(823.5) The Role of a Regulatory Protein in the Differing Biofilms of Wild Isolates

Poster Board Number: A457

Franchesca Pepaj (Manhattan College), Sarah Wacker (Manhattan College)

Biofilms are complex communities of microorganisms that attach to surfaces and are surrounded by a self-produced extracellular matrix that cannot be penetrated by many antibiotics. The bacterial strain Bacillus subtilis is a model organism for studying biofilm formation. Wild isolates of B. subtilis often form more robust biofilms than the laboratory strain that is typically studied. Our goal is to identify genetic variations in wild isolates that alter the strength of their biofilm. We focused on the gene that codes for the biofilm-inducing protein SinI that acts through binding and inhibiting the biofilm repressor SinR. We found some wild isolates have a coding variation in the gene for SinI that may impact binding to SinR. We hypothesize that this genetic variation is partially responsible for the altered phenotype seen in the wild isolates. A deletion mutation of SinI was generated to determine whether a biofilm can form without it. As expected, a SinI mutant was unable to form a biofilm. To test the importance of the genetic variation found in SinI, we cloned plasmids containing the gene for SinI with the wild isolate variation. These plasmids were used to add SinI back into the deletion strain. This project provides insight into how natural variation arises among wild isolates to create differing biofilm phenotypes.

Support or Funding Information

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R15GM135861. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

lt;pgt;Researchamp;nbsp;lt;span style="font-size: 1em;"gt;reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciencesamp;nbsp;lt;/spangt;lt;span style="font-size: 1em;"gt;of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R15GM135861. The content is solely theamp;nbsp;lt;/spangt;lt;span style="font-size: 1em;"gt;responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Nationalamp;nbsp;lt;/spangt;lt;span style="font-size: 1em;"gt;Institutes of Health.lt;/spangt;lt;/pgt;