Study of intracellular interactions of phage and host proteins within Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Bacteriophages are viruses infecting bacteria. Early in the infection process, virulent bacteriophages redirect of completely shut down bacterial systems involved in transcription and DNA replication to promote the production of new phage particles inside the host cell. We investigate these hijacking mechanisms of 11 virulent and completely sequenced phages infecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa. More specifically, we focus on small and unknown phage-encoded proteins targeting, modifying and/or inhibiting the bacterial DNA and RNA polymerase complexes during phage infection. These interacting polypeptides will be identified in vivo, their biological role will be elucidated and their potentially antibacterial character will be assessed. Hetero and in close collaboration with various national and international institutes, we integrate state-of-the-art technologies in peptide identification, recombineering and interactomics into bacteriophage research. The central theme is the development and optimization of a technical platform for high-throughput molecular phage analysis, readily applicable in other phage/host systems. While the main goals of this research line can be considered as fundamental, it aims to elevate phage research beyond its traditional focus on genomics and can directly lead to applications in antibacterial design and biotechnology.

Keywords:Protein-protein interactions, Peptidomics, Bacteriophage, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Recomgineering, Affinity purification

Disciplines:Biomaterials engineering, Biological system engineering, Biomechanical engineering, Other (bio)medical engineering, Environmental engineering and biotechnology, Industrial biotechnology, Other biotechnology, bio-engineering and biosystem engineering, Biochemistry and metabolism, Systems biology, Medical biochemistry and metabolism, Microbiology, Laboratory medicine