POSTERS - BLAST X - University of Utah
POSTERS - BLAST X - University of Utah
POSTERS - BLAST X - University of Utah
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<strong>BLAST</strong> X Thurs. Evening Session<br />
ENGINEERED SINGLE- AND MULTI-CELL CHEMOTAXIS IN E. COLI<br />
Shalom D. Goldberg 1 , Paige Derr 2 , William F. DeGrado 1 , and Mark Goulian 2,3<br />
1 Department <strong>of</strong> Biochemistry and Biophysics, <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania School <strong>of</strong> Medicine,<br />
Philadelphia, PA, 19104<br />
2 Department <strong>of</strong> Physics, <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA<br />
19104<br />
3 Department <strong>of</strong> Biology, <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania, 433 S <strong>University</strong> Avenue, Philadelphia, PA<br />
19104<br />
We have engineered the chemotaxis system <strong>of</strong> E. coli to enable responses to molecules<br />
that are not attractants for wild-type cells. The system depends on an artificially introduced<br />
enzymatic activity that converts the target molecule into a ligand for an E. coli chemoreceptor,<br />
thereby allowing the cells to respond to the new attractant. Two systems, designed to respond<br />
to asparagine and to phenylacetyl glycine respectively, showed robust chemotactic responses.<br />
In addition, their behavior in a mixed population was suggestive <strong>of</strong> a “hitchhiker” effect in which<br />
cells producing the ligand can induce chemotaxis <strong>of</strong> neighboring cells lacking the enzymatic<br />
activity. This behavior was exploited to design a complex system <strong>of</strong> two strains that are mutually<br />
interdependent for their activity, which functions as a simple microbial consortium.<br />
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