California Sea Grant College Program

The goals of this grant were: 1). To identify and characterize the symbiotic bacteria associated with the accessory nidamental gland and egg sheath of squid and cuttlefish. 2). To describe the changes in quantity and distribution of these bacteria in the egg sheath during development of the squid embryo. 3). To grow these bacteria in culture. 4). To determine culture conditions that permit production of secondary products that are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. 5). To determine if synthesis of secondary products is related to quorum sensing, to microaerophily, to surface effects and/or to interspecies interactions referred to as synthropy. 6). To develop methods to determine which bacteria are responsible for secondary products should it prove impossible to grow the candidate bacteria in culture. 7). Once the conditions are worked out for identification of the bacteria and their growth, then to identify and characterize these bacterial secondary products through collaborative research with natural products chemists. We have made exceptional progress on most of these goals as will be described in this final report.