A fictional cubed-shaped bacterium, Bacterius cubis, occupies a volume of 1.4 femtoliters. This particular type of bacteria is known to communicate with its own species by secreting a small molecule called bactoX (MW=110.3 g/mol). A. Each bacterium contains 6980 bactoX molecules that can be secreted. How many moles of bactoX are present in a 1.9 μL sample volume that contains 5.272×106 bacterial cells?
B. Calculate the molarity (mol/L) of bactoX in the 1.9 μL sample volume if all of the bacteria were to simultaneously secrete all of the bactoX molecules contained within their cell bodies into the vial.
C. Scientists discovered that bactoX will induce a luminescence response in B. cubis when the concentration in a sample reaches 8.40×10−12 M. How many molecules of bactoX must be present in solution to initiate luminescence in a 1.1 μL sample? How many individual bacteria cells does this represent? The number of bactoX molecules per cell is given in part A.
D. What volume, in nanoliters, would the bacteria cells in part C occupy if tightly packed? Assume that there is no space between the cells.