The diverse roles of bacterial chemical messengers: shaping marine communities and protecting phytoplankton against viral mortality
Date:
Lecture / Seminar
Time: 16:00
Title: Guest Seminar by Zoom
Location: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/97551963167?pwd=ZWNFWjk3bmU3UThMV3habUdId085dz09 Meeting ID: 975 5196 3167 Password: 971660
Lecturer: Dr. Kristen Whalen
Organizer: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
Details: Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Haverford College, PA, USA
Abstract: Microbes have emerged as key players integrating a variety of external and inter ... Read more Microbes have emerged as key players integrating a variety of external and internal signals that simultaneously influence eukaryotic physiology. The coevolutionary history of microbes and their hosts has selected for a range of interactions from symbiotic to pathogenic, often driven by small molecule chemical messengers that shape community dynamics and govern ecosystem trajectories. However, an ongoing fundamental challenge for the field is identifying bacterial chemical signals and linking their mechanisms of action in the host with resultant ecological consequences in the field. Here, I will describe the mechanisms by which the bacterial quorum sensing signal 2-heptyl-4-quinolone (HHQ) induces immediate, yet reversible, cellular stasis (no cell division nor mortality) in the model coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi. Using ultrastructural observations and diagnostic biochemical assays integrated with transcriptomic and proteomic studies, I will describe the molecular targets of this bacterial signal and the mechanism(s) by which bacterial signals assist phytoplankton evasion from viral death. Since interactions between bacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton play a central role in mediating biogeochemical cycles and global climate, this work provides a new mechanistic framework for how bacterial cues mediate interkingdom behaviors.Close abstract
