In related work reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Bacteriology, Artsimovitch led a team of researchers in learning how a protein that is specific to illness-causing bacteria might provide another potential path to developing antibiotics against bacteria that cause cholera, pneumonia and food poisoning.

This protein, called RfaH, regulates virulence “ a bacterium's ability to cause disease “ in pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica, bacteria that cause food poisoning in humans.

Artsimovitch and her colleagues identified previously overlooked RfaH genes in other bacterial pathogens, such as those that cause cholera and bubonic plague.

"Not only do RfaH proteins from different bacteria look similar, they act similar, too," she said.

Without RfaH, enterobacteria can't cause disease, Artsimovitch said. It's plausible that drug developers could design an antibiotic that knocks out RfaH, effectively shutting down a bacterium's virulence.

"We're trying to give the scientists who work on these pathogens detailed models of RfaH and ppGpp behavior," Artsimovitch said. "That may lead to better-targeted antibiotics that can really be effective against these diseases."

Support for these studies came from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.

Artsimovitch and Vassylyev conducted the work reported in Cell with researchers from the RIKEN Harima Institute in Hyogo, Japan; the RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center in Yokohama, Japan; the National Food Research Institute in Ibaraki, Japan; and the University of Tokyo. Artsimovitch conducted the work reported in the Journal of Bacteriology with Ohio State researchers Heather Carter and Vladimir Svetlov.