Abstract: The cyclic dinucleotide c-di-AMP has emerged as a novel signalling molecule in Gram-positive bacteria. It regulates several cellular processes, including osmotic and cell wall homeostasis. c-di-AMP has also been shown to be essential for the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and several other bacteria under standard laboratory conditions. Here, I will present our most recent findings on why c-di-AMP is essential for the growth of S. aureus and how its production is regulated, with particular focus on the control of the c-di-AMP cyclase DacA by the cyclase regulator CdaR and the peptidoglycan precursor synthesis enzyme GlmM.

Biography: Angelika Gründling obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Vienna in 2000. She performed her postdoctoral training at the Harvard Medical School, where she investigated flagellar motility in the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and at the University of Chicago, where she initiated her studies on cell wall biosynthesis processes in S. aureus. At Imperial College London she continues her work on the bacterial cell wall and more recently on the essential signalling nucleotide c-di-AMP.