biological sciences HONOURs 2014 - The University of Sydney

MOLECULAR GENETICS
21
Research Interests
Multiresistant strains of the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus
aureus (Golden Staph) are a frequent cause of hospitalacquired
infections worldwide, and are an increasing cause of
serious infections in the wider community. One reason for the
success of S. aureus as a hospital pathogen is the resistance
of some strains to up to twenty different antimicrobial
compounds, e.g., antibiotics, antiseptics and disinfectants.
In my lab we use genetical, molecular biology, biochemical,
biophysical, cell biology, genomics, functional genomics
and bioinformatic methods to gain an understanding of the
genetic basis, mechanisms, and evolution of resistance in
staphylococci.
Honours project
1. Functional Analysis of Fst-like toxin-antitoxin systems
from S. aureus. We recently identified numerous toxin-antitoxin
(TA) systems on plasmids and chromosomes of staphylococci.
Usually these TA systems encode a small protein toxin and
an antisense RNA molecule that serves as an antitoxin by
preventing translation of the toxin protein. The TA systems
are likely to promote the inheritance of resistance plasmids,
even in the absence of selection by antibiotics. However, the
Associate Professor
Neville Firth
Room 215, Macleay
Building A12
T: (02) 9351 3369
E: neville.firth@sydney.
edu.au
role of chromosomally-encoded TA systems is more mysterious. The aim of this project is to
demonstrate the functionality of specific staphylococcal TA systems and to use mutagenesis to
begin to elucidate their mechanism of action at the molecular level.