The structural plasticity of an essential toxin-secretion system in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The growing resistance of microbes to medicines used to prevent and treat infections is a global health threat. The pathogenic bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis already kills >1 million people per year and is increasingly developing resistance to the few available treatments we have. One way that M. tuberculosis survives in humans is by secreting a toxin that kills immune cells. This toxin relies on proper and efficient secretion at the right time for effective killing, therefore making the machinery that secretes it a good target for drug discovery efforts. This project seeks to understand the role of a crucial component of the system that exports this toxin from the bacteria, by uncovering how this component is structured and assembled. The understanding of this system will give us the knowledge that may help to develop the urgently needed new treatments for tackling this global pandemic.