Abstract:

This dataset contains both raw and derived data for a study of the effects of overexpression of type 1 fimbriae by the bacterium Escherichia coli on its ability to adhere to solid (biotic and abiotic) and oil/water interfaces. The goal of this study was to understand how the expression level of a common surface adhesin, type 1 fimbriae (implicated in adhesion to oil/water interfaces in many marine species as well as in virulence for pathogenic bacterial strains), affected its ability to adhere to interfaces. A plasmid that enables inducible and tunable expression of E. coli MG1655 type 1 fimbriae was transformed into a fimbriae-deficient mutant strain MG1655ΔfimA to generate strain MG1655ΔfimA+pPCC1401. Changes in the level of fimbriation of the bacteria were obtained by changing the concentration of the inducer isopropyl \beta-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). The data were generated in three laboratories at the University of Houston from November 2015 to May 2017, and include results from quantitative real-time PCR (used to assess the level of fimH gene expression); from zeta potential and surface energy measurements (used to assess the physicochemical properties of the bacteria); from a modified yeast agglutination assay (used to assess adhesion to biotic solid surfaces); from a specific biofilm formation assay (used to assess adhesion to abiotic solid surfaces); and from a microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons assay (used to assess adhesion to oil/water interfaces, such as those found in ocean oil spills). Assay results are reported for the wild type MG1655 (which bore few fimbriae), for the fimbrial-deficient MG1655ΔfimA strain (which bore no fimbriae), and for the tunably inducible strain MG1655ΔfimA+pPCC1401 (whose level of fimbriation could be tuned by varying [IPTG]).

Suggested Citation:

Ryan McLay, Hang N. Nguyen, Yuly Andrea Jaimes-Lizcano, Simone Alexandrova, Debora F. Rodrigues, Patrick C. Cirino, Jacinta C. Conrad. 2017. Level of fimbriation alters the adhesion of Escherichia coli bacteria to interfaces. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N73F4N1N

Publications:

McLay, R. B., Nguyen, H. N., Jaimes-Lizcano, Y. A., Dewangan, N. K., Alexandrova, S., Rodrigues, D. F., … Conrad, J. C. (2017). Level of Fimbriation Alters the Adhesion of Escherichia coli Bacteria to Interfaces. Langmuir, 34(3), 1133–1142. doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b02447

Purpose:

This study is a first step towards addressing one of the questions in our GoMRI RFP-V project: how surface structures on bacteria (such as type 1 fimbriae, which can act as an adhesin) affect their ability to adhere to the oil/water interfaces present during an oil spill scenario, and ultimately affect biodegradation.

Data Parameters and Units:

Concentration of IPTG (mM). Quantitative PCR data: Fractional threshold cycle number (#), fold-expression change (#); Yeast Agglutination Assay (YAA): solution absorbance at 595 nm (arbitrary units). Zeta potential (mV). U (m.u.) Surface energy (mN m). Water contact angle (degrees) Time (min or hr) Specific Biofilm Formation (SBF) assay: solution absorbance at 595 nm (arbitrary units), specific biofilm formation (percentage relative to control). [Cells B2-B12 to G2-G13 contain biofilm cells at 6 hours; Cells L2-7 to Q2-Q7 contain eluted solution at 6 hours; Cells B16-B21 to G16-21 contain biofilm cells at 12 hours; Cells L16-18 to Q16-18 contain eluted solution at 12 hours] Microbial Adhesion to Hydrocarbons assay: solution absorbance at 595 nm (arbitrary units), percentage adhesion to the hydrocarbon phase (percentage).

Instruments:

Figure 1 (qPCR): primer design: Primer Express v2.0 (Applied Biosystems); instrument: StepOne Plus Real-time PCR system (Applied Biosystems). Table 1 (zeta potential and surface energy): Nicomp 380ZLSn zeta sizer; Dataphysics OCA 15EC goniometer.

Error Analysis:

Figure 1 (qPCR): Statistical error calculated over triplicate replicate growth runs. Figure 3 (YAA): Standard deviation over three independent replicates. Table 1 (zeta potential and surface energy): Zeta potential: Standard deviation over five replicates. Surface energy: Standard deviation over two bacterial lawns from indpendent cultures. Figure 4 (SBF): Standard deviation over twelve replicates from two separate cultures. Figure 5 (MATH): Standard deviation over two or three independent replicates. Figure 6b (comparison): Error propagated from Figure 3 data.

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