Program

Sunday, June 19, 2011 – Afternoon

• 2:00 Welcome remarks – Jim Hoch

Physiology

CHAIR: Josef Deutscher

• 2:15 – 2:30 T1, Elaine Milohanic, INRA and AgroParis Tech, Thiverval-Grignon, France
  • ManR regulates the expression of the main Listeria monocytogenes glucose/mannose transporter and uses a second glucose transporter as substrate sensor.

• 2:30 – 2:45 T2, Boris Görke, Dept. of General Microbiology, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
  • Crh, the homolog of the phosphor-carrier protein HPr, regulates a glycolytic bypass in Bacillus subtilis.

• 2:45 – 3:00 T3, Jean-Michel Jault, Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble, France
  • The unusual activity of a GTPase from Bacillus subtilis, YphC (or EngA), involved in ribosome biogenesis.

• 3:00 – 3:15 T4, Yuka Kazo, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Life Science, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
  • Analysis of dimerization of 70S ribosome, and yvyD gene during stationary phase in Bacillus subtilis.

• 3:15 – 3:30 T5, Donald A. Morrison, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • Regulation of the competence regulon in Group A and Group B streptococci: Pyogenic Type II ComR receptors recognize small species-specific peptide pheromones when expressed in a heterologous host.

• 3:30 – 3:45 T6, Nathalie Campo, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse, France
  • X-state (competence) development causes transient cell cycle alterations in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

• 3:45 – 4:00 T7, Maria C. Mansilla, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular, Univ. Nac.de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina
  • A novel pathway for lipoic acid synthesis in Gram-positive bacteria.

• 4:00 – 4:15 T8, Jörg Stülke, Dept. of General Microbiology, Georg-August- Univeristy Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
  • A novel factor controlling bistability in Bacillus subtilis: The YmdB protein affects biofilm formation and motility.

Genome Engineering

CHAIR: Mike Rasmussen

• 4:45 – 5:00 T9, Robert A. Britton, Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing Michigan, USA
  • Recombineering in lactic acid bacteria.

• 5:00 – 5:15 T10, Ghislain Schyns, DSM Nutritional Products, Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
  • Learning from probiotics to improve biological availability of feed enzymes.

• 5:15 – 5:30 T11, Sébastien Potot, DSM Nutritional Products, Biotechnology, Basel, Switzerland
  • Mixing bacterial genomes to identify critical mutations in Bacillus subtilis industrial strains.

• 5:30 – 5:45 T12, Philippe Jacques, Université Lille, France
  • Environmental factors and pleiotropic regulators influence homologous compound pattern of mycosubtilin produced by Bacilius subtilis ATCC 6633.

• 5:45 – 6:00 T13, Philippe Noirot, INRA, Jouy en Josas, France
  • Systematic identification of dispensable genome parts in Bacillus subtilis coupled with metabolic model reconstruction.

Monday, June 20, 2011 – Morning

Cell Wall

CHAIR: Kevin Devine

• 8:15 – 9:00, Jeff Errington, Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
  • Keynote Lecture: Emergence and proliferation of B. subtilis L-forms.

• 9:00 – 9:15 T14, Olaf Schneewind, Dept. of Microbiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • LytN, a murein hydrolase in the cross wall compartment of Staphylococcus aureus, is required for bacterial growth and envelope assembly.

• 9:15 – 9:30 T15, Hèléne Bierne, Institut Pasteur, Unité des interactions bactéries-cellules, Inserm, Paris, France
  • A regulated switch from helical to polar localization of Listeria monocytogenes cell wall-anchored proteins.

• 9:30 – 9:45 T16 Sven Halbedel, Dept. of Bacterial Infections, Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode, Germany
  • A role for the membrane curvature sensor DivIVA in cell separation and virulence of Listeria monocytogenes.

• 9:45 – 10:00 T17, Teresa Costa, ITQB, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal
  • Control of Bacillus subtilis cell shape by the novel cytoskeletal element RodZ.

• 10:00 – 10:15 T18, Julia Domínguez-Escobar, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany
  • Processive movement of MreB-associated cell wall biosynthetic complexes in bacteria. In vivo visualization of sidewall biosynthetic machineries in Bacillus subtilis.

• 10:15 – 10:30 T19, Anne Galinier, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
  • The YvcK protein is required for morphogenesis via localization of PBP1 under gluconeogenic growth conditions in Bacillus subtilis.

Cell Wall, continued

CHAIR: Jeff Errington

• 11:00 – 11:15 T20, Letal Salzberg, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trintiy College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
  • WalR-WalK (YycF-YycG)-mediated control of cell wall metabolism in Bacillus subtilis: linking autolysins and actin-like proteins.

• 11:15 – 11:30 T21, Hiraku Takada, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
  • Involvement of essential lipid synthetic enzyme, PlsX, in the cell division machinery.

• 11:30 – 11:45 T22, Maria-Halima Laaberki, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
  • The unexpected role of O-acetylation of peptidoglycan in cell separation and S-layer anchoring in Bacillus anthracis.

