Multi-Focused Laboratory Experiments Based on Quorum Sensing and Quorum Quenching for Acquiring Microbial Physiology Concepts

After a time away from the classrooms and laboratories due to the global pandemic, the return to the teaching activities during the semester represented a challenge to both teachers and students. Our particular situation in a Microbial Physiology course was the necessity of imparting in a shorter ti...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Torres, Mariela Analía, Valdez, Alejandra Leonor, Olea, Carolina de Lourdes, Nieto Peñalver, Carlos Gabriel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/212293
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/212293
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:MICROBIAL PHYSIOLOGY
QUORUM SENSING
QUORUM QUENCHING
PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:After a time away from the classrooms and laboratories due to the global pandemic, the return to the teaching activities during the semester represented a challenge to both teachers and students. Our particular situation in a Microbial Physiology course was the necessity of imparting in a shorter time, laboratory practices that usually take longer. This article describes a two-week long laboratory exercise that covers several concepts in an interrelated way: conjugation as a gene transfer mechanism, regulation of microbial physiology, production of secondary metabolites, degradation of macromolecules and biofilm formation. Utilizing a Quorum Quenching (QQ) strategy, the Quorum Sensing (QS) system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is first attenuated. Then, phenotypes regulated by QS are evidenced. QS is a regulatory mechanism of the microbial physiology that relays on signal molecules. QS is related in P. aeruginosa to several virulence factors, some of which are exploited in the laboratory practices presented in this work. QQ is phenomenon by which QS is interrupted or attenuated. We utilized a QQ approach based on the enzymatic degradation of the P. aeruginosa QS signals in order to put in evidence QS-regulated traits that are relevant for our Microbial Physiology course.