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Structure and Functions of Proteins Regulating Bacterial Transcription
Doctoral study program
Life Sciences (Faculty of Science, Masaryk University)
Supervisor
Annotation
The PhD project is a continuation of previous studies of the research group, in collaboration with the Libor Krasny of Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of The Czech Academy of Sciences. Krasny’s lab discovered several proteins of Gram-positive bacteria that play so far little understood roles in transcription regulation. The goal of the project is to combine structural biology approaches to establish relation between structure, biophysical properties, and function of these proteins and other poorly understood bacterial transcription factors. The particular aims include maping of transient interactions of the delta subunit with the RNA polymerase core of Bacillus subtilis, interplay between delta subunit and sigma factors, interactions of a recently discovered transcription factor MoaB2 with mycobacterial sigma factors and RNA polymerases. Cryo-electron microscopy will be used as a major tool to study structures of the proteins in complexes with RNA polymerase. A particular attention will be paid to dynamics of the proteins, that often contain large disordered regions, where cryo-EM data will be combined with results of NMR spectroscopy. As alternative methods, FRET (and potentially EPR in collaboration with V. Laguta) using advanced labelling techniques will be used. The project should result in publications in respected journals with the student being the (shared) first author.
Recommended literature
- Camacho-Zarco et al., Chem. Reviews. 2022, 122, 9331-9356. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c01023
- Kubáň et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 16817-16828. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b07837.
Research area
Infectious diseases
Keywords
Bacterial RNA polymerase, transcritpion factors, protein dynamics, intrinsically disordered proteins, cryo-electron microscopy, NMR spectroscopy
Funding of the PhD candidate
In the academic year 2026/27 the net income of the CEITEC PhD School student is expected to be at least CZK 29,400 (approx. EUR 1215).
GAČR grant 25-16037S (2025-2027, grant holder Lukáš Žídek).
Requirements for candidate
Strong background in biophysics and/or physical chemistry, experience with electron microscopy or NMR spectroscopy is an advantage.
Information about the supervisor
12 supervised students (9 defended, 3 currently supervised), more then 70 publications with > 2000 citations, 10 grants received