ICOB: Intercellular Communication Underlying Biofilm Development in Cyanobacteria

蓝藻通常与称为生物膜的微生物组合有关，这种微生物组合会造成工业表面的污染，但也可能是有益的，例如在水净化过程中。尽管蓝藻生物膜的环境普遍性和经济后果，但这些结构形成的分子机制几乎没有受到关注。目前的建议使用分子遗传学和复杂的分子和化学技术来了解模式蓝藻长聚球藻生物膜形成的规律。最近的数据表明，该项目将表征一种分泌的生物被膜形成抑制物，识别感受该抑制物的机制，并确定在长链球菌中产生生物被膜的途径。了解这种天然的生物膜抑制系统将有助于设计策略，将有害生物膜的损害降至最低，并诱导形成有益的蓝藻生物膜。该项目将对美国和以色列实验室的学生进行微生物学、深度测序和尖端成像技术方面的培训。该项目将产生基因工具和菌株，供研究界使用，工作中产生的任何有用的知识产权都将被披露，用于商业化。作为ICOB计划的一部分，它还将与以色列建立国际研究合作。

Cyanobacteria are often associated with microbial assemblages called biofilms that can cause fouling of industrial surfaces, but can also be beneficial, e.g., in water purification processes. Despite the environmental prevalence and economic consequences of cyanobacterial biofilms, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation of these structures have received little attention. The current proposal uses molecular genetics and sophisticated molecular and chemical techniques to understand the regulation of biofilm formation in the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus. Recent data suggest that the project will characterize a secreted inhibitor of biofilm formation, identify mechanisms of sensing the inhibitor, and determine the pathways for producing a biofilm in S. elongatus. Understanding this natural biofilm-inhibition system will be useful in designing strategies to minimize damage from detrimental biofilms and to elicit the formation of beneficial cyanobacterial biofilms. The project will train students from US and Israeli labs in microbiology, deep sequencing, and cutting-edge imaging technologies. The project will generate genetic tools and strains that will be made available to the research community, and any useful intellectual property that emerges from the work will be disclosed for commercialization. As part of the ICOB program it will also establish international research collaborations with Israel.