SPP 1879:  Nucleotide Second Messenger Signaling in Bacteria

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Biology ; Chemistry
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273125063

The DFG priority programme SPP 1879 is a research consortium studying bacterial second messenger signaling. Its research programme represents the first systematic and comprehensive strategy to understand all fundamental aspects of nucleotide second messenger signaling in bacteria, by including representatives of all clades of the bacterial kingdom and a wide and interdisciplinary spectrum of state-of-the-art methodologies. The first period of SPP 1879 programme started on 1 September 2016 with 18 research projects involving 22 participating research groups and 8 associate members from universities and other research institutions in Germany and Switzerland. Besides funding research directly, SPP 1879 promotes knowledge exchange and cooperation by organizing international symposia and smaller scientific meetings as well as the exchange of project co-workers. It promotes gender equality by providing special support for early career and female researchers. With this proposal, funds are applied for the coordination of SPP 1879 and all its collaborative scientific activities during the second funding period (1 September 2019 - 31 August 2022).

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes

Projects

• A light-triggered behavioural switch in cyanobacterial motility (Applicant Wilde, Annegret )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Hengge, Regine )
• Cyclic di-AMP metabolism and functions in Streptomyces (Applicant Tschowri, Natalia )
• Cyclic diadenosine-monophosphate (c-di-AMP) dependent signaling in Corynebacterium glutamicum: Identification of mechanisms for potassium-dependent control of c-di-AMP levels and analysis of regulatory targets of the secondary messenger c-di-AMP (Applicant Eikmanns, Bernhard )
• Dynamic basis of the molecular mechanism of nucleotide secondary messengers-sensing riboswitches by NMR spectroscopy (Applicant Schwalbe, Harald )
• Function of c-di-AMP in Archaea (Applicant Albers, Sonja Verena )
• Identification and quantification of low-molecular weight bacterial nucleotide signaling molecules by HPLC-coupled mass spectrometry including ion mobility technology (Applicant Seifert, Roland )
• Linking second messenger nucleotide signalling with CO2 homeostasis in cyanobacteria: unravelling the SbtB-based network (Applicants Forchhammer, Karl ;  Hagemann, Martin )
• Mechanisms of (p)ppGpp action in Staphylococcus aureus (Applicant Wolz, Christiane )
• Molecular basis for the control of K(+) uptake via KtrAB and KimA by cyclic di-AMP (Applicants Hänelt, Inga ;  Vonck, Janet )
• Multiplicity and functional diversity of cyclic mononucleotide signaling in Sinorhizobium meliloti (Applicant Becker, Anke )
• Novel biological functions of ppGpp in Escherichia coli (Applicant Narberhaus, Franz )
• Osmolarity-dependent control of cellular c-di-AMP levels and characterization of osmolyte transporters in Listeria monocytogenes (Applicants Commichau, Fabian M. ;  Ficner, Ralf )
• Oxygen-dependent regulation of a diguanylate cyclase lacking canonical sensory and regulatory domains in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Applicant Schwarz, Sandra )
• Regulation of development in Myxococcus xanthus by the second messenger c-di-GMP (Applicant Sogaard-Andersen, Lotte )
• Regulation of (p)ppGpp-metabolic activities of RelA, Rel and SpoT (Applicants Bange, Gert ;  Wilson, Daniel Nicodemus )
• Sensory Mechanisms and Local Signaling in c-di-GMP-mediated Signal Transduction in Escherichia coli (Applicant Hengge, Regine )
• Signal transduction by the essential signalling molecule cyclic di-AMP in Bacillus subtilis (Applicant Stülke, Jörg )
• Spatiotemporal control of c-di-GMP signaling in Shewanella via phosphodiesterase PdeB (Applicant Thormann, Kai )
• Stringent and heat stress response in Bacillus subtilis (Applicant Turgay, Kürsad )
• Structural biochemistry of c-di-AMP degrading phosphodiesterases and their regulation (Applicant Witte, Gregor )
• The role of the c-di-GMP specific phosphodiesterase NbdA in NO-induced biofilm dispersal in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Applicant Frankenberg-Dinkel, Nicole )
• Unraveling the c-di-GMP signaling network in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Applicant Häußler, Susanne )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Regine Hengge