• 11:45 – 12:00 T23, Michel-Yves Mistou, INRA, Institut Micalis, Jouy-en-Josas, France
  • Outer polysaccharide pellicle: a structural component of Gram positive bacteria cell wall.

• 12:00 – 12:15 T24, Rick Lewis, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
  • The decoration of peptidoglycan by teichoic acids: the missing enzymatic step revealed by X-ray crystallography?

Monday, June 20, 2011 – Afternoon

Structure

CHAIR: Jim Hoch

• 2:00 – 2:15 T25, Wayne F. Anderson, Northwestern University CSGID, Chicago, Illinois USA
  • Applying structural genomics – revealing the bacterial surface one protein structure at a time.

• 2:15 – 2:30 T26, Catarina G. Fernandes, ITQB, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal
  • From the crystal structure of the Tgl transglutaminase to the cross-linking of the spore surface layers.

• 2:30 – 2:45 T27, Claes von Wachenfeldt, Dept. of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
  • Redox sensing by Rex family repressors.

• 2:45 – 3:00 T28, Marion Boudes, IBBMC, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
  • Structural and functional study of ComE, a key actor in S. pneumoniae competence.

• 3:00 – 3:15 T29, Hendrik Szurmant, Dept. of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
  • Sensor histidine kinase signaling: An active conformation deduced from integrating genomics, molecular dynamics and mutagenesis.

Sporulation/ germination

CHAIR: Charles Moran

• 3:45 – 4:00 T30, Michael Young, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, United Kindom
  • Multiple orphan histidine kinases interact directly with Spo0A to control the initiation of endospore formation in Clostridium acetobutylicum.

• 4:00 – 4:15 T31, Lei Shi, INRA-AgroParis Tech, Micalis Institute, Jouy-en-Josas, France
  • Phosphorylated bacterial recombinase checks chromosome integrity during spore formation.

• 4:15 – 4:30 T32, Patrick Piggot, Dept. Microbiol. & Immunol., Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Compartmentalization of σE Activity During Sporulation of Bacillus subtilis: Much Ado About What?

• 4:30 – 4:45 T33, Adriano Henriques, ITQB, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal
  • A negative feedback loop that limits the ectopic activation of a cell type-specific sporulation sigma factor of Bacillus subtilis.

• 4:45 – 5:00 T34, Thierry Doan, Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  • Bacterial membrane fission during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.

• 5:00 – 5:15 T35, Tony Wilkinson, Dept. of Chemistry, University of York, UK
  • Structural and Interaction Studies of an Intercellular Complex Mediating Engulfment during Sporulation in B. subtilis.

• 5:15 – 5:30 T36, Patrick Eichenberger, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Dept. of Biology, New York University, New York, USA
  • A Spatial and Temporal map of the Bacillus subtilis Spore Coat.

• 5:30 – 5:45 T37, Alex Ter Beek, Molecular Biology & Microbial Food Safety, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Live-cell imaging of aerobic bacteria: a tool to assess and model heterogeneous germination & outgrowth of Bacillus subtilis spores.

Poster Session I

• 5:45 – 7:45, Palazzo dei Congressi Sala Alba

Tuesday, June 21, 2011– Morning

Pathogenic Sporeformers - Clostridia

CHAIR: Mike Young

• 8:30 – 9:15, Neil Fairweather, Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Dept. of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
  • Keynote Lecture: The cell wall of Clostridium difficile – is variability a key to pathogenesis?

• 9:15 – 9:30 T38, Linc Sonenshein, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  • Regulation of Clostridium difficile virulence.

• 9:30 – 9:45 T39, Zhen Zhang, Centre of Excellence in Microbial Food Safety Research, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • A Two-Component System Negatively Regulates Botulinum Neurotoxin Expression.

• 9:45 – 10:00 T40, Eric A. Johnson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
  • Identification, Purification and Characterization of Botulinum Neurotoxin BoNT/A Subtype Toxins.

• 10:00 – 10:15 T41, Stephen Melville, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
  • Spatial and temporal linkage of type IV pili assembly and division septum formation in Clostridium perfringens.

• 10:15 – 10:30 T42, Jon Marles-Wright, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
  • Towards an understanding of the anatomy of Clostridial bacterial microcompartments.

Pathogenic Sporeformers - Bacillus anthracis

CHAIR: Olaf Schneewind

• 11:00 – 11:15 T43, Theresa M. Koehler, Dep.t of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Texas, USA
  • Modulation of the Bacillus anthracis Secretome.

• 11:15 – 11:30 T44, Susanne Pohl, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
  • The secondary secretion pathway in Bacillus anthracis.

• 11:30 – 11:45 T45, Agnès Fouet, Toxines et Pathogénie Bactériennes, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
  • Bacillus anthracis virulence regulator AtxA mediates bicarbonate induction of toxin gene expression.

• 11:45 – 12:00 T46, Colin Harwood, Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
  • Are superoxide ions a key environmental signal for the Bacillus anthracis pathogenic life cycle?