Principal Investigator: Dr. Georgiana Purdy

Contact Information: E-mail: dgr8@cornell.edu - Phone: 607-253-3401
Sponsor: New York Community Trust
Grant Number: N/A
Title: Identification of M. Tuberculosis Lipid Kinases
Annual Direct Cost: $33,500
Project Period: 08/01/05-07/31/06

Tuberculosis infects roughly a third of the world population. The ability of pathogenic mycobacteria to arrest phagosome maturation and establish an intracellular niche within the host macrophage is a hallmark of the infection. The mechanism by which this occurs is not well understood. It is hypothesized that M. tuberculosis actively secretes effectors involved in the arrest of phagosome maturation. Such factors could be protein or lipid kinases that would be delivered to the phagosome lumen where they could target and modulate normal host signaling and intracellular trafficking. The goals of this proposal combine biochemical and genetic approaches towards the identification of M. tuberculosis effector kinases.

The specific aims of this proposal are:

1. The identification of ATP-hydrolyzing enzymes secreted by M. tuberculosis and associated with the M. tuberculosis vacuole.
2. The generation and characterization of M. tuberculosis mutants in secreted effector genes.