Description:

Title:

Nucleotide Signaling and Chronic Biofilm-Based infections by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Topic:

Use of inserted medical devices during healthcare treatment creates foreign surfaces that permit diverse microbes to colonize and form biofilms. One such opportunistic pathogen is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here I will discuss two separate topics: 1. nucleotide degradation and signaling in P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and 2. how P. aeruginosa cause disease and colonize the bladder using a murine model of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). I will discuss how RNA degradation contributes to biofilm formation because the process ends in a discrete step in which linear diribonucleotides are recycled into the mononucleotide pools. Our recent work reveal that clearance of these linear dinucleotides is an essential process and suggest that they are biologically active molecules monitored by the cell. For CAUTI, I will present data regarding the events following introduction of bacteria into the bladder that can lead to chronic colonization on the catheter surface.
 

Speaker: Vincent T. Lee,  Professor, University of Maryland

Host: M-I Dept. Bacteriology Students. and Postocs /Alexandre Le Scornet, PhD, Coordinating Host