BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Kendrew Lecture- Bacterial Quorum Sensing and its Control  - Bonni
 e Bassler\, Princeton University\, USA 
DTSTART:20161024T100000Z
DTEND:20161024T110000Z
UID:TALK68188@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Scientific Meetings Co-ordinator
DESCRIPTION:Bacteria communicate with one another via the production and d
 etection of secreted signal molecules called autoinducers. This cell-to-ce
 ll communication process\, called Quorum Sensing\, allows bacteria to sync
 hronize behavior on a population-wide scale. Behaviors controlled by quoru
 m sensing are usually ones that are unproductive when undertaken by an ind
 ividual bacterium acting alone but become effective when undertaken in uni
 son by the group. For example\, quorum sensing controls virulence factor p
 roduction\, biofilm formation\, and the excretion of public goods such as 
 enzymes that solubilize solid food sources making them accessible for cons
 umption. We developed small molecule quorum-sensing agonists and antagonis
 ts to discover the principles underlying the exquisite selectivity quorum-
 sensing receptors have for their cognate ligands. Our results suggest mech
 anisms bacteria use in the wild to ensure the proper ligand has interacted
  with its partner receptor prior to eliciting signal transduction. We sugg
 est that\, in their native environments\, bacteria encounter mixtures of a
 utoinducers produced by other species occupying the same niche. Precise au
 toinducer discrimination enables a particular species of bacteria to respo
 nd exclusively to its own signal even in the face of fierce competition. T
 his ability prevents the leakage of benefits of quorum-sensing-controlled 
 public goods to non-kin. Beyond learning about fundamental principles unde
 rlying quorum sensing\, another use for our synthetic molecules is to cont
 rol quorum sensing on demand. Indeed\, our most potent quorum sensing modu
 lators protect animals from quorum-sensing-mediated killing by pathogenic 
 bacteria and prevent biofilm formation. These results validate the notion 
 that targeting quorum sensing has potential for antimicrobial drug develop
 ment.\n\n\n 
LOCATION:Max Perutz Lecture Theatre\, Medical Research Council (MRC) (MRC 
 Laboratory of Molecular Biol
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR