New Receptors for signaling bacterial nucleotides

有了这个奖项，生命过程的化学计划是支持教授赫尔曼O。马里兰州大学帕克分校的辛蒂姆说。Sintim教授将开发新的工具来研究控制细菌生物膜形成和发展的分子机制。二核苷酸作为细菌中的第二信使来调节细菌生物膜和毒力因子的产生，但参与二核苷酸信号传导的许多受体尚未被鉴定或完全表征。该提案旨在开发用于鉴定和表征细菌中新核苷酸受体的探针。还将努力开发与第二信使核苷酸强烈缔合以破坏信号传导核苷酸的生物活性的合成分子。这些分子可用于调节生物膜和渗透状态之间的转换。微生物生物膜有时是家庭或工业环境中管道堵塞的原因。此外，在人类或牲畜中形成的生物膜有助于微生物感染的持续性。目前，只有少数无毒化合物可以有效地分散微生物生物膜。因此，对微生物生物膜形成的更多了解的研究可能会导致确定消除生物膜的新策略。该项目更广泛的影响包括增加我们对细菌如何形成生物膜的理解，这可能有助于制定遏制细菌生物膜形成的策略。 关于STEM教育，高中学生和教师，从事该项目的本科生和研究生研究人员将开发多种技能，包括化学，分子生物学和微生物学。该奖项由生物科学（BIO）理事会分子和细胞生物科学（MCB）部门的系统和合成生物学集群共同资助。

With this award, the Chemistry of Life Processes program is supporting the research of Professor Herman O. Sintim of the University of Maryland at College Park. Professor Sintim will develop new tools to study the molecular mechanisms that govern biofilm formation and development in bacteria. Dinucleotides act as second messengers in bacteria to regulate bacterial biofilm and virulence factors production but many receptors that are involved in dinucleotide signaling are yet to be identified or fully characterized. This proposal aims to develop probes for the identification and characterization of new nucleotide receptors in bacteria. Efforts will also be directed towards the development of synthetic molecules that strongly associate with second messenger nucleotides to disrupt the biological activities of the signaling nucleotides. These molecules could be used to modulate the transition between the biofilm and planktonic states.Microbial biofilms are sometimes responsible for the clogging of pipes at homes or industrial settings. Additionally, biofilms that form in humans or livestock contribute to the persistence of microbial infections. Currently there are only a handful of non-toxic compounds that can effectively disperse microbial biofilms. Therefore studies that shed more insights into biofilm formation by microbes could lead to the identification of new strategies to eradicate biofilms. The broader Impacts of this project include increasing our understanding of how bacteria form biofilms, which could be useful for the development of strategies to curb bacterial biofilm formation. With regards to STEM education, high school students and teachers, undergraduate and graduate student researchers who work on this project will develop diverse skill sets, including chemistry, molecular biology and microbiology. This multi-disciplinary experience will prepare such students for diverse careers.This award is co-funded by the Systems and Synthetic Biology Cluster in the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) Division of the Biological Sciences (BIO) Directorate.