Rhizoclip Survey

As part of our research activities in bacterial (cyclic) lipopeptides from Pseudomonas, we have setup the RhizoClip website as a repository of knowledge and data. As part of the Master Thesis in Chemistry project of Denzel Polfliet, we are collecting information on the user experience and general appreciation of the RhizoCLiP website and associated Knowledge base. This Knowledge base also provides access to NMR spectroscopic data for early dereplication of newly isolated bacterial lipopeptides. To this end, we would like to ask the scientific community involved in antimicrobial peptides and proteins to help us in providing some feedback on user experience and by participating in an anonymous on-line survey. The results will support the makers to reflect on and further develop research communication within RhizoCLiP, by mapping researchers’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges. Please browse our project website for more information. We would be very grateful if you could spare some time to answer our survey, which should not take more than 10 to 15 minutes.

Thank you for considering this and helping! You can access the survey via this link.

Background

RhizoCLiP is an international and interdisciplinary consortium of research groups which originated around a common Excellence of Science research grant addressing bacterial cyclic lipodepsipeptides (CLiPs) from Pseudomonas and Bacillus. These lipopeptides have a diverse range of functionalities in the chemical ecology of its producers and are increasingly recognized as compounds of interest due to their antimicrobial and crop-growth related activities.  The research within RhizoCLiP focuses on the biological relevance of CLiPs, their mode of action, structure-activity relations, taxonomy of the producers, genetic ancestry, etc.

On this consortium website more information is provided on the RhizoCLiP project. In addition, we are continuously expanding a knowledge base documenting overviews of literature on many different Pseudomonas CLiPs.

Recently, we published a novel approach into the complete structure elucidation of CLiPs (including stereochemistry) using NMR reference spectra (“NMR fingerprints”) (De Roo et al., 2022, Microbiology Spectrum[1]). This approach has the potential to be used by a wide variety of researchers in different fields, even without dedicated knowledge of NMR spectroscopy. On the website, step-by-step instructions are now available detailing how to use the NMR fingerprint matching approach (NMR fingerprint matching – Rhizoclip) while reference NMR spectra required for the matching are (being) introduced via a data repository in an associated knowledge base.

After the initial start-up phase, we would like to draft a strategic plan for the future development the Rhizoclip website in general and the NMR fingerprinting approach in particular. For this, we would like to survey (future) users into what they believe are strengths and weaknesses of the website. This questionnaire will help us in pin-pointing potential improvement areas to support its further development and ensure continuous growth on the collected data or feedback. In other words, we would really appreciate input from the antimicrobial research community to drive the process forward.

Please note that this survey is completely anonymous and that we strictly adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with regards to your personal data. We will not provide your answers to third parties. The data will be analyzed by a select group of researchers from the Rhizoclip consortium.  If you have questions or remarks, feel free to use the contact page on the Rhizoclip website. This can be done anonymously.

The survey will take approximately 10 – 15 minutes. With this survey, we hope to reach a very diverse group of participants. If questions do not apply to your specific situations, leave the answers blank. Results of the survey will be published on the Rhizoclip website. Check back regularly! We sincerely hope we can count on you to spare this time in helping us further developing RhizoCLiP!

Prof. Dr. José C. Martins
Dr. Niels Geudens
Denzel Polfliet

[1] De Roo, Vic, et al. and José C.  Martins. 2022. ‘An Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Fingerprint Matching Approach for the Identification and Structural Re-Evaluation of Pseudomonas Lipopeptides’, Microbiology Spectrum, 10: e01261-22.