Affiliations
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Associate Professor,
Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics
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Member,
Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis GPB Home Area
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Research Interests
Our laboratory studies the molecular basis of how bacterial cells are able to communicate through a process called quorum sensing. We also have begun applying our expertise to study the physiological role of tRNA synthetase editing in bacteria.
QUORUM SENSING
Quorum sensing (QS) is a mechanism by which bacteria secrete and sense signaling molecules in order to monitor their cell density. QS regulates such processes as development, antibiotic production, and virulence. We are working to identify new mechanism of QS and their physiological role. We have identified several putative genes for extracellular signaling peptides in the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, some of which sit inside island of pathogenicity genes. We have recently shown that one of these peptide signaling cassettes is required for virulence by S. pneumoniae. Our goal is to determine whether these putative signaling peptides mediate QS and how they contribute to virulence.
EDITING FUNCTION OF tRNA SYNTHETASES
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are ancient and universally essential enzymes that pair tRNAs with the corresponding amino acids. To enhance accuracy, many aaRSs employ an editing activity that hydrolyzes incorrectly activated amino acids. Editing significantly decreases the frequency of mistakes in vitro, although the physiological role of editing in cells remains unknown, as aaRS editing functions are dispensable under certain conditions and absent in some cell types. Through a combination of genetic and physiological tests, we will determine under what conditions aaRS editing is required for viability. Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that editing is required under conditions of extreme slow cell growth.
Biography
Beth A. Lazazzera is a microbiologist who has been an arrived at UCLA in 1999 and was promoter to associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics in 2007. Dr. Lazazzera earned her B.S. in Microbiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her Ph.D. in Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her doctoral work advanced our understanding of the mechanism by which E. coli cells sense oxygen. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she began her work on bacterial communication, having identified a novel mechanism for bacterial cell-to-cell signaling.
Publications
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