Major and Classification
Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor
James Boedicker, PhD., Department of Physics and Astronomy and Biological Sciences
Department
Dornsife: Biological Sciences
Research Gateway Project
“Bacterial Interactions in a Multi-Species Community”
Project Abstract
Single species or two species studies are commonly used in bacteria research; the interactions between cells of a single or two species have broadened the known methods in which bacterial cells communicate. Under stressful conditions, some species can produce a species-specific signal that then influences the defensive mechanisms in the population. Different species within an environment can adapt by adjusting the metabolites used and produced. The question is, whether different species of bacteria within a community affect one another when given external stress, antibiotics for instance, and how this is done. Here Escherichia coligrowth is compared to individual isolates from a wild sample in response to kanamycin, followed by a study of the wild isolates changes in growth within a community. E. coli was found to a have higher resistance than that of the wild isolates to kanamycin through testing the minimum inhibitory concentration using the alamarBlue assay. Further studies must be conducted using the wild isolates before determining what effect placing them in a community with and without antibiotics will have. Potentially, individuals in one species can influence the entire community through signaling, making the interactions between bacteria – in general an important factor to application of antibiotics.