Date of Award
2015
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Microbiology and Immunology
Abstract
Biofilms are an important area of medical research because bacterial biofilms can form on implants such as catheters and are highly resistant to antibiotics and other antimicrobials. The symbiosis between Vibrio fischeri-Euprymna scolopes, is good model to study biofilm. V. fischeri has 18 gene polysaccharide locus, syp, that is required for biofilm formation and colonization. A recent mutant study suggested the possibility that cysteine biosynthetic genes were involved in biofilm formation by V. fischeri, including cysH, cysJ, cysK, and cysN. My results supported a role for cysK and, to a lesser extent, cysH in biofilm formation. Finally, I have data that suggest a role for cysK in early symbiotic colonization by V. fischeri. When squids were inoculated with a V. fischeri cysK mutant for short incubation time, little colonization occurred. In contrast, when the squid were inoculated with the cysK mutant for an extended period, they became readily colonized.
Recommended Citation
Singh, Priyanka Abhishek, "Investigating the Role of Cysteine in Biofilm Formation by Vibrio fischeri" (2015). Master's Theses. 2792.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/2792
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2015 Priyanka Abhishek Singh
