At its most fundamental level, life is a dance between a shifting array of microscopic partners. To unlock the cellular choreography, John D. Helmann, professor of microbiology, has devoted his career to studying a single-celled bacterium known as Bacillus subtilis. The organism is well-known in scientific research as the preferred model for bacteria generally, as well as specifically for gram-positive bacteria (those with a thick peptidoglycan layer making up their cell wall).
And although B. subtilis is not a human pathogen, it is closely related, genetically and functionally, to many infectious microbes, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and bacteria in the Streptococcus family, which means research findings about B. subtilis are generally applicable to a host of disease-causing agents.
Header image: An artist's interpretation of an antibiotic resistant gene. Illustration by Cristina Eagan, CALS Magazine — Spring 2020.
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