• Question: how do you teach bacteria to find, grab and eat sugars from plants

    Asked by SUPER NOVA to Kon on 11 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by Bobilino.
    • Photo: Konstantinos Drousiotis

      Konstantinos Drousiotis answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      Hi there,

      Thanks for your question!

      The process by which I ‘teach’ them is by trying to find the best systems that can find and transport the sugars from the plant inside the bacteria. This systems are called bacterial transporters and are found jsut on the surface of the bacteria, which is called membrane.

      For example, I found a system that binds the sugar arabinofuranose faster than other bacterial systems and if you make sure there is enough of it on the bacterial membrane then the bacteria will find and grab the sugar faster. Is similar to when you play pokemon go; the more pokemon you managed to capture the stronger you are on a gym fight! The same with bacteria the more transporter systems they have the better.

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