Faculty

Trent , M. Stephen
Associate Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

E-mail

Main Office: NMS 3.118
Phone: (512) 232-8371

Alternate Office: NMS 3.236
Phone: (512) 232-8372

Mailing Address:
The University of Texas at Austin
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
2506 Speedway Stop A5000
Austin, TX 78712-1191

Graduate Student

• Cullen, Thomas - Graduate Student
• Needham, Brittany - Graduate Student
• Nowicki, Emily - Graduate Student
• Pride, Aaron - Graduate Student

Post Doctoral

• Giles, David - Post Doctoral
• Hankins, Jessica - Post Doctoral
• Herrera, Carmen M - Post Doctoral

Staff

• Ivanov, Petko - Staff



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Research Summary:

In order to survive, bacteria must quickly respond to changes in the surrounding environment. We are interested in how diverse environmental stimuli promote changes in conserved microbial structures found on the surface of pathogenic bacteria. Currently, our laboratory focuses on the remodeling of lipopolysaccharides or LPS. LPS, also referred to as endotoxin, is the major surface component of Gram-negative bacteria and represents one of the microbial molecular signals responsible for activation of the host innate immune system. Our goal is to identify and characterize the molecular mechanisms necessary for the remodeling of LPS, and to determine how alteration of LPS contributes to evasion of the innate immune response during infection. Several pathogenic bacteria are under investigation in our laboratory including Vibrio cholerae, Campylobacter jejuni, Helicobacter pylori, Salmonella typhimurium, and pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli. Understanding how bacteria remodel their cell surface is of fundamental importance and may yield new therapeutic strategies for intervention in bacterial infections.


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Publications:

