About
7
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Introduction
Publications
Publications (7)
The human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis requires a P1B-ATPase metal exporter, CtpC (Rv3270), for resistance to zinc poisoning. Here, we show that zinc resistance also depends on a chaperone-like protein, PacL1 (Rv3269). PacL1 contains a transmembrane domain, a cytoplasmic region with glutamine/alanine repeats and a C-terminal metal-binding mo...
Transition metals are toxic at high concentrations. The P1B-ATPase metal exporter CtpC/Rv3270 is required for resistance to zinc poisoning in the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here, we discovered that zinc resistance also depends on the chaperone-like protein PacL1/Rv3269. PacL1 bound Zn2+, but unlike PacL1 and CtpC, the PacL1 metal-bi...
Bacteria of the Mycoplasma genus are characterized by the lack of a cell-wall, the use of UGA as tryptophan codon instead of a universal stop, and their simplified metabolic pathways. Most of these features are due to the small-size and limited-content of their genomes (580–1840 Kbp; 482–2050 CDS). Yet, the Mycoplasma genus encompasses over 200 spe...
The capacity of Mycoplasmas to engage in horizontal gene transfers has recently been highlighted. Despite their small genome, some of these wall-less bacteria are able to exchange multiple, large portions of their chromosome via a conjugative mechanism that does not conform to canonical Hfr/oriT models. To understand the exact features underlying m...
Post-transcriptional regulation plays important roles to finely tune gene expression in bacteria. In particular, regulation of type I toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems is achieved through sophisticated mechanisms involving toxin mRNA folding. Here, we set up a genetic approach to decipher the molecular underpinnings behind the regulation of a type I TA...
Post-transcriptional regulation plays important roles to finely tune gene expression in bacteria. In particular, regulation of type I toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems is achieved through sophisticated mechanisms involving toxin mRNA folding. Here, we set up a genetic approach to decipher the molecular underpinnings behind the regulation of a type I TA...
Horizontal Gene Transfer was long thought to be marginal in Mycoplasma a large group of wall-less bacteria often portrayed as minimal cells because of their reduced genomes (ca. 0.5 to 2.0 Mb) and their limited metabolic pathways. This view was recently challenged by the discovery of conjugative exchanges of large chromosomal fragments that equally...
Projects
Project (1)
Toxin Antitoxin systems are small genetic modules that have been identified in almost all bacterial genomes including those of pathogens. We recently discovered a new family of toxin antitoxin systems in the human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Despite no sequence homology, this new TA system shares many similarities with one of the first TA system characterized in Escherichia coli, the hok/sok system. A search based on structural homology identified hundreds of homologs of this new TA system on the chromosome of other Helicobacter and Campylobacter species. This TA system named AapA/IsoA constitutes a new family of type I toxin antitoxin system described outside enterobacteria and firmicutes.
Currently our research project aims at understanding how type I toxin antitoxin systems get regulated in bacterial cell and how H. pylori cope with their presence in their chromosome. In collaboration with chemist, we are also exploring how these systems could be used to develop new antibiotic strategies.
