# METABOLIC ASPECTS OF BACTERIAL ECOLOGY IN HOST TISSUE

> **NIH NIH R01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 1988 · $140,811

## Abstract

Human neutrophil polymorphonuclear granulocytes (PMN) are in the first line
of cellular defense against infection.  They phagocytize bacteria and kill
them with antimicrobial activities that are oxygen dependent or oxygen
independent.  The granules of PMN are intrinsic to these activities.  Our
goal is to continue to define the proteins that account for antimicrobial
activities of crude granule extracts.  Our main emphasis will be on
anti-Proteus activity and purified cationic antimicrobial proteins (CAP),
CAP57 and CAP37 that kill Salmonella and E. coli.  We will:  define genetic
and (tissue) environmental factors contributing to sensitivity or
resistance of microorganisms; determine the target molecules CAP interact
with in the outer membrane of sensitive bacteria.  We will complete studies
to localize CAPs at the cellular and subcellular levels.  We will use
techniques required to understand bacterial pathogenesis and host
resistance.  We will use:  cell culture and differential and gradient
centrifugation; phagocytosis; assays for antimicrobial action; protein
purification, including conventional and high performance liquid
chromatography and affinity chromatography; ELISA; monoclonal antibodies;
construction of isogenic strains by P22 transduction; and biochemical
analysis of lipopolysaccharides, and outer membrane proteins of Salmonella
typhimurium which differ in their resistance to CAP.

Our long term objective is to define the role of CAP in oxygen independent
antimicrobial phagocytosis and to develop monoclonal antibodies for rapid
screening of PMN in clinical infectious disease.  The research we propose
is significant in that it will:  a) establish the existence of at least
three highly effective Cationic Antimicrobial Proteins (CAPs) whose mode of
action in human PMN is oxygen independent; b) provide biochemical evidence
for specific target sites on susceptible bacteria to the action of CAP; c)
implicate a contribution of low O2 tension to the resistance to CAPs of N.
gonorrhoeae; d) provide highly suggestive evidence for the existence of a
heretofore unsuspected antimicrobial granule.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3127355
- **Project number:** 5R01AI017662-08
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** S352L5PJLMP8
- **Principal Investigator:** John K Spitznagel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1988
- **Award amount:** $140,811
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1980-06-01 → 1989-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3127355

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3127355, METABOLIC ASPECTS OF BACTERIAL ECOLOGY IN HOST TISSUE (5R01AI017662-08). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3127355. Licensed CC0.

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