Lotte Sogaard-Andersen

Bacterial development and differentiation

Bacterial cells process vast amounts of information to generate and regulate sophisticated output responses such as adaptation, differentiation, growth and cell movement. In our research we pursue two overall aims: Firstly, we aim to understand how bacteria process information to generate appropriate output responses. Secondly, we aim to understand how molecular machines involved in motility and cell division and how their activity is regulated.

Information processing is carried out by complex networks of signal transduction proteins. A challenging problem in biology is to understand how these protein networks are organized in space and time to allow the ordered execution of these various tasks. We are probing this question by studying signal transduction pathways and networks governing development, motility, cell polarity, and cell cycle in Myxococcus xanthus.

The model organism: Myxococcus xanthus
Intercellular signaling in fruiting body formation
Two-component signal transduction systems in fruiting body formation
Regulation of motility: Type IV pili & the A-engine
Regulation of cell polarity
Positive regulation of cell division in bacteria