Unravelling a novel stress-signalling system in bacteria (2019-2023)

This project aims to investigate the recently discovered and broadly conserved cyclic-di-AMP signalling system in industrially important bacteria. Cyclic-di-AMP is essential for normal bacterial growth and plays key roles in heat and antibiotic resistance, metabolism and virulence. New biological assays will be developed to shed light on how bacteria sense and respond to environmental stress. Expected outcomes include a much deeper understanding of signalling inputs and outputs and enhanced international collaborations. This should lead to benefits such as guiding the improvement of bacterial strains used in food and biochemical biotechnological applications, and may provide the foundation for the development of novel antibiotics.