Abstract
We recently showed that the spherical cells of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803 act as surprisingly effective microlenses. This lensing effect enables Synechocystis to detect the direction of incoming light, so that cells can move very accurately towards a light source. This finding suggests that the cells of other bacteria could also act as microscopic lenses and waveguides. This project will explore the interaction of light with bacterial cells, including the microscopic mapping of refractive index and measurement and modelling of light paths through the cell. We will test the possibility that micro-optic effects enable directional light-sensing in certain non-photosynthetic bacteria.
References
- Schuergers N, Lenn T, Kampmann R, Meissner MV, Esteves T, Temerinac-Ott M, Korvink JG, Lowe AR, Mullineaux CW, Wilde A (2016) Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction. eLife 2016;5:e12620
- Schuergers N, Mullineaux CW, Wilde A (2017) Cyanobacteria in motion. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 37:109-115
- Schuergers N, Nürnberg DJ, Wallner T, Mullineaux CW, Wilde A (2015) PilB localisation correlates with the direction of twitching motility in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Microbiology 161, 960-966.