Bootcamp 2021

Like their larger multicellular hosts, bacteria and other prokaryotic cells are subjected to, and generate, mechanical forces. When invading a host cell, forces must be overcome, and in some cases, the dynamic structures of the host cell may be exploited by bacteria to facilitate their invasion.

For example, bacteria can modulate the cell membrane and manipulate the cytoskeleton for entry into the host, or for the secretion of virulence factors. In doing so the bacteria are able to establish an infection. However, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying bacterial uptake, and the mechanisms by which bacteria can evade the body’s defenses remain unclear. At MBI, we are investigating the biophysical aspects of bacterial pathogenesis, and in particular, are interested in the mechanisms by which bacteria like Salmonella utilize the endocytic membrane trafficking pathway to survive within the host. In this case, Salmonella will survive within an endosomal compartment called the salmonella containing vacuole (SCV). Salmonella also thrives within its host in a non-infectious phase for an extended period of time. Here, the bacteria will exist as a biofilm. How salmonella lives within SCVs, the various cytoskeletal modifications that take place during invasion and the regulatory mechanisms that are modulated to enable Salmonella to exist as a biofilm, are all researched at MBI.

Additional work in this area is looking at the formation and nature of cytoskeletal pedestals, which, in the case Enteropathogenic E.coli (EPEC) infection, are found within host cells at the site of bacterial attachment.