March 12, 2014
Tiny Conspiracies:
Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria
Bonnie Bassler
Squibb Professor and Chair,
Department Of Molecular Biology, Princeton
Tiny Conspiracies:
Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria
Bonnie Bassler
Squibb Professor and Chair,
Department Of Molecular Biology, Princeton
Minutes of the 21st Meeting of the 72nd Year
Pesident, Ruth Miller, called the 21st meeting of the 72nd year to order at 10:16 AM. John Edward led the invocation. Jared Kieling read the minutes of the previous meeting. Guest and introducers were: Hitesh Patel and Gordon Douglas [Patricia Taylor], Todd Peyton, [Ted Bromley] and Ellen James [Lanny Jones]. Attendence was 87. The next meeting will be held at the Fields Center on March 19th and the speaker will be Landon Jones whose topic is “Celebrity Culture.”
Scott McVay introduced the speaker, Bonnie Bassler who is Squibb Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. She grew up in California, received her college degree at UC Davis in biochemistry, and PhD in biochemistry at Johns Hopkins. She has been at Princeton University for 20 years and has received a prestigious McArthur fellowship.
Bonnie Bassler was a very energetic and enthusiastic speaker who was glad to speak before a different demographic group. She wanted to show us how bacteria can talk. Bacteria are single cell organisms covered with a membrane and filled with a gelatinous cytoplasm. The human body has a trillion cells and contains about ten trillion bacteria. We would not be alive if we did not have these bacteria. Some are harmful such as those that produce Lyme disease and cholera. Others are helpful to digest food, make vitamin K and improve our immune system.
She started working with squid that sleep in the sand during the day to protect themselves from preditors. At night the squid comes out to obtain food and have a symbiosis with a bacteria, Vibrio fisheri. This bacertia is carried on the underside of the squid and produces bioluminescence to create light that prevents shadows being formed by the stars and moon. The absence of shadows protects the squid from its preditors. The Vibrio fisheri produces a protein that is pumped out and is received by a receptor cell. When the receptor cells reach a critical mass they give off bioluminescenc simultaneously. The squid pumps out the vibrio cells at the end of each night. During the day they reproduce so that at night they reach a critical number that results in the production of light when it is needed for the squid to survive.
Pseudomonus augunosis is a bacteria that people with cystic fibrosis cannot clear from their lungs. The bacteria secretes a film in the lungs and produces toxins to destroy lung tissue. The toxin is released only when many bacteria can secrete the toxin together and not have the toxin destroyed by the immune system. This effective behavior occurs when large number of similar bacteria act in synchrony. This is called intrabacterial quarum sensing.
Another bacteria studied was Vibrio harveyi, a cousin of Vibrio fisheri that also gives off bioluminescence. Two molecules are needed to tell the cells to make light. Signal 1 is an intramolecular signal and the second molecule is signal 2 and called lux S gene. Both molecules, are needed to make light. The second molecule, an intermolecular signal, is made by all bacteria to create a universal communication molecule. Bacteria are thus bilingual with intra and interspecies molecules.
The next step is to create a molecule that is similar to the intraspecies protein that is received by the receptor cell. An addition is attached to its tail so that it is different and cannot communicate with the receptor cell. This was done with Vibrio harveyi resulting in blocking the production of bioluminescence. A mouse model of cystic fibrosis was studied and a compound blocking the hormone from entering the inducer cell resulted in the survival of the mouse by preventing the production of virulent toxins. An addition to the tail of an interspecies molecule, theoretically, could become an antibiotic that could treat most bacterial infections
The molecules need to be made safe and more potent before humans can be subjected to the experiments. We need to make bad bacteria stop talking and good bacteria to talk more to improve the immune system. At the conclusion of her talk she commented that people who make most discoveries are 20 to 30 years old and are young and creative.
