Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Conjugation is one of the ways that antibiotic resistance and pathogenic properties spread throughout a bacterial population. During conjugation, circular pieces of DNA separate from the rest of the bacterial genome called plasmids are transferred from one bacterium to another. Many plasmids contain antibiotic resistance genes and/or genes responsible for secretion of virulence factors that enable bacteria to manipulate host cell processes to ensure their survival. These plasmids exist in diverse bacterial species that cause severe illnesses in humans including Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella and Shigella species, and Escherichia coli. The goal of my research is to use the technique of x-ray crystallography to find the structures of the plasmid-encoded proteins involved in conjugation for the Escherichia coli plasmid pED208. These proteins unwind the plasmid DNA and form a secretion system through which the DNA is transferred to a recipient cell. The detailed information gained from my studies about the shapes and biochemical properties of these proteins will be crucial to our understanding of how these molecules enable conjugation. Understanding conjugation may help us design new tools to protect the public from bacteria-borne diseases.