NIH R01 · 2024
MEMBRANES OF THE DENTAL PATHOGEN STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANS
Project Summary. Streptococccus mutans is a ubiquitous oral bacterium and prominent etiologic agent of human dental caries. Certain strains can also cause bacterial endocarditis and invade human coronary epithelial cells. US health care costs associated with dental decay alone are over $64 billion annually. This project addresses membrane protein insertion in S. mutans. A semi-permeable lipid bilayer membrane encloses all cells and determines cellular function by dictating what can cross by virtue of proteins embedded within differing lipid milieus. S. mutans shares features common to other bacterial membrane protein insertion systems, and those of eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum and…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.