Abh regulation of biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis

生物膜可以定义为生活在一起的细菌群落。在生物膜中，细菌附着在表面，并将自己包裹在糖和蛋白质的保护层中。可以发现生物膜的常见例子包括牙菌斑、心内膜炎（心脏瓣膜的慢性感染）和导管感染。生活在生物膜中的细菌很难在人体中治疗，因为它们对许多抗生素和其他抗菌剂具有高度耐药性。似乎生活在一个生物膜“俱乐部”里的细菌会聚集在一起，互相保护。我们感兴趣的是了解细菌如何协调并聚集在一起形成生物膜。有关这一过程的信息应该有助于我们理解细菌在一个群体中相互联系的机制。我们用一种叫做枯草芽孢杆菌的细菌来研究生物膜的形成过程。这种细菌通常被用作理解细菌中基因调控和表达的基本过程的模型，从中可以得出关于所使用的调控机制的基本原理并应用于其他细菌。在我们的研究中，一种无法形成成熟生物膜的枯草芽孢杆菌突变株将被利用。该菌株在生物膜形成初期可以附着在表面，但不能发育成成熟的生物膜结构。我们计划通过确定突变体中缺少哪些对生物膜形成至关重要的成分来研究突变体在形成生物膜方面存在缺陷的原因。我们将在单细胞和种群水平上观察生物膜群落中细菌的行为，以便能够全面了解从浮游细胞到生物膜过渡过程中的调节过程。了解枯草芽孢杆菌如何形成生物膜可以帮助我们了解其他医学上重要的细菌如何形成生物膜，以帮助预防或根除生物膜感染的长期目标。

A biofilm can be defined as a community of bacteria that live together. In a biofilm bacteria adhere to a surface and coat themselves in a protective layer of sugars and proteins. Common examples of where biofilms can be found include dental plaque, endocarditis, which is a chronic infection of a heart valve, and catheter infections. Bacteria living in biofilms are difficult to treat in humans as they are highly resistant to many antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. It appears that bacteria living in a biofilm 'club' together and protect each other. We are interested in understanding how bacteria coordinate and come together to form a biofilm. Information about this process should help us to understand the mechanisms that bacteria use to associate together in a community. We study the process of biofilm formation using a bacterium called Bacillus subtilis. This bacterium is commonly used as a model to understand basic processes regarding gene regulation and expression in bacteria from which fundamental principles about the regulatory mechanisms used can be drawn and applied to other bacteria. In our study a mutant strain of B. subtilis that is unable to form mature biofilms that recently been identified will be utilised. This strain can attach to a surface at the beginning stages of biofilm formation but cannot develop properly into a mature biofilm structure. We plan to investigate why the mutant is defective in forming biofilms by identifying which components are missing from the mutant that are essential for biofilm formation. We will look at the behaviour of the bacteria in the biofilm community at both the single-cell and population level in order to be able to generate a full picture of the regulation during the transition process from planktonic cells to a biofilm. Understanding how biofilms are formed by B. subtilis could help us to understand how other medically important bacteria form biofilms with the long-term goal of helping to prevent or eradicate biofilm infections.