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Remy Loris
Programmed Bacterial Cell Death and Plasmid Addiction
VIB Department of Molecular and Cellular Interactions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
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PhD: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, '94
Postdoc: Univ. of Leicester, Leicester, UK, '97-'98
Postdoc: CERMAV, Grenoble, France, '97-'99
Postdoc: Free Univ. of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
VIB Project Leader since 2000
VIB Expert Scientist since 2009 |
e-mail
phone +32 2 629 19 89
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Current team members
Expert: Remy Loris
Postdoctoral scientist: Lieven Buts
Ph.D. Students: Valentina Zorzini, Yann Sterckx
Keywords
protein structure and conformation - bacterial TA modules - lectins - structural glycobiology
Science
The interests of our group encompass the broad area of structure-function relationships in proteins. Although our expertise lies primarily in macromolecular crystallography, we are furthermore interested in topics that combine crystallography and biophysics.
Although we have been involved in many structural biology projects, the major emphasis of our group is on bacterial TA modules. These are operons encoding a stable toxin and a labile antidote. They play a major role in bacterial stress physiology by temporarily halting cell division when nutrients are scarce. They are proposed to be involved in multidrug resistance. We have characterized in detail the biophysical and biochemical properties of the proteins belonging to the E. coli ccdAB and mazEF TA systems. This led to the elucidation of the first crystal structure of a TA toxin (CcdB), the first structure of a toxin:target complex (CcdB bound to a relevant fragment of gyrase) and the first structure of a TA antidote (MazE). Ongoing research in this field focuses on interactions between toxins and antidotes, on interactions of the antidotes and toxin:antidote complexes with DNA and on the ribonuclease activity of the toxin MazF.
For many years, we have been active as well in the field of structural glycobiology. With the tools of X-ray crystallography and calorimetry, our group investigated structure-function relationships of leguminous lectins. This has led to a detailed picture on how carbohydrate selectivity is achieved within this lectin family. The knowledge gained on plant lectins is currently used in collaborative investigations on a number of bacterial lectins and adhesins.
Press Release
See also press release (30/07/2009): Bacteria pack their own demise based on a publication in Molecular Cell (De Jonge N. et al., Mol. Cell, 2009)
Selected Publications
Garcia-Pino A, Balasubramanian S, Wyns L, Gazit E, De Greve H, Magnuson R, Charlier D, van Nuland N, Loris R
Allostery and intrinsic disorder mediate transcription regulation by conditional cooperativity
CELL 142, 101-11, 2010
De Jonge N, Garcia-Pino A, Buts L, Haesaerts S, Charlier D, Zangger K, Wyns L, De Greve H, Loris R
Rejuvenation of CcdB-poisoned gyrase by an intrinsically disordered protein domain
MOL CELL 35, 154-63, 2009
Johansson E, Crusz S, Kolomiets E, Buts L, Kadam R, Cacciarini M, Bartels K, Diggle S, Camara M, Williams P, Loris R, Nativi C, Rosenau F, Jaeger K, Darbre T, Reymond J
Inhibition and dispersion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms by glycopeptide dendrimers targeting the fucose-specific lectin LecB
CHEM BIOL 15, 1249-57, 2008
De Genst E, Silence K, Decanniere K, Conrath K, Loris R, Kinne J, Muyldermans S, Wyns L
Molecular basis for the preferential cleft recognition by dromedary heavy-chain antibodies
P NATL ACAD SCI USA 103, 4586-91, 2006
Buts L, Lah J, Dao-Thi M, Wyns L, Loris R
Toxin-antitoxin modules as bacterial metabolic stress managers
TRENDS BIOCHEM SCI 30, 672-679, 2005
Search Publications
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