PhD Seminar: Cayla Burk
PhD Oral Examination for Cayla Burk
Date: Thursday, August 22nd, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Location: MaRS 1522
Or via Zoom:
Meeting ID: 816 3638 9299
Passcode: 194694
Abstract (Access PDF Version):
Characterizing a Novel Phage Tail-Like Bacteriocin in Salmonella and Escherichia.
Bacteriophage tail-like bacteriocins, or tailocins, are phage tail-like particles that facilitate interbacterial competition. They are evolutionarily and structurally related to phage tails, and have evolved numerous times from different phages throughout several bacterial classes. In this work, I present a comprehensive analysis of a novel tailocin cluster that we identified in Salmonella and Escherichia. I demonstrate that this tailocin cluster is conserved throughout several S. enterica subspecies, and that it is conserved at the same locus in the closely related genus Escherichia. I define the essential components of this tailocin, describe several features that are novel in the context of tailocin biology, and demonstrate that this tailocin can be classified into groups on the basis of its receptor binding proteins. I then focus on tailocin regulation in Salmonella, showing that this tailocin is DNA damage-inducible and characterizing expression from several tailocin promoters. I identify the tailocin transcriptional regulator, and I illustrate that overexpression of this regulator can be used to specifically induce tailocin production for downstream characterization. This work expands upon a previously unappreciated aspect of Salmonella and Escherichia biology, and lays the groundwork for further tailocin characterization in these genera.