Research projects of current students
- Binbin He
- Start date: October 2010
- Nationality: Chinese
- Master thesis:
Study of archaeal DNA binding protein Sac7d and its binding properties in the presence of compatible solutes” (2010) Institute of microbiology and biotechnology, Bonn University, Bonn, Germany
- Research group:
AG Thanbichler, M;ax Planck Research Group, MPI
- Research project description:
My study focuses on the mechanisms of spatial regulation in Caulobacter crescentus. C. crescentus undergoes asymmetrical cell division, which results in two distinct daughter cells, a mobile swarmer cell and a sessile stalk cell. Many studies have been done to investigate the cell division machinery in this bacterium. From former research two proteins FtsZ and MipZ, were found playing key roles on the cell division regulation. FtsZ, a rather conserved protein among bacteria, constructs the scaffold of Z ring which drives the cell division. The localization of Z ring is critical for producing viable daughter cells, and MipZ is the regulator of FtsZ localization. There are still many open questions as to how the two proteins interact and regulate each other and what mechanisms underlie the precise spatial regulation during cell division. I am trying to provide more information on these open questions by taking advantage of molecular biological, biochemical and cell biological techniques.
