Essay On Biofilm Formation

In the effect of light wavelength experiment, the action spectrum is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of various wavelengths of light on photosynthesis. To observe these effects of the wavelengths the wavelength pigments red, blue, green, white light, and no light are used. In the experiment, spinach leave disks were aspirated in a sodium bicarbonate solution in order to remove all internal gases and make the disks sink to the bottom of a beaker. Each beaker full of 10 spinach disks was placed into a different box with a different colored light source.

In this experiment the purpose was to see if E. coli could express a his-6 tagged recombinant Green Fluorescent Protein (rGFP) in a bacterial culture. Purifying the sample through Ni 2+ Agarose Chromatography and then discovering the total protein yield through Bradford Assay determined expression of his6 tagged recombinant rGFP in E. coli. The purity of rGFP in the samples was examined and the strength of the bands that appeared at about 34.0 kDa (the MW of rGFP) in association to the ladder lane of the SDS-PAGE gel. Then a Western Blot was performed for the comparison of rGFP bands to the ladder to reasonably determine the molecular weight of rGFP. It was determined that the purity of the band of E2 was at 80 %, which made the calculated

This project involves analyzing persister cells—slow-growing, multi-drug tolerant populations of bacteria—to expand the current knowledge of the formation and persistence of chronic biofilm infections associated with total joint arthroplasties (TJAs). Currently, popular bone cements—poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) spacers and calcium sulfate (CaSO4) beads—are impregnated with antibiotics, and placed at the surgical site to kill these primary infections. It is known that antibiotics such as tobramycin and vancomycin inhibit the metabolic activity of in vitro lawn biofilms of these clinical species. However, persister cells slowly arise after long-term, local antibiotic elution at levels well above measured minimum inhibitory

The genetic and molecular basis of biofilm formation in staphylococci is multifaceted. The disease occurs predominantly in children but can occur in anyone. Before antibiotics were available, about 80% of people with S. The enterotoxins and TSST-1 are associated with toxic shock syndrome. Skin infections and superficial infections, in general, are readily cured with antibiotics. Previous Next:

c-di-GMP is a secondary messenger which plays a vital role in the regulation of motility, virulence, biofilm formation and cell development of micro-organisms1-8. The number of genes involved in the c-di-GMP signaling pathway, the lack of knowledge about the signal that drives the pathway and the lack of complete information from a single organism are the current challenges. Most of the information is from gram-negative organisms, whereas the information about this molecule in gram-positive organisms is very limited. The role of c-di-GMP in gram-positive organisms is currently being investigated and several recent reports indicates its role in regulatory processes7, 9-16. The existence of c-di-GMP in the Gram-positive model organism B. subtilis has been reported recently17.

As the transition to the pseudohyphal growth phase occurs, production of an extracellular matrix begins and continues as the biofilm matures. This matrix is composed primarily of carbohydrates, which differs from the protein-rich matrix of the C. albicans biofilm. As the biofilm grows, non-adherent yeast cells are released from the biofilm and into the surrounding medium to facilitate the spread of infection.(89) Transcription factor Bcr1 is the major regulator of biofilm formation in C. parapsilosis, as in C. albicans, and is required for proper biofilm formation. Bcr1 functions as regulator of several cell wall and adhesion target genes, and at least some targets are conserved in C. parapsilosis.(90,

coli and other gram negative bacteria also employed this mechanism to play other roles in pathogenicity of bacteria such as colonization, infection, and the persistence of microorganisms in the host. The antibiotic resistance gene cluster mechanism we found in S. aureus strains have been investigated in Vibrio cholerae O139 and O1 SXT by Hochhut et al. [34] and other bacteria pathogens.

There is so much bacteria and so many bacterial cells everywhere. Bacteria is a helpful or a harmful type of cell. Bacteria is a unicellular organism which means it only has one cell. Bacteria can live in many areas and climates it can live in cold climates and hot climates. Also, bacteria makes up millions of items such as, food and vitamins. The amount of bacteria in the mouth will determine if a dog or a human’s mouth is cleaner.

