Craig Ellermeier, PhD
The Production and Resistance to the Cannibalism Toxin in Bacillus subtilis
Students in my laboratory will study one of two problems both of which focus on understanding the recent discovery of cannibalism in the model organism B. subtilis. We have identified a novel antimicrobial peptide produced by the sdpABC operon. We have recently found that SdpAB are required for increasing the activity of the antimicrobial toxin SdpC. Our evidence suggests other genes are required for the production of this toxin and one potential project would employ a genome wide screen to identify genes required for toxin production. A second area of interest is characterizing a novel signal transduction system (SdpI-SdpR) which responds to the antimicrobial toxin SdpC. We have found that SdpR is sequestered to the membrane in an SdpC and SdpI dependent manner. Potential student projects include determining if SdpR and SdpI directly interact using bacterial two hybrid and performing a transposon screen for to identify other factors required for controlling SdpR activity.
Required course work: General Biology and Genetics.
The undergraduate will work closely with myself, a research assistant, or a graduate student in our laboratory in order to learn the techniques and the background for the experiments. Our goal is that by the end of the summer, students in my laboratory can learn to carry out experiments on their own, with minimal supervision. Our goal is to help students understand how to both conduct scientific research, and to discuss their findings. Thus students will have the opportunity and are expected to present their research during lab meetings.
