Regulatory Proteolysis and Protein Quality Control
The rapid degradation of fully functional regulatory protein factors in response to the environment is a well-established post-translational regulatory mechanism in bacteria that is known to be critical for bacterial virulence. Since proteolysis is an irreversible and costly process, highly specific substrate recognition is crucial to implement protein degradation within a complex regulatory circuit. Thus, we are interested in understanding how bacteria ensure the recognition and degradation of a regulatory protein at the appropriate time, environmental condition(s) and/or localization(s) during an infection process.