Glutathione transferases and Bacterial conjugation

A) Glutathione transferases (GSTs) belong to an ancient superfamily of enzymes with multiple roles and have mainly evolved from the duplication of genes. However, despite the numerous associations of GSTs with stress responses, cell development and metabolism, the functions of these enzymes remain usually evasive mainly due to their high diversity and also to the lack of knowledge about their catalytic specificities. For about ten years, we have been interested in GST structurefunction relationships. This project is a continuation of these studies including a team from CSGA (UB, CNRS, INRAE, Dijon) and a team from CRM2 (UL, CNRS, Nancy). B) Bacteria evolve mainly through horizontal gene transfers, where conjugation plays a key role. The DNA transfer is ensured by conjugative type IV secretion systems, which are large multi-subunit complexes. CRM2 team proposes to decipher the molecular steps of DNA initiation and transfer of an ICE from a Gram-positive bacterium.