Bacterial cell cycle control
Since the discovery of bacteria in the 17th century, our understanding of their physiology and life cycle has increased exponentially.
However, even bacteria – arguably the simplest organisms on earth – are far from being completely understood. Although a rather detailed picture of bacterial growth, DNA replication and division has emerged, insight into the regulatory network that controls and coordinates these processes severely lags behind.
We aim to elucidate mechanisms by which bacteria regulate cell cycle progression and coordinate important processes to each other. We do so by focusing on the GTPase ObgE. This protein is conserved and essential in all bacterial species investigated to date. Moreover, ObgE has been implicated in a myriad of important cellular functions, such as ribosome assembly, DNA replication, chromosome segregation and cell division. We therefore hypothesize that ObgE acts as a central regulator of bacterial growth.
We try to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which ObgE influences key processes of the bacterial cell cycle. We thereby hope to contribute towards a better understanding of bacterial growth regulation, which could be translated into important applications. It could, for example, inspire novel ways to halt bacterial growth by interfering with the underlying regulatory network.
Meet the team
This research is carried out by Liselot Dewachter and Celien Bollen.
