Investigation of Di-8-ANEPPS Molecular-Membrane Dynamics in Living Staphylococcus aureus using Second Harmonic Generation

Presenter(s)(s)

Anna Curtis

Abstract or Description

Abstract: Bacterial membranes are a complex mixture of lipids and proteins responsible for regulating the import and export of small molecules such as antibiotics. Probing molecule-membrane interactions may improve our understanding of how small molecules traverse bacterial membranes and may minimize the shortcomings of current antibiotics. In order to monitor bacterial membrane dynamics, non-linear spectroscopic techniques were used to monitor the interactions between a chromophoric probe molecules, Di-8-AN EPPS, and a gram-postive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus. The non-linear technique chosen was second harmonic generation (SHG) due to its surface-specificity which allows the monitoring of probe-membrane interactions. The results can be compared to prior work to understand the effect of structural variances in small molecules on membrane transport and interactions. This study further demonstrates the success of SHG as a method of investigating membrane dynamics.

Mentor

Dr. Calhoun