The hypoxic response of M. tuberculosis.

In Collaboration with Prof. Ted Baker

Decreased oxygen concentration is thought to be important for the bacterium’s entry into an antibiotic-resistant, non-replicating persistent (NRP) state in its human host, allowing it to persist for long periods of time, sometimes decades, before it re-emerges to cause disease. We have focussed on a set of proteins that are very highly expressed in response to hypoxia, but whose functions remain unclear, and have solved the structure of one of them. We are testing whether they interact with each other to form complexes, and pursuing hypotheses regarding their biochemical functions.