Elucidation and application of molecular mechanism of preference in microbial predation and phagocytosis

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24658072
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied microbiology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: ADACHI Hiroyuki 東京大学, 農学生命科学研究科, 准教授 (00211699)
• Research Collaborator: INABA Hironori ; TERAZAWA Natsumi
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: microbial predation

Outline of Final Research Achievements

An assay system was constructed, to examine the ability for bacterial cells to be predated by Dictyostelium cells and form plaques using 96-well plates. By means of this assay system, Keio library, the comprehensive library of knockout mutants of E. coli, was examined twice. As a result, eight mutants were reproducibly identified that showed greatly reduced speed to form plaques. By using 9-cm plates, the results were reproduced for all mutants, and it was also revealed that the slower the mutant cells grew, the slower the plaque spread, suggesting that Dictyostelium cells preferentially predate bacteria that grow faster. The disrupted genes included not only the ones involving growth but also ones whose function is unknown. In addition, a protein of Dictyostelium involving phagocytosis was identified.

Free Research Field

分子細胞生物学