Research projects of current students
- Tobias Petters
- Start date: Aug. 2008
- Nationality: German
- Diploma thesis:
“Analysis of proteins in the FruA signal transduction pathway in Myxococcus xanthus”. (2008) Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany
- Research group:
AG Søgaard-Andersen, Dept. of Ecophysiology, MPI
- Research project description
Myxococcus xanthus is known as a model organism to study bacterial development and gliding motility. Unlike most other bacteria M. xanthus possesses two motility systems which work independently of each other. The A-system allows single cell movement while the S-system generally depends on direct cell-cell contact. The engine in the S-motility system is type IV pili. The proper functioning of type IV pili depends on the extracellular matrix. The focus of my studies is the characterization of two component regulatory systems which regulates the accumulation of the extracellular matrix. In my project I use molecular approaches to characterize the various two component proteins and how they interact in vivo. I also use biochemical approaches to characterize the interaction between proteins in vitro.
