Institute record of Laboratory of Microbiology

Information

Type

Organization

Type

https://marineinfo.org/ns/institutes/types#Scientific

Name

Laboratory of Microbiology

Acronym

ULB

Parent institute

Université Libre de Bruxelles; Faculté des Sciences; Department of Molecular Biology

Description @en

The laboratory of Microbiology studies the following topics:

• physiology of mesophilic and thermophilic microorganisms;
• relationships between structure and function in proteins and enzymes;
• biosynthesis and function of the modified nucleosides of transfer RNA.

Within the marine field, the group studies the M42 aminopeptidase enzyme in the thermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima, originally isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. The group focuses on its oligomeric state transition, the structural and functional role of a conserved aspartate residue in the catalytic site, and how metal cofactors drive the dimer-dodecamer transition of the enzyme. The research utilises X-ray crystallography and protein analysis techniques to investigate the molecular characteristics and mechanisms of this enzyme.