The Department of Biological Chemistry kindly invites to following talk:

Prof. Yftah Tal-Gan, Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno  

"Utilizing Chemical Biology Tools to Study Cell Signaling in Bacteria"

Quorum sensing (QS) is a universal mechanism bacteria employ to govern many important symbiotic and pathogenic phenotypes. As such, QS can be utilized as a means to control bacterial behaviors - attenuate undesired phenotypes, and promote productive processes. Many Gram-positive bacterial species utilize peptide pheromones, termed autoinducing peptides, to induce QS responses and initiate pathogenic phenotypes, such as competence, biofilm formation and virulence factor production. We investigate the molecular mechanisms that drive signal:receptor binding while also interrogating the regulatory roles of QS circuits within bacterial species as well as during the competition between bacterial species. To this end, we develop peptide-based QS modulators with distinct activity profiles (selective vs. pan-species modulators; inhibitors vs. activators) and utilize them to determine the effects of QS modulation in both single-species and mixed cultures.