·Study of molecular mechanisms of microbial adaptation to stress;
·Cell energetic state as a stress signal driving microbial cell responses to unfavorable environmental conditions;
·Role of polyamines in formation of microbial adaptive response to various stressful effects
Basic results:
·Systemic examination of microbial energetic state under various stressful effects was carried out. It was demonstrated that uncoupling of energetic and constructive exchange being observed under those conditions was accompanied with marked changes in energetic parameters that could be considered as stressful specific signals involved in the formation of cellular adaptive responses.
·It was found that stressful energetic signals affected key enzymes of synthesis and polyamine content in microbial cells.
·Hypothesis was formulated and experimentally approved that polyamine synthesis system was regarded as an alternative mechanism of energetic coupling being involved under stressful conditions.
·Molecular mechanisms of polyamine involvement in microbial adaptation to stressful conditions were studied that include:
1.intracellular transport of compounds that enhance its protective functions;
2.limitation of intracellular xenobiotic supply;
3.regulation of DNA structural-functional characteristics;
4.modulation of expression level for stress adaptation genes;
5.DNA and cell wall component protection against damaging action of free radicals;
6.anti-mutagenic effect.
Ultimate effect of polyamine influence on microorganisms subjected to stressful actions appears to be the improvement of their survival under given conditions.
In recent years the laboratory research has been focused above all, on the issues of bacterial resistance to antibiotic and oxidant effects. This gives great potentials for the results being applied in practical medicine.
Laboratory scientific staff has published over 150 papers, of which significant proportion was issued in key national and foreign scientific journals.Five PhD theses and one doctoral thesis have been defended by the laboratory staff members. Since 1994 the laboratory scientific staff activity has been supported with grants of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Special-purpose Budget Programs. Overall the scientific work involved 12 grants with 1 to 3 year duration. Laboratory members were awarded at different time with prizes and scholarships namely, G. Soros’s Foundation scholarship (1993) and Russian Federation’s President (1994-1996), Perm Region Governor’s prize of the I degree for the series of papers under the title: “Mechanisms of microbial adaptation to stress” (2003) and of the II degree for the series of papers under the title: “Role of polyamines in the formation of bacterial cell response to unfavorable environmental factors” (2008), as well as nominative scholarships from Perm Region Administrative Body (2006, 2007) and Diplomas from the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Presidium of the Ural Branch and Perm Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1997 to 2009).
