Whole Cell Bioluminescent Bacterial Biosensors

Biometric systems are technologies that can scan physiological, chemical or behavioral characteristics of a subject for the sake of verifying or in other words authenticating their

Often scientists work with bacteria that do not come in a labeled test tube— for example, bacterial samples taken from infected human tissue or from the soil—and the scientist must then identify the unknown microorganism in order to understand what behavior to expect from the organism, for example, a certain type of infection or antibiotic resistance. However, because of the relatively few forms of bacteria compared to animals and because of the lack of bacterial fossil records due to their asexually reproductive nature, the taxonomy used to classify animals cannot be applied to bacteria (Brown 275). In order to classify unknown bacteria, a variety of physiological and metabolic tests are available to narrow a sample down from the fathomless number of possibilities into a more manageable range. Once these tests have been performed, the researcher can consult Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, a systematically arranged and continually updated collection of all known bacteria based on their structure, metabolism, and other attributes.

In this lab, the organism that we have been working with is the bacterium, Serratia marcescens. S. marcescens is a member of the Enterobacteriaceae family, and tends to grow in damp environments. S. marcescens is an ideal bacterium to work with in the lab because it reproduces quicker than other bacterium. This bacterium produces a special pigment called prodigiosin, which is red in color. The prodigiosin pigment is intensified when S. marcescens is grown at higher densities. During our experiment, temperature, pH, salinity concentration and oxygen requirements were tested on S. marcescens to measure their optimal growth and prodigiosin production.

Microbial Fuel Cells have a large variety of benefits due to its versatility and choice of fuel.

Introduction: Transformation is used to introduce a gene coding for a foreign protein into bacteria. Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography (HIC) is used to purify the foreign protein. Protein gel electrophoresis is used to check and analyze the pure protein. Research scientists use Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a master or tag to learn about the biology of individual cells and multicultural organisms. This lab introduces a rapid method to purify recombinant GFP using HIC. Once the protein is purified, it may be analyzed using polysaccharide gel electrophoresis (PAGE).

In the past scientist have used the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) in Synthetic Biology to allow the bacterial species to recognise and respond to light frequencies providing greater knowledge of complex biological systems (Levskaya et al. 2005). E. coli is a suitable chassis to express Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as the bacteria’s plasmid helps to establish GFP (Chavshin et al. 2013). The bacterial plasmid is a maltose-binding protein that helps E. coli and GFP fuse together and allows for detection of gene expression and controlling internal environments (Feilmeier et al. 2000). As GFP is a useful biological indicator due to its fluorescent structure (Mazzola et al. 2005) and through the ability of E. coli responding to light, GFP is easily expressed through the process of light stimulation (Lee, J et al. 2013). Through the unique structure and functions found within E. coli, it allows for successful expression of GFP making E. coli a suitable base organism.

Bacterial communication occurs through a well- developed system termed the quorum sensing (QS) system. QS system is the regulation of gene expression in response to fluctuations in cell-population density. Quorum sensing bacteria produce and release chemical signal molecules called autoinducers that increase in concentration as a function of cell density. Cell-cell communication via autoinducers occurs both within and between

(Matthysse et al. 1996) The heat shock protein, E. coli is preserved as both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, however when using the GFP gene, eukaryotes work best. (Lai et al. 2014, Matthysse et al. 1996) The GFP causes the bacteria to glow in the dark, however in order for the fluorescent to happen the gene must be “turned on” in which there must be a presence of a sugar called arabinose. (Sun et al. 2010) The vector, pGLO plasmid, carries the GFP gene and a gene for resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin. The gene resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin is carried by the vector so transformed cell can be screened and by planting cells in ampicillin the only ones that survive by taking up the plasmid will grow and express the GFP gene. Therefore, I hypothesis that in the experiment, the only LB plate that will glow will be the plate labeled +pGLO LB, amp, ara, because it contains all of the necessary components that will activate the GFP gene which will make it

This regulate luminescence by diffusible molecule called autoinducer. The autoinducer comes from N-acylhomoserine actone (AHL), is has been proven that many gram negative bacteria make AHL molecular signals that comes in different lengths and substation in the third position of the acyl side chain. “Figure 7.20 representative cell-cell communication molecules. Pg. 165 7.5 Microbial Growth in Natural Environments.” Breaks it down how bacteria cell-cell communicaties and

Bacteria cells are classified according to their size, shape, the compounds they digest, and in some cases their gram stain. There is some bacterium, that the only differentiating factor is the size of the bacterium. In the case of these bacterium, it is important to be able to identify them to determine their possible effects in their environment. This is especially true in the medical world, with many conditions caused by an influx of infectious bacteria. An accurate identification of the bacteria is required to determine the proper course of treatment.

Bacteria is an organism that can be a nuisance to human beings as well as a necessity. Among biologists and scientists alike, pathogens have been the number one focus, determining the optimal growth conditions that certain bacterial require in order to replicate efficiently. It should be noted that previously, bacterial cells were hard to examine and analyze however, evolutionary advancements in the biological field including the improvement in microscopes, allowed biologists to envelop a better understanding of the physiological properties of these bacterial cells. The experiments conducted are aimed to determine the effectiveness of environmental control including the alteration of pH, osmotic pressure, as well as temperature on specific

Genetic transformation occurs when an organism is modified by the introduction of new genetic information which is then incorporated into the organism’s genome. In this lab, engineered proteins containing DNA to absorb blue light and emit green light were incorporated into E.coli bacteria. The main purpose of this lab was to transform E. coli by forcing it to uptake plasmid containing an ampicillin resistance gene and a green fluorescent protein (GFP) using complementation (adding antibiotic resistance in addition to weed out non-transformed cells). To see the effects of this plasmid on cells, bacteria treated with the plasmid were grown 3 different growth mediums: agar, agar/ampicillin(+), agar/ ampicillin(+)/PTG(+). With the plates prepared,

It also has applications in bio-sensing, where microscopic changes can be recorded through bacteria, without interfering with the surroundings on the macro level. Other uses cited by their article include recording "metabolite fluctuations, gene expression changes, and lineage-associated information across cell populations in difficult-to-study habitats" (Sheth et. al., 2017). The applications of this technology are far reaching, and will help to elucidate many cellular processes if it proves to be reliable.

Halophiles have been commercially significant for centuries, with the earliest recorded case being that of ancient China and Middle East, where reddening of solar salterns as a result of growth of halophilic microorganisms was used as a biomarker of successful salt production (DasSarma et. al 2009). Today the role of halophilic organisms in salt production has evolved to facilitate rapid evaporation of salt crystals due to increased absorbance of light by their red-purple pigments. The purple membrane of the halophilic archaea that enables them to grow phototrophically and carry out phototactic responses contain the light-driven proton pump, bacteriorhodopsin, and sensory rhodopsins. Molecules like bacteriorhodopsin are especially of industrial interest because they are stable over a wide range of temperatures, usually between 0◦C and 45◦C, and pH values, usually between 1 and 11 (Ventosa and Nieto 1995). Moreover, the reactions of bacteriorhodopsin can be manipulated genetically, chemically or immunologically and are self-regenerative. Therefore, the ability of these biomolecules to convert the energy from light to chemical energy in a non-chlorophyll system has various industrial applications. For one, bacteriorhodopsin can be utilized as light sensors and for optical data processing or nonlinear optics. It is currently also being proposed for producing erasable photochromic film (Hampp et. al 1992). Furthermore, bacteriorhodopsin can also be used as a light sensor as they

A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an (today mostly electronic) instrument. We have so many types of sensors in that soil moisture sensor are the one which measures water content present in