2251/1 - Adaptation and persistence of the emerging pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii

Project outline:

Taking the lead in the arms race against their host’s immune system is characteristic for all successful pathogens. The multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains have proven increasingly successful in coping with this challenge. Preliminary results indicate that this success is tightly linked to A. baumannii’s high genetic flexibility both with respect to modifying existing information and with respect to mining its environment for novel genetic information. The DFG research group 2251/1 “Adaptation and persistence of the emerging pathogen A. baumannii” is dedicated to address the precise nature underlying A. baumannii pathogenicity from different starting point.

Our project represents the bioinformatics backbone of the research group and has two main objectives. In a broader evolutionary analysis, we will assess the role of natural competence for the acquisition of A. baumannii pathogenicity related factors and for general bacterial evolution. Software development for establishing function-aware phylogenetic profiles of large protein sets will be a central work package. In a complementary approach, we will use comparative genomics to identify the genetic basis of A. baumannii virulence. To this end, we will complement publicly available genome sequences of A. baumannii with in-house determined sequences of selected clinical strains. We will then trace the evolutionary origins of virulence factors in a phylogenomic network of bacterial diversity. The results from both objectives will then be integrated in a web-accessible database that distributes information to all project partners.

More information about the project: http://www.bio.uni-frankfurt.de/51172482

CONTACT

Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main

Department for Applied Bioinformatics

Institute for Cell Biology and Neuroscience

Prof. Dr. Ingo Ebersberger

Max-von-Laue Str. 13
D-60438 Frankfurt
GERMANY

Phone   +49 69 798 - 42112

Secretary
Anne Hänel
Campus Riedberg
Biologicum; Room 3.205
Phone   +49 69 798-42110
Mail       haenel@bio.uni-frankfurt.de

How to reach us