Vibrio fischeri is a marine bacterium that forms a symbiotic relationship in the light organs of monocentrid fish. A recent finding of the PI reveals that the bacterium produces a phosphodiesterase (CDPase) for cyclic AMP that is of unusual activity and specificity, and is periplasmic in location. The biochemical characteristics, cellular regulation, and functional role of this activity will be examined by a wide spectrum of analytical approaches, including gene cloning and replacement methods, in order to assess the possibility of nucleotide-based biochemical interactions between these symbiotic bacteria and their hosts.//
