Bacterial filamentation as a survival strategy: a goldmine for the discovery of new cell division regulators

Funding: 2010: $100,000
2011: $100,000
2012: $100,000

Project Member(s): Harry, E.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)

Start year: 2010

Summary: Traditionally, long, undivided cells, called filaments, were considered the over-stressed and dying members of a bacterial population. However, accumulating evidence from unrelated areas of bacterial biology has strikingly converged on a similar theme: that filamentation is a vital survival strategy for bacteria to avoid consumption and killing by eukaryotic cells. This project mines the diversity of bacteria that use this strategy in both clinical and ecological niches to identify the proteins and molecules that regulate this important developmental process. An understanding of these cell division control mechanisms is likely to provide novel and improved anti-infective strategies.

Keywords: Microbiology; Bacteria; Cell Division; Antibacterials;

FOR Codes: Bacteriology, Microbial Ecology, Teacher and Instructor Development, Infectious Diseases, Bacteriology , Teaching and curriculum, Clinical health

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.