Clash of the Kingdoms: How the quest for nutrients leads to pathogenicity

王国的纷争：对营养的追求如何导致致病性

基本信息

批准号：
NE/M001415/1
负责人：
Paul Hoskisson
金额：
$ 55.23万
依托单位：
University of Strathclyde
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2014 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FM001415%2F1
关键词：
Clash Kingdoms How quest nutrients

项目摘要

Streptomyces is a harmless soil bacterium that is often found around the roots of plants, interacting with them but without causing disease. Streptomyces also interacts with other soil organisms such as amoeba, single celled organisms that behave like the phagocytic cells in the human body, eating bacterial cells. Currently we know very little about how these different species interact at the molecular level. Recently we were able to identify that a group of genes (the mce genes, which stands for Mammalian Cell Entry genes)that are found in Streptomyces and are very closely related to genes in its distant cousin Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB. We showed that these genes encode a transport system and are important for Streptomyces to gather nutrients from plant roots and also to interact with the amoebae. Yet in M. tuberculosis they are required for them to colonise human lung cells and grow within those cells. In this proposal we will fully characterise this transport system and study the molecular details of what the proteins encoded by these genes do, what substrates they bind and take up, and what effect they have on plant and amoeba both physically and also genetically. The findings of this study will have implications for our understanding of how human and animal pathogens have evolved from non-pathogenic bacteria and how bacteria can colonise plants and out-compete plant pathogens to stop them from causing disease. There are also possibilities that these genes can be used in the biotechnology industry to help make useful drugs, such as steroids from plant waste products.

链霉菌是一种无害的土壤细菌，通常存在于植物根部周围，与植物相互作用但不会引起疾病。链霉菌还与其他土壤生物相互作用，例如阿米巴原虫，这是一种单细胞生物，其行为类似于人体内的吞噬细胞，以细菌细胞为食。目前我们对这些不同物种如何在分子水平上相互作用知之甚少。最近，我们能够鉴定出链霉菌中发现的一组基因（mce 基因，代表哺乳动物细胞进入基因），并且与其远亲结核分枝杆菌（引起结核病的细菌）中的基因非常密切相关。我们发现这些基因编码一个运输系统，对于链霉菌从植物根部收集营养以及与变形虫相互作用非常重要。然而，在结核分枝杆菌中，它们需要它们才能在人类肺细胞中定植并在这些细胞内生长。在这个提案中，我们将充分描述这个运输系统的特征，并研究这些基因编码的蛋白质的分子细节，它们结合和吸收的底物，以及它们对植物和阿米巴原虫的物理和遗传影响。这项研究的结果将对我们理解人类和动物病原体如何从非致病性细菌进化而来，以及细菌如何在植物中定植并在竞争中击败植物病原体以阻止它们引起疾病产生影响。这些基因也有可能用于生物技术行业，帮助制造有用的药物，例如从植物废物中提取类固醇。