Structural and Functional Investigation of Tight Adhesion Locus Proteins in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.

食菌蛭弧菌紧密粘附位点蛋白的结构和功能研究。

• 批准号: 2430177
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2430177
• 关键词: Structural; Functional; Investigation; Tight; Adhesion

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is a Gram-negative deltaproteobacterium and bacterial predator, capable of killing many Gram-negative prey species, including known pathogens. Bdellovibrio predatory lifecycle, involving invading host periplasmic space to breakdown and absorb prey nutrients, enables Bdellovibrio to efficiently kill prey species that are resistant to antibiotic treatment. Several studies have identified potential for Bdellovibrio to be used as an antimicrobial agent in healthcare and food security settings.This project focuses on a ten gene tight adherence (TAD) operon and four gene cryptic locus with hypothetical functions in the assembly of type IVb fimbriae-like pili. The mechanism of action of these TAD pilus assembly proteins remains poorly understood, with previous studies in Bdellovibrio focusing on Type IVb pilus genes and an absence of structural studies of TAD pilus components. However, previous studies have shown these fimbriae-like pilins are expressed in both HI and attack phase and are essential to prey recognition. This study aims to conduct structural investigation of key components of the TAD and cryptic loci proteins, alongside biochemical assays to determine their function and mechanism of action in pilus assembly. Improving knowledge of the structures and mechanistic role of proteins in key predatory processes is a key step in understanding use of Bdellovibrio as an antimicrobial agent.

噬菌蛭弧菌（Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus）是一种革兰氏阴性的δ-变形杆菌和细菌捕食者，能够杀死许多革兰氏阴性的猎物物种，包括已知的病原体。蛭弧菌捕食生命周期，涉及入侵宿主周质空间分解和吸收猎物营养物质，使蛭弧菌能够有效地杀死对抗生素治疗有抗性的猎物物种。本研究的重点是一个10个基因的紧密粘附操纵子和4个基因的隐藏位点，这些基因在IVb型菌毛样皮利的组装中具有假设的功能。这些菌毛装配蛋白的作用机制仍然知之甚少，以前的研究集中在蛭弧菌IVb型菌毛基因和缺乏菌毛组件的结构研究。然而，以前的研究表明，这些菌毛样菌毛蛋白在HI和攻击阶段都有表达，并且对猎物识别至关重要。本研究的目的是进行结构调查的关键组成部分的peptide和隐藏的基因座蛋白质，旁边的生化测定，以确定其功能和作用机制的菌毛大会。提高对蛋白质在关键捕食过程中的结构和机制作用的了解是了解蛭弧菌作为抗菌剂用途的关键一步。