2012	Moreira CG, Herrera CM, Needham BD, Parkera CT, Libby SJ, Fang FC, Trent MS, Sperandio V, Virulence and stress-related periplasmic protein (VisP) in bacterial/host 2 associations, PNASIn press.
2012	Maue AC, Mohawk KL, Giles DK, Poly F, Ewing CP, Jiao Y, Lee G, Ma Z, Monteiro MA, Hill CL, Ferderber JS, Porter CK, Trent MS, Guerry, P, The polysaccharide capsule of Campylobacter jejuni 81-176 modulates the host immune response, Infection and ImmunityIn press.
2012	Gellatly SL, Needham B, Madera L, Trent MS, Hancock RE, The Pseudomonas aeruginosa PhoP-PhoQ two-component regulatory system is induced upon interaction with epithelial cells and controls cytotoxicity and inflammation, Infection and Immunity 80:3122-31.
2012	Needham BD, Carroll S, Giles DK, Georgiou G, Whiteley M, Trent MS, Modulating the Innate Immune Response by Combinatorial Engineering of Endotoxin , PNASIn press.
2012	Cullen TW, O'Brien JP, Hendrixson DR, Giles DK, Hobb RI, Thompson SA, Brodbelt JS, Trent MS, EptC of Campylobacter jejuni mediates phenotypes involved in host interactions and virulence, Infection and ImmunityIn press.
2012	Hankins JV, Madsen JW, Giles DK, Brodbelt JS, Trent MS, Amino acid addition to Vibrio cholera LPS establishes a link between surface remodeling in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria., PNAS 109:8722-7.
2012	Cullen TW, Madsen JA, Ivanov PL, Brodbelt JS, Trent MS, Characterization of a unique modification of the flagellar rod protein FlgG by the Campylobacter jejuni lipid A phosphoethanolamine transferase, linking bacterial locomotion and antimicrobial peptide resistance, J. Bio. Chem. 287:3326-36.
2011	Cullen TW, Giles DK, Wolf LN, Ecobichon C, Boneca IG, Trent MS , Helicobacter pylori Versus The Host: Remodeling Of The Bacterial Outer Membrane Is Required For Survival In The Gastric Mucosa , PLoS Pathogens 7:1-18.
2011	Hankins JV, Madsen JA, Giles DK, Childers BM, Klose KE, Brodbelt JS, Trent, MS, Elucidation of a novel Vibrio cholerae lipid A secondary hydroxy-acyltransferase and its role in innate immune recognition, Mol Microbiol 81:1313-29.
2011	Madsen JA, Cullen TW, Trent MS, Brodbelt JS, IR and UV Photodissociation as Analytical Tools for Charaacterizing Lipid A Structures, Anal Chem 83:5107-13.
2011	Arroyo LA, Herrera CM, Fernandez L, Hankins JV, Trent MS, Hancock RE, The pmrCAB operon mediates polymyxin resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 17878 and clinical isolates through phosphoethanolamine modification of lipid A, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 55:3743-51.
2011	Giles DK, Hankins JV, Guan Z, Trent MS, Remodeling of Vibrio cholerae membranes by incorporation of exogenous fatty acids from host and acquatic environments, Mol Microbiol 79:716-28.
2010	Stead CM, Zhao J, Raetz CRH, Trent MS, Removal of the outer Kdo from Heliobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide and its impact on the bacterial surface , Mol Microbiol 78:837-52.
2010	Herrera CM, Hankins JV, Trent MS, Activation of PmrA inhibits LpxT-dependent phosphorylation of lipid A promoting resistance to antimicrobial peptides, Mol Microbiol 76:1444-60.
2010	Cullen TW, Trent MS, A link between the assembly of flagella and lipooligosaccharide of the Gram-negative bacterium Campylobacter jejuni, PNAS. 107:5160-5.
2009	Rutten, L., Mannie, J.-P. B. A., Stead, C. M., Raetz, C. R. H., Reynolds, C. M., Bonvin, A. M. J. J., Tommassen, J., Egmond, M. R., Trent, M. S.*, and Grois, P*. *Joint Corresponding Authors, Active site architecture and catalytic mechanism of the lipid A deacylase LpxR of Salmonella typhimurium, PNAS. 106:1960-4.
2009	Hankins, J. V. and Trent, M. S., Phosphorylation of Kdo is required for secondary acylation of the V. cholerae lipopolysaccharide, J. Bio. Chem. 284:25804-12.
2008	Kline, T., Trent, M. S., Stead, C. M., Lee, M. S., Sousa, M. C., Felise, H. B., Nguyen, H. V., and Miller, S. I., Synthesis of and Evaluation of Lipid A Modification by 4-Substituted 4-Deoxy Arabinose Anaolgs as Potential Inhibitors of Bacterial Polymyxin Resistance, Biorg. & Med. Chem. Letters 18:1507-10.
2008	Touze, T., Tran, A. X., Hankins, J. V., Mengin-Lecreulx, D. and Trent, M. S., Periplasmic phosphorylation of lipid A is linked to the synthesis of undecaprenyl phosphate, Mol. Micro. 67:264-277.
2008	Tran, A. X., Trent, M. S., and Whitfield C., The LptA protein of Escherichia coli is a periplasmic lipid A binding protein involved in the lipopolysaccharide export pathway, J. Biol. Chem. 283:20342-9.
2008	Stead, C. M., Beasley, A., Cotter, R. J., and Trent, M. S., Deciphering the unusual acylation pattern of Helicobacter pylori lipid A, J. Bacteriology 190:7012-21.
2007	Raetz, C. R. H., Reynolds, C. M. Trent, M. S. and Bishop, R. E., Lipid A modification systems of Gram-negative bacteria, Annual Rev. of Biochem. 76:295-329.
2006	Ernst, R. K., Adams, K. N., Moskowitz, S. M., Kawasaki, K., Stead, C. M., Trent, M. S. and Miller, S. I., The Pseudomonas aeruginosa Deacylase (PagL) required for synthesis of cystic fibrosis-specific lipid A, J. Bacteriology 188:191-201.
2006	Trent, M. S., Stead, C. M., Tran, A. X., and Hankins, J. V. , Diversity of Endotoxin and its Impact on Pathogenesis, J. of Endotoxin Res. 12:205-223.
2006	Tran, A. X., Whittimore, J. D., Wyrick, P. B., McGrath, S. C., Cotter, R. J. and Trent, M. S., The Lipid A 1-Phosphatase of Helicobacter pylori is Required for Antimicrobial Peptide Resistance, J. Bacteriology 188:4531-4541.
2006	Trent, M. S., Stead, C. M., Tran, A. X., and Hankins, J. V, Diversity of Endotoxin and its Impact on Pathogenesis, J. of Endotoxin Res. 12:205-223.
2006	Tran, A. X., Whittimore, J. D., Wyrick, P. B., McGrath, S. C., Cotter, R. J. and Trent, M. S. , The Lipid A 1-Phosphatase of Helicobacter pylori is Required for Antimicrobial Peptide Resistance, J. Bacteriology 188:4531-4541.
2006	Reynolds, C. M., Ribeiro, A. A., McGrath, S. C., Cotter, R. J., Raetz, C. R. H., and Trent, M. S. , An outer membrane enzyme in Salmonella typhimurium that removes the 3´-acyloxyacyl moiety of lipid A, J. Biol. Chem. 281:21974-87.
2005	Tran, A. X., Stead, C. M., and Trent, M. S., Remodeling of Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharides, J. of Endotoxin Res. 11:161-6.
2005	Tran, A. X., Lester, M. E., Stead, C. M., Raetz, C. R. H., Maskell, D. J., McGrath, S. C., Cotter, R. J., and Trent, M. S., Resistance to the antimicrobial peptide polymyxin requires secondary myristoylation of Gram-negative bacterial lipid A, J. Biol. Chem. 280:28186-94.
2005	Stead, C. M., Tran, A. X., Ferguson D. A. Jr., McGrath, S. C., Cotter, R. J. and Trent, M. S., A Novel Kdo-Hydrolase that removes the outer Kdo sugar from Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide, J. Bacteriology 187:3374-83.
2004	Trent, M. S, Biosynthesis, Transport, and Modification of Lipid A, Biochemistry and Cell Biology 82:71-86.
2004	Tran, A. X., Karbarz, M. J., Wang, X., Raetz, C. R., McGrath, S. C., Cotter, R. J. and Trent M. S. , Periplasmic Cleavage and Modification of the 1-Phosphate Group of Helicobacter pylori Lipid A, J. Biol. Chem. 279:55780-91.