Chapter 9: Identification of Virulence Factors

Biochemical purification

separate proteins from complex mixtures to look at the structure, function, and interaction of protein

biochemical purification isolation

tag, ligang, size, antibody

biochemical purification analysis

NMR, mass spectrometry, or X-ray crystallization

Library screens

scan through cell colonies for genes of interest

selection

only select genes of interest and discard everything else

screening

scan through every cell to see if the property of interest exists

Transporter fusions

tool for studying gene regulation and localization

transcriptional gene fusion

reporter gene reports when gene of interest is transcribed

translational gene fusion

reporter gene fused to a gene of interest in order to report when protein is produced

transposon mutagenesis

palindrome sequence inserted into bacterial genome in order to cause disruptions in the genes.

transposon sequencing (tn-Seq)

determines which genes are important for survival/growth vs. colonization

input pool

in vitro

output pool

in vivo

RNA-seq

technique that analyzes RNA for gene expression (in order to know what genes are expressed during infection)

competitive genomics

compares DNA sequences of different bacterial species

protein microarray

used to study protein interactions and protein expression