Stress Response in Pathogenic Bacteria Laboratory

HEAD: Dr Stephen Kidd

Bacteria that reside in the human host either as commensals or pathogens, encounter various physical and chemical stresses. Bacteria therefore need specialized systems to be able to survive and grow in this environment. The research conducted in our Research Group deals with the response systems by bacteria to different stresses, in particular those relevant to the host-pathogen environment. We therefore translate this to how pathogenic bacteria survive within the host. We study a number of pathogens. The main areas of research are described below:

1. Mechanisms of Stress Response in Pathogenic Bacteria

The regulons of the stress responsive Transcription Factors in pathogenic bacteria:

How pathogenic bacteria respond to and defend against the complex combination of environmental conditions in the host. Importantly this invovles Transcription Factors and the interplay between regulatory pathways.

A focus on Nitric Oxide and a combination of reactive nitrogen species (RNS):

Nitric Oxide has several roles within the human host, one of these is as an antimicrobial agent. Pathogenic bacteria need mechanisms to allow them to surivive against the toxic effects of this chemical and its derivitives.

The overlap and interplay of the pathways of gene regulators:

In particular, we are examining the pathogen Haemophilus influenzae and the transcriptional interplay between the regulatory networks identified as important for the stress response within the cell

 2. Physiology and Stress Response.

Bacteria that surivive in the host-pathogen environment need to not only be able to detoxify antimicrobial chemicals and biochemicals, but to adapt to these conditions. The metabolic pathways and the physiology of the cell are important mechanisms of stress response and survival within the human host. 

 3. Bacterial Transcription Factors and thier Novel Functions in Pathogens.

There is a unique opportunity for the examination of Transcription Factors of the MerR family which we have identified and have observed to control the expression of novel regulatory targets. The cellular roles of these transcription factors seem to be central in the physiology and function of the cell.

  4. Metal ions and Pathogenesis.

Different metal ions have been studied in the context of bacterial survival in the host-pathogen environment.