Randy Morgenstein
Oklahoma State University, OK·Microbiology & Immunology
Bacteria have an internal skeleton, much as our own cells do, yet little is known about what it does beyond giving cells their shape. MreB is the main bacterial version of actin, the protein that forms filaments in animal cells.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biology
Genetics
- Topics
bacterial cytoskeleton
MreB
bacterial actin
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Build an alanine-scanning library of MreB mutants, the bacterial actin, that replace the native gene, and measure effects on rod shape and growth by microscopy and biophysical methods.
- Identify suppressor mutations that restore cell shape in misshapen MreB mutants to reveal how shape is regulated.
- Screen the MreB mutant library for chemotaxis defects to map MreB domains that interact with the chemotaxis machinery.
More about the research
It is thought to be required for the rod shape of many bacteria. Disrupting it often changes cell shape or kills the cell, which makes it a possible but little-used antibiotic target.
Why it matters
Many disease-causing bacteria use flagella-driven swimming to become more virulent. Learning how MreB controls shape, growth and chemotaxis could point to new antibacterial therapies. Such therapies could disrupt basic bacterial physiology or block movement inside the body, slowing infections so the immune system can clear them. The work also sheds light on how the cytoskeleton evolved.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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Ke Hu
Arizona State University Campus Immersion, AZ·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how the cortical microtubule array, the rib-cage-like scaffold of Toxoplasma gondii, begins its pattern at the apical polar ring, using molecular genetics, microscopy and comparative proteomics.
The school
Oklahoma State University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $254M a year on research, 238 research doctorates a year.
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