Structure and function of membrane transporters in Mycobacterium bovis - the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis

牛结核（bTB）由牛分枝杆菌引起，是一种牛的疾病，也可影响人类（结核病）以及其他牲畜/野生动物物种。牛结核病在英国乃至全球都是一个重要的动物健康问题，据估计，它每年在全球范围内造成约30亿美元的农业损失。了解这种病原体的基本生物学对于开辟新的途径和靶点至关重要，从而开发新的治疗方法和/或诊断方法来控制bTB/TB疾病。该项目将结合生物化学、生物物理学、结构生物学和微生物学技术来确定牛分枝杆菌赖以生存的营养物质及其摄取的分子机制。这将使我们能够更详细地了解牛分枝杆菌如何能够在环境中生存并引起牛感染，这也将对人类结核病感染产生影响。

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis, is a disease of cattle that can also affect humans (tuberculosis (TB), as well as other livestock/wild animal species. Bovine tuberculosis is an important animal health problem both in the UK, and globally, and it is estimated to result in ~$3 billion per annum of agricultural losses worldwide. It is essential to understand the basic biology of this pathogen to open up novel pathways and targets that we can exploit In order to develop new therapeutics and/or diagnostics to control bTB/TB disease. This project will use a combination of biochemistry, biophysical, structural biology and microbiology techniques to determine the nutrients that M. bovis uses to survive and the molecular mechanisms involved in their uptake. This will allow us to obtain a more detailed picture of how M. bovis is able to survive in the environment and cause infection in cattle, which will also have implications in human TB infection.