Skip to main content

Preparation of a Langmuir-Blodgett film of lipopolysaccharide


EMSL Project ID
2154

Abstract

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are amphiphilic macromolecules that form part of the exterior surface of gram-negative microorganisms. These macromolecules can be important in adhesion, and can extend anywhere from 2 to 50 nm from the cell surface depending upon the particular source of the LPS. In our continuing studies of microbial adhesion on surfaces, it would be useful to have preparations of ordered LPS surfaces to act as bacterial surface analogues. It is known that LPS molecules will spontaneously form vessicles in water; however, it is unclear if structured surfaces can be formed with LPS using Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) techniques. In this work, we propose to attempt to form and LB film using LPS collected from several bacterial species and strains, and fix these layers to a rigid substrate (possibly a functionalized alkanethiol) for probing via atomic force microscopy.

Project Details

Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2001-04-17
End Date
2002-06-01
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Brian Wood
Institution
Oregon State University

Team Members

Barbara Tarasevich
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory