Jason Peters
Position title: Assistant Professor
Email: jason.peters@wisc.edu
Address:
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Gene networks and genetic tools in bacteria.
- Address
- 777 Highland Ave Madison, WI 53705
- Department
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Research Interests
- Gene networks and genetic tools in bacteria.
- Research Fields
- Systems & Synthetic Biology, Gene Expression, Computational, Genomics, Bacteria, Evolutionary and Population Genetics
The emergence of bacterial pathogens resistant to most antibiotics—even those of last resort—is an urgent threat to human health, and underscores the need for new antibiotics with novel modes of action (MOA). Antibiotics target essential processes, exerting complex effects on downstream gene networks. The impact of an antibiotic on gene networks—outside of the direct target—not only affects the MOA, but also influences whether drug combinations will be synergistic or antagonistic. Thus, mapping networks of genes involved in essential processes will allow us to identify novel synergistic therapies and define new cellular targets for antibiotics. My work will couple CRISPR-based functional genomics with cross-species analysis to perform a systematic analysis of gene networks, providing pioneering insights into the fundamental mechanisms by which bacteria respond to antibiotics and enable us to develop new strategies to fight bacterial infections. Current projects in the lab include: mapping regulatory networks in Escherichia coli, identifying new cell wall genes in Acinetobacter baumannii, and genetic engineering of Zymomonas mobilis for biofuel production.
Representative Publications:
Search PubMed for more publications by Jason Peters
Qu J, Prasad NK, Yu MA, Chen S, Lyden A, Herrera N, Silvis MR, Crawford E, Looney MR, Peters JM, Rosenberg OS. Modulating pathogenesis with Mobile-CRISPRi. J Bacteriol. 2019 Sep 3; PMID: 31481541
Peters JM, Koo B-M, Patino R, Heussler GE, Hearne CC, Qu J, Inclan YF, Hawkins JS, Lu CHS, Silvis MR, Harden MM, Osadnik H, Peters JE, Engel JN, Dutton RJ, Grossman AD, Gross CA, Rosenberg OS. Enabling genetic analysis of diverse bacteria with Mobile-CRISPRi. Nature Microbiology. 2019 Feb 1;4(2):244–250.
Peters JM, Colavin A, Shi H, Czarny TL, Larson MH, Wong S, Hawkins JS, Lu CHS, Koo B-M, Marta E, Shiver AL, Whitehead EH, Weissman JS, Brown ED, Qi LS, Huang KC, Gross CA. A Comprehensive, CRISPR-based Functional Analysis of Essential Genes in Bacteria. Cell. 2016 Jun 2;165(6):1493–1506.
Zhao H, Sun Y, Peters JM, Gross CA, Garner EC, Helmann JD. Depletion of Undecaprenyl Pyrophosphate Phosphatases Disrupts Cell Envelope Biogenesis in Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol. 2016 01;198(21):2925–2935. PMCID: PMC5055597
Peters JM, Silvis MR, Zhao D, Hawkins JS, Gross CA, Qi LS. Bacterial CRISPR: accomplishments and prospects. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2015 Oct;27:121–126.