Biofilm – BioQuakes

Bacteria biofilms are ubiquitous in our world, living in various conditions that allow bacteria to build up, such as sewer pipes or even our own teeth. New studies have shown that bacteria not only have intelligent systems for communication but also have the ability to remember things.

Biofilms are ancient, with evidence of biofilms dating back to 3.25 billion years ago. While they are able to grow on many different surfaces, these surfaces all share a commonality: they’re wet. Biofilms to humans are a cause

of concern regarding our health since biofilms can grow on implanted medical devices, which can lead to infections. Bacterial biofilms can also cause infective endocarditis and pneumonia. Furthermore, bacteria that are within a biofilm are also more resistant to antibiotics and other disinfectants and are considered to be 1,500 times more resistant.

The Grand Prismatic Spring is probably the most popular biofilm, as the various bacteria biofilms give the spring its bright colors.

Biofilms have recently been recognized as an advanced community, with the discovery that biofilm cells are organized in intricate designs that plants and animals have been known to use. Süel, a UC San Diego Professor of Molecular Biology, states that this concept of cell patterning is much more ancient than they once thought. This new discovery opens the possibility that this segmentation of cells may go back to over a billion years, and was not just a new emergence from plants and animals.

As found through experiments and mathematical models, the study revealed that the biofilms involved used a “clock and wavefront mechanism,” which sophisticated organisms such as plants, flies, and humans use. A “wave” of nutrient depletion moves across cells, which dresses a molecular clock inside each cell that creates a pattern of distinct cell types as the biofilm expands and consumes nutrients. This breakthrough identified the circuit that the biofilm’s ability to generate community concentric rings of genetic patterns.

As seen in AP Biology, the formation of a biofilm is an example of Cell Communication. With unicellular organisms, they are able to communicate with each other to signal for the availability of food, identify mating types, or detect others for coordinated behavior. For bacteria, they utilize Quorum Sensing, in which they secrete small molecules that are detected by other bacteria. If they sense the population is close enough to perform group behavior, they will begin to do so.

This new discovery opens many doors to various research fields, due to the fact that biofilms are prevalent in our everyday lives. From medicine to the food industry to the military, these biofilm systems can be used to test and investigate the in-depth aspects of the clock and wavefront mechanism. Plants and vertebrate systems are harder to study, but bacteria aren’t because they “offer more experimentally accessible systems that could provide new insights for the field of development,” Süel states.

Personally, I am very interested in how these studies are going to be used, specifically in a “military” field. Furthermore, do you think there is more groundbreaking information regarding bacteria that can help us put the pieces together for life before humans? Let me know in the comments below and thank you for your time!

Bioengineered Proteins Are Amphibious Adhesives

By whitebloodcell

On September 28, 2014

In Student Post

A group of researchers from MIT recently published their groundbreaking findings on specially engineered proteins that are able to stick to substances both in and out of water. Using naturally occurring adhesives secreted by mussels as a model for their research, the team combined those proteins with biofilms from certain bacteria to create an especially strong and sticky hybrid.

These new adhesives are much more complex than previously engineered proteins. While other scientists used the E. coli bacteria as a template to engineer proteins that resembled the mussel’s protein, leading researcher Timothy Lu described those methods as unable to “capture the complexity of the natural adhesives”. Therefore, the MIT research team uses several types of bacteria to separately manufacture components of different mussel proteins and then combines them with bacterial curli fibers into one complex adhesive.

There are numerous applications of this discovery. Once the team is able to concoct a method of generating the protein in great quantities, it can be used to repair holes in ships as well as to seal wounds after an accident or surgery. One of the team’s subsequent goals is to create “living glues” composed of bacteria that would react to a breach of a material and repair it through secretion of a protein adhesive. The potential of this discovery is demonstrated by the acclaim of the group’s sponsors, which include The Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

Mussel proteins may be the key to a groundbreaking adhesive

By herarst

On September 25, 2014

In Student Post

Scientists at MIT have created their own adhesive that could revolutionize multiple aspects of life. This adhesive would be used for patching up multiple things ranging from ships to human wounds. The adhesive is made from the proteins found in mussels and the proteins in biofilms. The way mussels stick to ships is because the proteins act as a natural adhesive/glue like material. Biofilm is a group of organisms that stick to each other and other surfaces.

Separate, these both have strong attaching abilities, but when combined, the MIT scientists created the “strongest biologically inspired, protein-based underwater adhesives reported to date”. The new adhesive was created by using the foot proteins in the mussels. More specifically, they used the curli fibers which attach and form larger and stronger fibers, called fibrous meshes. The fibrous meshes can be used both in dry and aqueous solutions making it very versatile.

Timothy Lu, the associate professor of biological engineering and electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, is in charge of the research. Although the adhesive is produced in small amounts, Lu has high hopes as he has plans to make a “living glue” that can tell when there is an opening and secrete the adhesive by itself. This could be very useful if the adhesive is used for human treatment because the adhesive would know exactly when to activate and deactivate itself.

Do you think that this adhesive can make an impact on society?

Additional article: http://sciencenordic.com/synthetic-mussel-adhesive-sticks-anything

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: Biofilm

Bacteria May Not Be As Simple As We Once Thought

Bioengineered Proteins Are Amphibious Adhesives

Mussel proteins may be the key to a groundbreaking adhesive

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