# ACTIVATION OF ALGINATE GENES IN PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR · 1991 · $165,655

## Abstract

The broad objective of this investigation is to increase our understanding
of the pathogenic mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in chronic
respiratory inspections of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.  The ability of
P. aeruginosa to maintain chronic respiratory infections in CF patients is
associated with the organism's ability to convert to an alginate-secreting
(Alg+) form.  Alginate is a capsule-like exopolysaccharide, and its
production gives P. aeruginosa a mucoid colony morphology.  Using genetic
and molecular approaches, this project proposes to elucidate various steps
in the pathway of alginate biosynthesis; an alginate gene (algB) cloned
from the P. aeruginosa chromosome will be characterized to determine the
size and function of the polypeptide product, its cellular localization,
regulation and genetic organization.  Other genes whose products are
directly involved in alginate biosynthesis will be cloned and
characterized.  Also, this study will determine the nature of the mechanism
which activates genes for alginate biosynthesis in P. aeruginosa; these
regulatory (algR) genes, recently clone  will be physically analyzed to
determine the mechanism of alginate conversion.  The cis activation by algR
of structural and/or regulatory genes involved in alginate production will
be examined.  In addition, this research endeavor will investigate the
nature of the regulatory mechanism responsible for reduced extracellular
enzymes in Alg+ strains; gene fusion technology will be employed to
determine the effect of the Alg+ trait on protease transcription and
secretion.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3128542
- **Project number:** 5R01AI019146-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR
- **SAM.gov UEI:** X1M1PN3KG3E7
- **Principal Investigator:** Dennis Edward Ohman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $165,655
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1982-09-01 → 1994-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3128542

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3128542, ACTIVATION OF ALGINATE GENES IN PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA (5R01AI019146-08). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3128542. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*