Vecchiarelli Lab
Principal Investigator: Anthony G Vecchiarelli
Institution: University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
Subcellular organization in eukaryotic cells is largely governed by linear motor proteins. In bacteria, where linear motors are absent, a widespread family of ParA/MinD (A/D) ATPases are responsible for spatially organizing an array of genetic- and protein-based cellular cargos, the majority of which are unstudied. Of the well-studied examples, ParA ATPases segregate chromosomes and MinD ATPases position cell division in bacteria. Less studied is the growing list of A/D ATPases that spatially organize diverse protein-based cellular cargos, such as bacterial microcompartments (BMCs), flagella, chemotaxis arrays, and conjugation machinery. The long term goal is to understand how A/D ATPases drive and coordinate the positioning of such a diverse set of fundamental cellular cargos across bacteria, including those important to human health. Preliminary data from the project team shows that over a third of all bacteria encode multiple A/D ATPases. Among these bacteria are several human pathogens. The project team identified a nonpathogenic and experimentally tractable bacterium, Halothiobacillus neapolitanus, encoding six A/D ATPases, where each ATPase is dedicated to the positioning of…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35GM152128-03: Coordinated Spatial Organization in Bacteria (2026)
- 5R35GM152128-02: Coordinated Spatial Organization in Bacteria (2025)
- 1R35GM152128-01: Coordinated Spatial Organization in Bacteria (2024)
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