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Start of funding 01.01.2009
Development of genetic and cell biological tools for the study of organelle formation in magnetotactic bacteria
Prof. Dr. Dirk Schüler
Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich
Prof. Dr. Arash Komeili
University of California, Berkeley
The ability of magnetotactic bacteria to orient in the earth’s magnetic fields is based on the synthesis of magnetosomes, which comprising membrane-enveloped, nano-sized crystals of a magnetic iron oxide have emerged as a promising model to study organelle biology in prokaryotes. Despite of an enormous interdisciplinary interest, both the biomineralization of magnetic crystals as well as as their assembly into highly ordered chain-like structures have remained poorly understood, which is partially due to the limited availability of appropiate techniques for the genetic manipulation of the bacteria. In our project, we plan to establish as set of genetic tools, such as various vector systems for the controlled expression of several GFP variants, which will allow a universal application to all magnetotactic model systems. Ultimately, these tool will be used for the analysis of magnetosome synthesis in the two magnetotactic strains Magnetospirillum magneticum and M. gryphiswaldense, which will lead to important novel insights into the cell biology of these bacterial organelles.