Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of S. aureus response to cell-wall damage

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Research in my laboratory is focused on elucidating and understanding the biological function of genes involved with bacterial defense mechanism against stress caused to cell-wall peptidoglycan by antimicrobial agents. These agents have become in-effective in the face of ever increasing number of resistant bacterial strains in hospital settings and community. My laboratory is using the information from the genome-based research to elucidate the signaling pathways that are activated upon the inhibition of the bacterial cell wall. This knowledge will be of a great importance in understanding how bacteria evolve in the presence of environmental threats and how these mechanisms are further used for survival in the presence of antibacterial agents. The goals of my research program are: 1) elucidation of the molecular mechanisms that underline the Staphyloccocus aureus response to antimicrobial agents that inhibit peptidoglycan biosynthesis; and 2) Identification of the signal(s) elicited upon cell-wall damage. At the moment we have demonstrated that a two-component signal transduction is responsible for the regulation of a little known protein that we have shown to interact with peptidoglycan and beta-lactam antibiotics. We are in the process on unraveling the function of other genes closely related with the bacterial response to cell-wall-active antibiotics. The proposed program constitutes a basic research on gene function and gene regulation in S. aureus that is of great interest to the research community involved with the ever increasing issue of antibiotic resistance. For, it will provide insights on development of new strategies in dealing with antibiotic resistance and treating bacterial infections.