Swarming Motility in a Paenibacillus Species

The goal of my thesis project was to characterize the physiology of a Paenibacillus (LMB265) swarmer cell and to study the molecular mechanisms that govern swarming in this strain. I have shown that LMB265 displays typical characteristics of swarmer cells such as hyperflagellation, production of extracellular slime, multiple antibiotic resistance and organized cooperative behavior using microbiological approaches. Furthermore, I have identified two genes putatively involved in swarming motility using RFDD PCR. Homolgs to the Bacillus subtilis for gapA (encoding for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) and rpoA (encoding for the alpha-subunit of RNA polymerase) were identified. These results provide an important foundation for understanding the mechanisms that control swarming motility in the LMB265 Paenibacillus strain.

Autorentext

The research conducted by Audrey Parangan was for her Master's Thesis at San Francisco State University, in the laboratory of Dr. Leticia Márquez-Magaña. Audrey was supported through the NIH-MBRS RISE Fellowship, while the research conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Márquez-Magaña was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.