In the question and answer period Dr. Bassler stated that she selected people who are smart, hard workers, worked well in groups and most important are honest. Use of antibiotics in agriculture is a problem as antibiotic resistant bacteria are created. This is an increasing problem in treating infections in humans. Primitive societies have a much more diverse type of bacteria but the quantity are identical. Changes in gut bacteria are associated with various pathological conditions and perhaps a magic bacterial cocktail could be used to make you well. Her last advice was not to save or clip a lock of hair from a newborn but to save some stool.
Respectively submitted,
Charles G. Clark
Scott McVay introduced the speaker, Bonnie Bassler who is Squibb Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. She grew up in California, received her college degree at UC Davis in biochemistry, and PhD in biochemistry at Johns Hopkins. She has been at Princeton University for 20 years and has received a prestigious McArthur fellowship.
Bonnie Bassler was a very energetic and enthusiastic speaker who was glad to speak before a different demographic group. She wanted to show us how bacteria can talk. Bacteria are single cell organisms covered with a membrane and filled with a gelatinous cytoplasm. The human body has a trillion cells and contains about ten trillion bacteria. We would not be alive if we did not have these bacteria. Some are harmful such as those that produce Lyme disease and cholera. Others are helpful to digest food, make vitamin K and improve our immune system.
She started working with squid that sleep in the sand during the day to protect themselves from preditors. At night the squid comes out to obtain food and have a symbiosis with a bacteria, Vibrio fisheri. This bacertia is carried on the underside of the squid and produces bioluminescence to create light that prevents shadows being formed by the stars and moon. The absence of shadows protects the squid from its preditors. The Vibrio fisheri produces a protein that is pumped out and is received by a receptor cell. When the receptor cells reach a critical mass they give off bioluminescenc simultaneously. The squid pumps out the vibrio cells at the end of each night. During the day they reproduce so that at night they reach a critical number that results in the production of light when it is needed for the squid to survive.
Pseudomonus augunosis is a bacteria that people with cystic fibrosis cannot clear from their lungs. The bacteria secretes a film in the lungs and produces toxins to destroy lung tissue. The toxin is released only when many bacteria can secrete the toxin together and not have the toxin destroyed by the immune system. This effective behavior occurs when large number of similar bacteria act in synchrony. This is called intrabacterial quarum sensing.
Another bacteria studied was Vibrio harveyi, a cousin of Vibrio fisheri that also gives off bioluminescence. Two molecules are needed to tell the cells to make light. Signal 1 is an intramolecular signal and the second molecule is signal 2 and called lux S gene. Both molecules, are needed to make light. The second molecule, an intermolecular signal, is made by all bacteria to create a universal communication molecule. Bacteria are thus bilingual with intra and interspecies molecules.
The next step is to create a molecule that is similar to the intraspecies protein that is received by the receptor cell. An addition is attached to its tail so that it is different and cannot communicate with the receptor cell. This was done with Vibrio harveyi resulting in blocking the production of bioluminescence. A mouse model of cystic fibrosis was studied and a compound blocking the hormone from entering the inducer cell resulted in the survival of the mouse by preventing the production of virulent toxins. An addition to the tail of an interspecies molecule, theoretically, could become an antibiotic that could treat most bacterial infections
The molecules need to be made safe and more potent before humans can be subjected to the experiments. We need to make bad bacteria stop talking and good bacteria to talk more to improve the immune system. At the conclusion of her talk she commented that people who make most discoveries are 20 to 30 years old and are young and creative.
In the question and answer period Dr. Bassler stated that she selected people who are smart, hard workers, worked well in groups and most important are honest. Use of antibiotics in agriculture is a problem as antibiotic resistant bacteria are created. This is an increasing problem in treating infections in humans. Primitive societies have a much more diverse type of bacteria but the quantity are identical. Changes in gut bacteria are associated with various pathological conditions and perhaps a magic bacterial cocktail could be used to make you well. Her last advice was not to save or clip a lock of hair from a newborn but to save some stool.
Respectively submitted,
Charles G. Clark