Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 9: Poster II

BP 9.9: Poster

Monday, March 16, 2020, 17:30–19:30, P2/2OG

Investigation and manipulation of the bacterial cell wall synthesis with super-resolution microscopy and optical tweezers — •Franziska Moos, Julian Roth, and Alexander Rohrbach — Department of Microsystems Engineering, Laboratory for Bio- and Nano-Photonics, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany

So far the process of the bacterial cell wall synthesis is not understood, in particular the geometric arrangement. The filamentous protein MreB, which is an actin homolog, plays an essential role in the bacterial cell wall. It is suggested that multiple cell wall synthesis motors couple to MreB filaments, which presumably synthesize the peptidoglycan (PG) strands of the cell wall. Therefore, the MreB filament traces reveal the trajectories of the motors and the position of the PG strands, which are usually invisible with existing technology.

We investigate the cell wall synthesis in Bacillus subtilis indirectly by measuring the motions of fluorescently labeled MreB proteins using total internal reflection fluorescent microscopy. Furthermore we exert mechanical pressure to the bacteria resulting in curvature changes of the cell wall to investigate the influence on the cell wall synthesis. This bending process is achieved by optical tweezers, where microbeads are pressed against the bacteria.

We show preliminary results of the effects of bending bacteria on the cell wall synthesis. The results are used to further strengthen the hypothesis that MreB is transported by several PG synthesis motors.