Preliminary study of the subcellular organization of gene expression and its impact on the nucleoid morphology in Bdellovibro bacteriovorus during its non-proliferative phase

Details

Supervisors

Laloux, Géraldine ; Hols, Pascal

Faculty

Faculté des bioingénieurs

Degree label

Master [120] : bioingénieur en chimie et bioindustries

Abstract

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is a small predatory bacterium that attacks a wide range of Gram-negative bacteria. This bacterium has an atypical life cycle characterized by two notable phases: the attack phase characterized by a mobile and free form where the predator seeks prey; and the growth phase characterized by an intraperiplasmic form where the predator develops by digesting the resources of the prey. Because of its atypical biology, Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus represents an attractive model for elucidating new mechanisms not found in other model species such as Escherichia coli. In this work, we shed new light on the cell biology of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus in the attack phase using fluorescent reporters coupled with epifluorescence microscopy. We are particularly interested in the organization and subcellular localization of the key actors of gene expression, as well as the bacterial chromosome.