IDENTIFICATION OF GENES DIRECTLY REGULATED BY A NOVEL ESSENTIAL DNA-BINDING PROTEIN YEAZ OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL AUREUS

• Sponsoring Institution: State Agricultural Experiment Station
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: STATE
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1000177
• Project Start Date: Jul 1, 2013
• Project End Date: Dec 31, 2013
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108

Performing Department
Veterinary Biomedical Sciences

Non Technical Summary
Staphylococcus aureus is a major bacterial pathogen that can cause both human and animal infections ranging from minor infections to life threatening diseases. The prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is now generating serious public health concern. In addition, the emergence of MRSA in food animals threatens the farmers and meat industry. Because of the failure of traditional antibiotics treatment of MRSA, there is an urgent need to develop alternate anti-microbial agents. Our lab previously identified a novel essential protein YeaZ in S. aureus. We discoverd that YeaZ is a novel DNA-binding protein, as we found that YeaZ directly regulates the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids. However, the mechanism behind the essentiality of YeaZ is still unknown. Since YeaZ is a transcription regulator, the essentiality may be associated with the regulated targets of YeaZ. Therefore we hypothesize that the essentiality of YeaZ is attributable to its regulation of genes involved in critical pathways for bacterial survival.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

100%

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
722	4010	1100	100%

Knowledge Area
722 - Zoonotic Diseases and Parasites Affecting Humans;

Subject Of Investigation
4010 - Bacteria;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology;

Keywords

staphylococcus aureus

mrsa

essential gene

yeaz

Goals / Objectives
Staphylococcus aureus is a major bacterial pathogen that can cause both human and animal infections. The emergence of multidrug resistant S. aureus isolates, especially methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) causes serious concerns in public health. It is critical to identify new theraputic agents to combat MRSA infections. The objective of this project is to identify the regulon of YeaZ, a novel and essential DNA-binding protein.

Project Methods
1. We will construct a GST fusion YeaZ expression system in a MRSA. 2. We will identify the direct binding sequences of YeaZ using advanced ChIP-Seq technologies.

Progress 07/01/13 to 12/31/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This grant provided a strong support for a postdoctoral associate in my laboratory. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this project, we have established ChIP-seq methodology in S. aureus and E. coli. The DNA fragments from ChIP assays were sent for sequencing analysis. The identification of the DNA regions of binding staphylococcal YeaZ in E. coli is in progress.

Publications