Project: Understanding the origins of glycan succinylation within the O-linked glycosylation of Burkholderia cenocepacia?
Scott group
O-linked Protein glycosylation, the chemical addition of polymers of sugars referred to as glycans to residues of proteins, enables the augmentation of protein properties and is now known to be widespread in bacterial systems 5-7. Within Burkholderia species O-linked glycosylation occurs within the periplasmic space involving the transfer of a trisaccharide β-Gal-(1,3)-α-GalNAc-(1,3)-β-GalNAc to protein substrates by the oligosaccharyltransferase pglL 7 with the O-linked Glycosylation Cluster (OGC) responsible for the biosynthesis of the O-linked glycan trisaccharide 5. Across multiple Burkholderia species it has been noted that the O-linked trisaccharide can be further modified by succinylation7,8 yet the function as well as the enzyme/s responsible for succinylation are currently unknown. The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of the origins and roles of glycan succinylation observed within the Burkholderia O-linked glycan used for protein glycosylation. Using mutagenesis as well as complementation studies the consequences and roles of potential succinyltransferases will be assessed using proteomic and phenotypic assays. By studying succinylation within B. cenocepacia, we aim to gain insight into how this glycan modification impacts the bacterial proteome and survival.
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Scott group
3 vacancies
The Scott Group focuses on the application of molecular microbiology and mass spectrometry (MS)-based methodologies to characterise microbial systems. The key focus of the lab is understanding how pathogens of the Burkholderia genus cause disease and why proteins decorated with carbohydrates influence Burkholderia pathogenesis.
Projects within the Scott lab: Two broad projects are currently on offer in the Scott lab; Project 1 involves using proteomics and CRISPRi based approaches to understand which glycoproteins are preferentially glycosylated within Burkholderia cenocepacia. Project 2 involves using proteomics to study the impact of Burkholderia cenocepacia infections on Eukaryotic cells using a combination of proteomics approaches.
Scott group Current Projects
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Monitoring O-linked glycosylation dynamics within Burkholderia cenocepacia
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Turning a conserved system bad; Understanding how alterations within O-linked glycosylation biosynthesis results in toxicity in Burkholderia cenocepacia
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Does the capsule glycan of Acinetobacter baumannii functionally impact the O-linked glycoproteome?
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
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Understanding the origins of glycan succinylation within the O-linked glycosylation of Burkholderia cenocepacia?
PhD/MPhil, Master of Biomedical Science, Honours
Research degrees at the Doherty Institute are administered by the University of Melbourne.