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Research Description The colonization of the light organ of the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, by the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri requires many key bacterial systems such as quorum sensing, luminescence, and motility. Vibrio fischeri mutants with abnormal motility are defective for colonization in competition with wild type, and the flagellar activator mutant is unable to colonize juvenile squid. Whether or not flagella are important once Vibrio fischeri have entered the light organ is unknown, as we have previously been unable to study strains with motility defects beyond initiation. However, in microarray studies, flagellins are down-regulated in the light organ as compared to culture, but components the basal bodies remain. This observation hints at a secondary function for the flagellar machinery within the light organ that I will be investigating in the coming years. To study whether flagellar components are required for the accommodation and persistence of symbiosis, I will be using microinjection of Vibrio fischeri into the pores of the light organ to directly bypass the initiation steps. I will also be investigating non-flagellar genes regulated by the flagellar activator using microarray and protein techniques.
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