IMSE Webinar Series
Challenges in Antimicrobial Resistance
The challenge that will be discussed in this session is:
Studying Ratcheting Complexity in Evolution
electron cryotomography and fluorescence light microscopy imaging of Campylobacter flagellar motility
Join us for this informal webinar with Dr Morgan Beeby. There will be an opportunity for question and answer after the presentation. To join this webinar you must register in advance and you will be emailed the joining instructions for the webinar.
Abstract
How the blossoming complexity of life on earth has developed is a profound question for humankind in our quest to understand our place in the universe. In the process of studying the Campylobacter flagellar motor as a case study in the evolution of molecular machines, we have found that effective motility is a product of co-evolution of the motor, filament, and cell shape that have lead to an irreversibly increase in complexity. In earlier studies, we found that the evolution of the Campylobacter flagellar motor incorporated many additional proteins that facilitate increased torque production; these additional proteins have now become essential. We now report that Campylobacter’s flagellar filament structure and cell shape have co-evolved with this high torque motor. Campylobacter coordinates its two apparently opposed flagella by wrapping the leading filament around the cell body while the lagging filament pushes from behind, and to do this it has evolved a zoned flagellar filament with different mechanical properties at different positions along its length. Curiously, we have also found that Campylobacter’s helical cell shape—long proposed to contribute to corkscrewing through viscous fluids—plays another, previously unappreciated function: unwrapping of the wrapped helical flagellum requires that the cell body is a helix of opposite handedness; without this, the wrapped filament struggles to unwrap. I will describe our published and unpublished work to understand Campylobacter motility using electron cryo-tomography, bacterial genetics, fluorescent video microscopy and pylogenetics; and discuss the broader implications for molecular evolution.
Biography
Dr Morgan Beeby
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, Senior Lecturer
Dr Beeby is interested in how the molecular machinery of the cell assembles, functions, and evolves. To tackle this problem his lab uses electron cryo-tomography, a technique that enables us to visualise this machinery inside living cells — to resolutions capable of discerning individual proteins.
He is co-director of the Department of Life Science’s MRes in Structural Molecular Biology.
If you have any questions about accessibility requirements please email Leah Adamson (IMSE Events Officer) on l.adamson@imperial.ac.uk
More webinars in the Antimicrobial Resistance Webinar series:
- 30 April 14.00 Viral Interferon Inhibiting Proteins and Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines presented by Dr Anna Blakney
- 7 May 14.00 Studying Ratcheting Complexity in Evolution presented by Dr Morgan Beeby
- 14 May 14.00 Engineering Smart Surfaces: From The Laboratory Towards Real Life Use presented by Professor Nicholas Harrison, Professor Daryl Williams and Dr Gerald Larrouy-Maumus
- 21 May 14.00 How Artificial Gut Systems Show How Gut Microbiota Protect from Infection presented by Dr Julie McDonald
- 28 May 14.00 Synthetic Biology in Yeast for Sensing Pathogens Secreting Antimicrobials presented by Professor Tom Ellis
- 4 June 14.00 Microchip Technology enabling rapid diagnostics for infectious diseases: From AMR to COVID-19 presented by Dr Pantelis Georgiou
- 18 June 14.00 Low Cost Polymeric Materials with Anti-Microbial Properties presented by Professor Daryl Williams
- 25 June 14.00 Lymphatic System Transport and Vaccine Adjuvants presented by Professor James Moore
For more information about IMSE involvement with surfaces to combat Antimicrobial Resistance please read our briefing paper Smart Surfaces to Tackle Infection and Anti Microbial Resistance