Biswarup Banerjee, PhD Candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences at UW-Milwaukee, will present a talk about his research, entitled “An Insight Into AraC Family Transcription Factor VfmE as a c-di-GMP Binding Effector in a Plant Pathogen Dickeya dadantii.”

Dickeya dadantii is a phytopathogenic bacterium that uses the type III secretion system (T3SS) to secrete effector proteins to disarm the host cell responses. At later stages of infection, it degrades host cell walls using cell wall degrading enzymes, pectate lyase (Pel), secreted via the type II secretion system. Cyclic diguanylate monophosphate (c-di-GMP), a bacterial second messenger, negatively regulates the expression of Pel and T3SS genes in D. dadantii, and the homeostasis of c-di-GMP is maintained by a number of diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases. Biswarup uncovered VfmE, an AraC family transcriptional regulator in the Vfm quorum sensing system, binds to c-di-GMP and inverses downstream phenotypes. VfmE binds c-di-GMP via its RxxxR motif and R93D mutation of VfmE eliminated the c-di GMP-related phenotypes in pelD and hrpA transcription. In Biswarup’s work, he elucidated the regulatory pathways of Pel and T3SS in VfmE and the differential downstream gene expression when VfmE binds c-di-GMP.

The presentation will begin at 4:00 PM in Lapham N101 and via Microsoft Teams, preceded by an informal Q&A from 3:45 – 4:00 PM. If you aren’t able to join in person, you can click here to join via Teams.