The ecological role & structure-activity relationship of antimicrobial linear azol(in)e-containing peptides in foodborne human pathogens

Linear azol(in)e-containing peptides (LAPs) are a group of bacterial ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides, often exhibiting strong antimicrobial activity. Despite their structural similarity, the mode of action and activity spectrum of LAPs show a remarkable diversity of which the structural basis and functional significance is poorly understood. This project proposal aims to investigate the structure-activity relationship, ecological role and evolutionary flexibility of LAPs from Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus, three notorious foodborne pathogens with different lifestyles. It will adopt an interdisciplinary approach based on a combination of enzymology, molecular microbiology, bioinformatics, bacterial genetics and analytical chemistry.

Keywords:structure-activity relationship, foodborne pathogens, microbial ecology

Disciplines:Characterisation of biologically active (macro)molecules, Natural products chemistry, Bacteriology