Description du sujet de thèse

In vivo exploration of a new metal uptake pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The PhD project will focus on the in vivo physiological characterization of the new TonZyme pathway while its in vitro biochemical and structural exploration will be conducted elsewhere by external collaborators in the frame of the “TonZyme” consortium. The role of the TonZyme metal import pathway in P. aeruginosa physiology remains to be understood. In this respect our lab has already constructed clean deletion mutants of the TBDT and Tonzyme corresponding genes. When grown under zinc limiting conditions - known to induce Zur regulated operons such as ToneZyme - the two mutants present a modest but significant growth and biofilm formation defect compared to the wild type strain suggesting an involvement of the Tonzyme pathway in P. aeruginosa fitness under metal stringent growth conditions, possibly through the specific uptake of a source of metal.

Contexte de travail

The candidate will work at the LCB. Created in 1962, the LCB is a joint research unit (UMR7283) between the CNRS and Aix Marseille University, located on the Joseph Aiguier campus within the Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée. The laboratory is home to 14 teams, all studying the functioning of bacteria at molecular, cellular, multicellular and ecological levels.
The candidate will work in the BIOLOGY OF TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
IN PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA team, led by Dr Romé Voulhoux.