-tumble behavior of cells with different numbers of flagella. Another goal is to study mutants in which the concentration of the response regulator CheY-P is constant. The latter experiments can confirm or rule out the possibility that flagellar coordination is driven by fluctuations in the concentration of the response regulator CheY-P, fluctuations known to occur in wild-type cells. In addition the PI will visualize single filaments in flagellar bundles. Bacterial motility is profoundly important for human health, where it helps promote infections, including those complicated by biofilm formation. Bacterial chemotaxis is the best understood behavioral system in biology, with the understanding of chemoreception, signal transduction, and motor output sufficiently complete to inspire productive mathematical modeling. The PI will establish a facility where the behavior of any organism can be characterized and students will participate. The PI will utilize the talents of physics undergraduates, both for programming and for tracking, which will introduce them to this exciting interdisciplinary field.