Natasha Turner
PhD Student
Member of the Roe Group, April 2018 - present
I am interested in learning about bacterial gene expression and how certain bacterial proteins can interact with DNA and change their expression, depending on host signals and metabolites. Host metabolites, and the metabolic environment, can often interrupt and change these functions turning ‘friendly’ commensal bacteria into virulent bacteria that can cause disease.
My current project is funded by the University of Glasgow MVLS DTP programme and is looking into the role of the D-amino acid, D-serine, in Escherichia coli fitness and virulence. This project is exciting as it has recently been shown in our group that in the presence of D-serine, Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) stop expressing their virulence/colonisation factor (the T3SS) and induce the SOS response, effectively killing the bacteria. My work is following on from this and is looking into E. coli that can normally tolerate the presence of D-serine and, using next-generation sequencing techniques, understanding at a molecular level how this affects their virulence status and fitness.
I obtained my degree in Microbiology at the University of Glasgow in 2017 and have previously done science communication, writing for the Glasgow Insight into Science and Technology (GIST). I was recently awarded a grant from the MVLS Skills Training Award to do a placement at the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham with Dr Douglas Browning looking into protein-DNA interactions and how they change in relation to host metabolites.
Recent Publications:
Plastic circuits: Regulatory flexibility in fine tuning pathogen success. N O’Boyle, NCA Turner, AJ Roe, JPR Connolly. Trends in Microbiology (2020)
Distinct intraspecies virulence mechanisms regulated by a conserved transcription factor. JPR Connolly, N O’Boyle, NCA Turner, DF Browning, AJ Roe. PNAS (2019)
Control freaks—signals and cues governing the regulation of virulence in attaching and effacing pathogens. NCA Turner, JPR Connolly, AJ Roe. Biochemical Society Transactions (2018)