Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 82: Membranes and Vesicles II (joint session BP/CPP)

CPP 82.7: Talk

Friday, March 16, 2018, 11:15–11:30, H 2013

Structure and Conformation of Single and Interacting Bacterial Surfaces — •Ignacio Rodriguez Loureiro¹, Victoria Latza¹, Giovanna Fragneto², and Emanuel Schneck¹ — ¹Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany — ²Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France

The outer surfaces of Gram-negative bacteria are composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules exposing oligo- and polysaccharides to the aqueous environment. This unique, structurally complex biological interface is of great scientific interest as it mediates the interaction of bacteria with antimicrobial agents as well as with neighboring bacteria in colonies and biofilms. Structural studies on LPS surfaces, however, have so far dealt almost exclusively with rough mutant LPS of reduced molecular complexity and limited biological relevance. Here, using neutron reflectometry we structurally characterize planar monolayers of wild-type LPS from Escherichia Coli O55:B5 featuring strain-specific O-side chains in the presence and absence of divalent cations and under controlled interaction conditions. For interacting LPS monolayers we establish pressure-distance curves and determine the distance-dependent saccharide conformation.