Overview

To survive and thrive, bacteria monitor their surroundings and elicit adaptive responses to changing environmental conditions. Such processes are important for bacteria-host interactions, both pathogenic and commensal, and thus impact health and disease. Two-Component System signal transduction, based on conserved phosphotransfer between a histidine kinase and a response regulator, is the predominant strategy for multi-step stimulus-response coupling in bacteria. Our lab studies mechanisms of regulation in these systems using molecular genetic, biochemical, and structural biology approaches to characterize function in cells and in vitro. Current projects are focused on regulation of dietary fiber utilization by gut bacteria, characterization of chemotaxis protein interactions in a nitrogen fixing bacterium, and elucidation of design principles of Two-Component Systems.