Mechanisms of survival and host(ile) takeovers of non-growing bacteria

Bacterial growth is often limited by availability of nutrients and most bacteria spend the majority of their time in prolonged states of very low metabolic activity and little or no growth. These non-growing states (NGS) are far less studied than other growth states. Although our knowledge of how bacteria enter the NGS has advanced in the past decade, our understanding of the factors that control metabolism in bacteria whilst in the NGS remains in its infancy. Further, bacterial viruses (phages) represent the most abundant living entities on the planet and most research on phage biology has been done in the context of growing bacteria. In Nature, however, phages largely encounter bacteria in the NGS and our knowledge of the mechanisms used by phages to successfully infect bacteria in the NGS remains elusive. The proposed PhD project will focus on mechanisms that (1) underpin how metabolism is regulated in the NGS and/or (2) allow phages to successfully infect non-growing bacteria. Since many bacteria in the NGS become refractory to diverse biotic and abiotic stresses, including antibiotics, the long-term expectation of this research is that a better understanding of how metabolism in the NGS is regulated and the strategies used by phages to infect bacteria in the NGS could inspire and inform truly novel and rational approaches to treat bacterial infections.