Título: Insights into the reactivity and organization of key bacterial division proteins by fluorescence

Ponente: Dra. Silvia Zorrilla (Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas CIB-CSIC, Madrid)

Día y hora: Jueves 15 de Marzo a las 12.30

Lugar: SALA DE CONFERENCIAS, EDIFICIO I+D+i, CAMPUS RIO EBRO

Division is a key process for bacterial survival involving the formation of a protein ring attached to the membrane and localized at midcell that ultimately constricts the bacterium to render two daughter cells with equal genomic content and similar size. The central protein of this machinery is the self-assembling GTPase FtsZ that, in E. coli, interacts with the membrane protein ZipA and with FtsA to form the first division complex, the proto-ring. The joint action of two systems, the Min system and nucleoid occlusion, mediated by the DNA binding protein SlmA, contribute to achieve correct positioning of the division ring at midcell. To better understand this process and its spatiotemporal regulation, we analyze the interactions among the different elements involved, using a combination of biophysical and biochemical methods. We are particularly interested in evaluating the impact of macromolecular crowding, microenvironments and confinement inherent to the natural media in which they actually occur, the bacterial interior, in the energetics and dynamics of these interactions. These studies are contributing to complete our understanding of an essential bacterial process and they may aid in the development of new strategies to control infections, through the identification and characterization of key interactions that could be exploited as targets for new antibacterials. The novel assays we are developing to measure these interactions can also be useful for the screening of such drugs.