The plasmid was then inserted into a strain of E. coli and grown. After incubation the E. coli strain was found to fluoresce upon illumination with UV light inside of the growing cell, without the addition of A. victoria products (figure 1). Partially purified GFP protein from the bacteria was then obtained and found to posses an identical excitation and emission spectrum to the original A. victoria GFP, as seen in figure 2. This result suggested that GFP did not require additional enzymes/cofactors from A. victoria to fluoresce. Chalfie, using the same technique for GFP insertion in E. coli, inserted the gene into C. elegans under the control of the mec-7 gene, which encodes β-tubulin in C. elegans’ six touch receptors. The GFP again fluoresced when exposed to blue light, but this time the fluorescence was limited to the β-tubulin transcribed by the mec-7 gene, as seen in figure 3. Martin Chalfie, from the results obtained during his experiments was able to conclude that GFP isolated from A. victoria could fluoresce in living cells when exposed to blue light, without cofactors or enzymes form A. victoria. He also showed that gene expression could be traced using GFP, by measuring different fluorescence levels in C. elegans larvae as they

A fully formed biofilm now allows the individual bacterial cells to communicate with each other via quorum sensing. This activity helps cells pass information about their neighbors and surrounding environment to one

Often in prokaryotes like bacteria, they contain plasmids which are small double stranded rings of extra DNA. Most of these plasmids contain a small amount of genes which replicated by themselves rather than with the DNA in the cell. These plasmids could be beneficial or a detrimental to the bacteria. For the beneficial side, plasmids contain products for toxins that can go on to make their host immune to that of the toxin along with many infectious diseases have been cured by plasmids as antibiotic resistances. The world today has seen an increase in antibiotic resistance and due to this there is an increase in the amount of antibiotic genes in bacterial populations. When an antibiotic is present in a bacterial cell, they will have an advantage when compared to other bacteria that do not contain the antibiotic which will help them survive better in their respective environments.

This lab experiment serves as a model for community succession using bacterial colonies as the model. A bacterial colony grows from a single bacterium and is composed of millions of cells. Each colony has distinctive colony morphology: size, shape, color, consistency, and color. Community succession is a phenomenon observed in the organizational hierarchy of all living organisms. Community succession is not limited to bacterial colonies, but spans the entire community of life. As the community grows, it changes the environment it inhabits, and the resulting community is different than at the start. As community succession occurs in bacterial colonies pH, odor, color, and consistency changes take place. In this

The bacterial cell-to-cell communication process is referred to as quorum sensing (QS). Pheromones that act as cell-to-cell communicators are also called autoinducers (AIs), as they function to stimulate their own synthesis (Williams, Winzer, Chan, & Camara, 2007). AIs are produced and are continually released by bacteria at relatively low levels. The production, detection, and response of bacterial populations are determined by the concentration of the AIs. As binary fission occurs and the bacterial population density increases, there is an increase in the relative concentration of AIs in the nearby environment. As receptors bind to the AI, a quorum sensing circuit is initiated, and bacteria collectively alter gene expression for processes that benefit from collaborative action, such as: bioluminescence, sporulation, competence, biofilm adherence and formation, antibiotic

Bacteria regulate their population gene expression by cell-to-cell communication through a process known as quorum sensing, a ‘collective sensing’ of molecules that are emitted in the environment, leading to a collective response (Popat et al., 2015). Quorum sensing is widely used to control various biological processes for their survival, usually those that are unproductive in an individual cell (Lixa et al., 2015). Depending on the biological process the bacteria regulates, quorum sensing undergoes different mechanisms and tight regulatory circuits to communicate with each other and transmit signals.

Quorum sensing, or cell to cell communication, is an occurrence that is very widespread amongst pathogenic bacteria which infect the human population. With increased development of bacterial resistance against antibiotics, scientists have taken an anti-bacterial approach to manipulate quorum sensing and impede cell growth and communication. Quorum sensing can be seen in E.coli reporter stains when applying N-acyl-homoserine, also known as AHL, which E.coli cannot otherwise produce. This experiment makes E.coli ideal candidates for experimentation. The E.coli reporter strain has fluorescence abilities which allows us to assess quorum sensing inhibitory activity. Understanding quorum sensing is important in identifying and developing molecules that have the potential to block bacterial biofilm.