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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Dr. Herman Sintim, University of Maryland
Nucleotide signaling in bacteria- important second messengers in bacteria, which biologist ignored for almost three decades
Successful pathogenic bacteria utilize finely honed molecular programs to respond to each specific host environment to establish infection and persist through the changes in host responses. Disruption of the regulatory program has become the focus of novel approaches to prevent or treat infections. C-di-GMP, termed "a master regulator of bacterial lifestyle" regulates toxin production and biofilm formation in several pathogenic bacteria. Inhibition of the proteins that make c-di-GMP or the effector proteins or RNA that mediate increase in intracellular concentrations of c-di-GMP into the biofilm phenotype is now an important area of antibacterial research. Strategies or tactics for the development of new small molecules to inhibit c-di-GMP signaling are poorly developed and the determinants of c-di-GMP-like molecules binding to receptors have not been determined. In this talk, our efforts to develop small molecules to interrupt nucleotide signaling in bacteria will be discussed.
For more information contact Prof. Stefan France (404-385-1796).
