Revision as of 11:22, 16 September 2015

Project

Quorum sensing over status quo: developing faster detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a serious problem in the medical community. Detecting antibiotic resistance quickly is crucial to determine the correct treatment for different patients and for setting up quarantines to prevent spreading. We hypothesized that is possible to use quorum sensing (QS) to devise a rapid way for cells to report the existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here, we developed a reporter cell that expresses GFP in the presence of the QS signaling molecule acyl homoserine lactone (AHL). Our test cells (which act as a simulation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria) expresslactonase, which breaks down AHL. In our experimental system, test cells should signify their presence by breaking down
AHL and preventing GFP expression in reporter cells. Therefore, our project serves as a proof of principle and we hope that our work will serve as a basis for developing similar, more sophisticated quorum sensing-based detection systems in the future.

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