Ph.D. Program in Cellular, Molecular and Industrial Biology (Project n. 2: Functional Biology of Cellular and Molecular Systems)
Transcriptional response to environmental changes in pathogenic bacteria
The broad objective of our research is to understand regulation of transcription in prokaryotes. The molecular dissection of mechanisms relevant to the regulation of expression of virulence genes is a main step in order to understand when, why and how these factors are needed by the bacterium to establish a successful infection. In particular, we investigate the molecular mechanisms by which protein-DNA interactions and protein-protein interactions activate/repress genes responsible for the acquisition of pathogenic traits also in response to sudden environmental changes such as heat shock and metal overload/deprivation.
Iron is essential for many cellular processes; its acquisition and metabolism must be regulated to maintain homeostasis. Studies on the regulation of iron homeostasis in bacteria have focused largely on Fur, an iron-responsive transcriptional regulator. We are studying the Fur regulon in Helicobacter pylori by using protein-DNA immunoprecipitations of in vivo formed complexes and probing genomic macroarrays with immunoprecipited DNA fragments. RNA extracted from wild type and mutant strains, grown under different iron conditions are used to probe macroarrays to identify Fur and iron regulated genes. We will select newly identified genes to elucidate the promoter region(s) responsible for iron and Fur responsiveness. We use the same methodology to identify the heat shock regulon that in H. pylori is controlled by two repressors of transcription, HspR and HrcA, and has been suggested to play an important role during infection.
We are currently studying the molecular mechanisms exploited by Fur, NikR, HspR, HrcA, and other regulatory proteins, to control transcription of selected promoters as well as the functional interplay between the aforementioned proteins in vitro by studying DNA-protein interaction and protein-DNA binding competition (band shift and footprint).
Research Group
Vincenzo Scarlato (Full professor)
Alberto Danielli (Research associate)
Davide Roncarati (Post-doc)
Francesca Agriesti (PhD student)
Matteo Metruccio (PhD student)
Simona Romagnoli (Post doc)
Laura Fantappié (PhD student)
