Role of O-linked glycosylation system across the Burkholderia genus

Summary The goal of this project is to understand the role, diversity and machinery responsible for glycosylation in Bukholderia species.

Project Details

Protein glycosylation, the chemical addition of sugars to proteins, is an important but poorly understood aspect of bacterial physiology. Within the Burkholderia genus, we have discovered a highly conserved O-linked glycosylation system. The conservation of this system across pathogenic and non-pathogenic species suggests that glycosylation plays a far more fundamental role in the physiology of Bukholderia than previously thought. The goal of this project is to understand the role, diversity and machinery responsible for glycosylation in Bukholderia species. By studying glycosylation within Burkholderia we aim to gain a fundamental understanding of this biological processes and how it contributes to bacterial survival. The long-term goal of this project is to learn how we can target protein glycosylation to generate new antimicrobial agents, and how we can exploit bacterial glycosylation systems to generate novel glycoconjugates such as vaccines.