NMR Structural Genomics of Klebsiella Pneumoniae

摘要

Based on the statistical analysis by the Department of Health, pneumonia is one of the top ten cases causing death every year in Taiwan. Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) is one of the top five pathogenic bacteria that cause community and hospital infection of pneumonia in Taiwan. In some immuno-deficient patients such as diabetic, KP forms opportunistic infection and causes septicemia combining with Pyogenic liver abscess. It is estimated that ～10% of these patients accompany meningitis and metastatic ophthalmitis. Recently, on the basis of the epidemiological investigations, the drug-resistant mutant genes of KP have been found due to the misuse of antibiotics, and even evolve into new strains which make lots of difficulties on therapies. It is therefore that the National Research Programs for Genomic Medicine (NRPGM) lists KP as one of the major bacterial researches that should be pursued. Our laboratory, a member of the KP functional and structural genomics projects of Academia Sinica, has selected several target proteins related to virulence and drug-resistance factors, as discovered by Dr. Shin-Feng Tsai in NHRI, for structural study. A variety of biophysical techniques, especially high-resolution NMR experiments, will be carried out on these target proteins. It is hoped that the 3D solution structures of these target proteins as well as other biophysical properties could provide valuable information for drug development on therapeutics related to Klebsiella pneumoniae.