Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 6: Bacterial Biophysics I

BP 6.9: Talk

Monday, March 18, 2024, 17:30–17:45, H 1028

Heterogeneity in Bacterial Contact Formation — •Johannes Mischo¹, Samer Alokaidi¹, Cao Nguyen Duong², Markus Bischoff³, and Karin Jacobs¹ — ¹Experimental Physics, Center for Biophysics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany — ²INM Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany — ³Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg (Saar), Germany

Bacteria adhere to virtually every surface and promote the formation of sometimes desirable but often unwanted biofilms. As the adhesion of a single bacterial cell is the critical initial step in biofilm formation, we analyse the adhesion properties using single cell force spectroscopy. The contact formation is mainly attributed to bacterial cell wall macromolecules: Their nature and their distribution on the cell wall are a highly individual property of the bacterial cells and define the contact formation properties of the respective cell. We showed that Staphylococcus aureus cells have several distinct spots of high adhesion capability causing heterogeneous distributions of adhesive strength on the cell wall [1]. During cell division, bacteria synthesise about 33 - 50 % fresh cell wall structures, leading to further heterogeneity within individual cells [2]. We combine Atomic Force Microscopy of single S. aureus cells with high resolution fluorescence microscopy to investigate the influence of cell wall age on the adhesion capability of individual cells. [1] Spengler, C. et.al., DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01045g [2] Monteiro, J. M. et.al NatCom. 2015., DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9055.

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; AFM; Adhesion; Cell wall