Public Release: 

Beneficial bacteria in Hawaiian squid attracted to fatty acids

University of Hawaii at Manoa


IMAGE: Hawaiian bobtail squid have a symbiotic relationship with the luminescent bacterium, Vibrio fischeri. view more

Credit: The Squid Vibrio Labs


A study published recently by Edward (Ned) Ruby, professor at the University of Hawai'i - Mānoa's Pacific Biosciences Research Center (PBRC) and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin - Madison (UWM) revealed that Vibrio fischeri has a novel type of receptors that sense the presence and concentration of fatty acids, a building block of all cell membranes. This class of receptors allows a bacterium to migrate toward short-chain fatty acids- a phenomenon referred to as chemotaxis.


Sending and receiving chemical signals allow bacteria to communicate with other organisms, gather information about their environment, and determine with whom to create a mutually beneficial partnership - a symbiosis. For example, the Hawaiian bobtail squid hatchlings aren't born with Vibrio fischeri. They attract it, and only it, from the surrounding seawater using chemoattractants, and capture it in their light organs.



All organisms, even humans, use chemotaxis to attract beneficial microbes to specific tissues. For example, as human infants are exposed to bacteria in their environment, they must attract desirable species to particular tissues - gut, skin, teeth, reproductive tract - that must be colonized by these bacteria.


Understanding how this colonization takes place will lead to greater understanding of how Earth's many microbiomes become constructed and, thus allow us to better construct and manage them.

