Team:Paris Bettencourt

In a recent paper, Dubey and Ben-Yehuda discovered a new cell-to-cell communication system: nanotubes. Through excellent electronic microscopy images, antibiotic resistance transfer and faint fluorescence transfer they showed that a previously unknown exchange channel existed between B.subtilis cells and even between completely different species. So far, it seems possible to exchange proteins but also plasmids through these nanotubes. This unheard-of communication might force us to redefine the notion of individuals in bacteria and opens endless possibilities for new applications.

This is precisely why we wanted to discover more about this phenomenon, so that the synthetic biology community will be able to harness its full potential. We wanted to work on this challenging problem by providing other proofs to support this discovery. We aimed at characterizing the transfer through nanotubes using synthetic biology tools. It was a very bold move since we know very little about the nature, formation and function of nanotubes.

To best characterize the nanotube communication, we created several devices relying on protein or RNA diffusion. Our devices rely on an emitter cell and a receiver cell that amplifies the signal. We chose to work with signaling molecules of different sizes and natures to test thoroughly the diffusion possibilities.