Nicholas Shikuma
San Diego State University, CA·Microbiology & Immunology
Animals constantly sense the bacteria around them. They must decide whether a microbe is a helpful signal or a threat, and these encounters can shape both health and development.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biology
Ecology & Evolution
- Topics
host-microbe interactions
microbiome
Hydroides elegans
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through May 2029
What they work on
- Identify and functionally test NF-κB homologs needed for bacteria-induced metamorphosis in the tubeworm Hydroides elegans, using RNA interference and gene expression analysis.
- Determine whether beneficial and pathogenic bacteria activate overlapping or distinct TLR/MyD88 immune pathways in tubeworm larvae, using bacterial genetic tools.
- Identify the larval receptors that detect bacterial cues and start metamorphosis in Hydroides elegans.
- Define the functions of effector proteins delivered by Subtype-4 contractile injection systems from human gut Bacteroidales, and link them to host cell responses such as proliferation and inflammation.
- Determine how Subtype-4 injection systems bind human cells through cadherin-like fibers, and resolve their structure using cryo-electron tomography and fluorescence microscopy.
More about the research
This research uses bacterial signals as a window into that question. In the ocean, bacteria cue the larvae of the tubeworm Hydroides elegans to settle and transform into adults. In the human gut, related bacterial machinery may tip the balance between health and disease. Linking the projects is a family of syringe-like bacterial structures, called contractile injection systems, that the lab discovered triggering tubeworm development.
Why it matters
Imbalances in gut Bacteroidales bacteria are linked to obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. Learning how these bacteria inject proteins into human cells could identify the microbial products behind these links and could lay groundwork for probiotics that adjust the microbiome. Knowing how bacteria cue larval settlement could also aid restoration of degraded marine habitats by boosting larval recruitment.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Maria Lara-Tejero
Yale University, CT·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine the structure of the Salmonella type III secretion sorting platform, the part of the injectisome inside the bacterium, using cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography.
Jun Liu
Yale University, CT·Microbiology & Immunology
Dissect how the spoke-ring-cage protein network of the Helicobacter pylori sheathed flagellum assembles and enables optimal motility, using cryo-electron tomography with genetic and biochemical approaches.
Xin Li
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Determine how fungal stimulatory RNA (fsRNA), a newly identified fungal RNA, triggers innate immune responses in the intestine, using fungal genetic engineering and long-read RNA sequencing.
The school
San Diego State University: 13 labs on PI Pages, $182M a year on research, 142 research doctorates a year.
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