Spirochetes are long, thin helical bacteria that look and move like a corkscrew. Pathogenic spirochetes cause serious diseases such as syphilis, Lyme disease and leptospirosis. At the same time, many spirochetes are non-pathogenic free-living species. The focal point of our research is the spirochetal RNA polymerase, the enzyme that carries out the first step in gene expression, synthesis of RNA. Numerous accessory proteins bind to RNA polymerase and modulate its properties to regulate transcription. Spirochetal genomes encode very special regulatory proteins that are not found in the well-characterized bacteria such as Escherichia coli. Our analyses of these unique regulatory proteins and the conserved components of the spirochetal transcription system will help to understand the regulation of the virulence-related genes and pave the way for the development of more effective treatments of spirochetal infections.

2021

2025