Henrichfreise lab
Peptidoglycan biosynthesis in cell wall-lacking bacteria
For the obligate intracellular Chlamydiaceae, there is no need to resist osmotic challenges. Thus the genomically-reduced pathogens lack a cell wall. Nevertheless, Chlamydiaceae synthesize peptidoglycan at certain locations and times during their biphasic life cycle to control immune modulation and to support cell division. During the unusual process of chlamydial cell division asymmetric cell poles mature into two equally sized daughter cells separated by a septum which contains a short-lived peptidoglycan ring. Moreover, the cell wall-targeting penicillin does not kill Chlamydiaceae but blocks cell division and induces reversible persistence. The underlying mechanisms of these phenomena are not fully understood.
We use Chlamydiaceae as a model system to explore how a minimal and modified cell wall biosynthesis machinery supports prokaryotic cell division. Moreover, we study the effects of (cell wall) antibiotics on chlamydial cell biology.
Group Leader
Beate Henrichfreise studied biology and gained her PhD on antibiotic multi-resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 2006. In parallel to her PhD, she worked with Antiinfectives Intelligence, a service provider specialized in antiinfectives. Following a postdoctoral training at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, she joined industry in 2009 to gain experience in biotech and pharma industry working on peptides for technical and antimicrobial applications. Until 2012 she worked 50% at Novozymes A/S, Denmark at the Departments for Anti-Infective Discovery, Pharma Discovery and Peptide & Cell Discovery in the course of Marie Curie Actions and 50% at University Hospital Bonn to establish in parallel her independent field of basic research on cellular functions of peptidoglycan biosynthesis in cell wall lacking Chlamydiaceae. Returning to Germany for good in 2012, she attracted funding for a junior research group from the intramural funding scheme of the Medical Faculty of Bonn. In 2015 she became group leader at the inter-faculty Institute for Pharmaceutical Microbiology, University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn.
