Sabbatical: Dirk Springael:Meta-proteomics als hulpmiddel om gemeenschapsbrede activiteit van het mobiele genetische element te onderzoeken - insertie element IS1071

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in microbial adaptation. HGT is governed by the
“mobilome”, i.e., the pool of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) including plasmids, transposons, insertion
sequences, integrons etc. Their presence and abundances in microbial communities can be shown by techniques
as quantitative PCR and meta-genomics but that does not necessarily imply their activity that depends both on
transcriptional and (post)translational regulation. This projects aims to acquire insight about the potential of metaproteomics
to get direct insight in functionally active MGEs in complex communities focusing on insertion
sequence IS1071 (at UMons). In addition, time will be spend at UCL to dive into the genomic landscape of IS1071.