Contract: 68/01/10/2015
Duration: 24 months
Project start: 01.10.2015
Project end: 30.09.2017
Summary
Regulation of intracellular Na+ concentration and pH is
a prerequisite for the survival of any organism. The main
effectors of this process are secondary active transport systems,
the Na+/H+ antiporters or exchangers that
exist in virtually all organisms. Understanding of Na+/H+
antiporters is crucial as they have been shown in humans to be
involved in various pathologies, while in bacteria they can be
essential for survival and virulence. Klebsiella pneumoniae
is one pathogen that has, in recent years, become resistant to
common antibiotic therapy and can cause infections with a high
mortality rate in immunocompromised or debilitated patients. A
better understanding of transporter systems in K. pneumoniae
might thus allow for development of more effective treatment
options. In the framework of our project, we plan to characterize
the Na+/H+ transport systems of K.
pneumoniae: KpNhaA1, KpNhaA2, KpNhaB and KpNhaP2. This will
be done mainly by the use of solid-supported membrane-based
electrophysiology in combination with fluorimetric techniques.
Overall, our goal is to obtain a better understanding of Na+/H+
antiport in K. pneumoniae and determine kinetic parameters
allowing us to model antiporter function under given environmental
conditions. We will also test various inhibitors in order to
determine potential means of inhibiting Na+/H+
antiport in K. pneumoniae.
Research team
Lecturer Dr. Octavian Călinescu - Project Director
Prof. Dr. Constanța Ganea - Senior Researcher
Dr. Adrian Iftime - Postdoctoral Researcher
Ioana Tofolean - PhD Student
Alexandru Filippi - PhD Student
Rodica Zaharia - Technical Assistant
Scientific activity reports
Phase I (2015, english,
pdf)
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