Project Title: “Atypical Y. pestis strains isolated from natural foci in Georgia: from proteome to virulence and gene expression”, TAP 6; DIRA; Project duration: 01.01.2014 - 01.01.2015

Project Summary

a)The goal of the project:. The main goal of the project is further molecular biological characterization of atypical Yersinia pestis strains isolated from natural foci in Georgia, to get insight into the functional links between the expression of a defined set of genes and proteins and virulence. 

b)The approaches for the implementation of the project: By proteomic experiments we have identified the protein molecules which are differentially expressed among the Yersinia pestis isolates 1390, 1853, 2944 and 8787 at four different physiological conditions. The properties of these differentially expressed proteins suggest that the isolates 1390 and 1853 has increased virulence as compared to the another two isolates. To confirm this suggestion we are validating the obtained results by studying of molecular changes by Western immunoblotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We are also investigating the influence of bacteria on apoptosis processes.

c)Expected results: The quantification of selected proteins by Western blotting and analysis of their corresponding mRNA by RT‐PCR will validate the differences between the selected Y. pestis strains established through previous proteomic analysis. The end result will be deeper understanding of the uniqueness of Georgian and Caucasus region Y. pestis strains. These experiments may also lead to insights in vaccine development.