Goldberg R21: Regulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence Gene Expression by Temperature
Joanna Goldberg, PhD awarded a new R21
Regulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence Gene Expression by Temperature
Preventing the establishment of infection necessitates a better understanding of how microbes switch from the external environment to the human host. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, global regulatory systems used during infection have been studied, but an emphasis has been on transcriptional differences between acute and chronic infections, planktonic lifestyle to the biofilm mode of growth, and regulatory pathways that respond to cell density (quorum-sensing) and nutrient availability. Modulation by temperature, our focus, has been described for a number of bacterial pathogens in addition to P. aeruginosa however the regulatory factors responsible have not be well studied. We propose to identify P. aeruginosa regulators that modulate gene expression in response to variations in temperature. Our long term goal is to determine the regulatory mechanisms underlying how P. aeruginosa responds to temperature, how this promotes survival in various environments, and finally, the role of this type of regulation plays in pathogenesis.