Genome Maintenance Meeting 2

Transformation and DNA repair

Genome repair and consequences for microbial genome stability / instability, fitness for survival and virulence

September 6-9, 2003
Oslo, Norway

Organising committee:

Tone Tønjum, University of Oslo, Rikshospitalet (leader)
Erling C. Seeberg, University of Oslo, Rikshospitalet
Leiv S. Håvarstein, Agricultural University of, Ås
Michael Koomey, University of Oslo

Program

Saturday September 6

15:00 → Registration

18:00 Opening lecture

Richard Moxon, Oxford, UK: "Adaptive behaviour of bacterial pathogens"

Reception in the Rikshospitalet glass mall

Sunday September 7

Session 1 - DNA repair

9:00 Philip C. Hanawalt, Stanford, USA: "Genomic stress responses in Escherichia coli: What can we generalize to other cellular systems?"

9:50 Pål Falnes, Oslo, Norway: "Repair of DNA and RNA by AlkB mediated oxidative demethylation "

10:30 Coffee break

11:00 Robert Fuchs, Strasbourg, France: "Involvement of multiple DNA polymerases during translesion synthesis"

11:45 Martin Marinus, Boston, USA: "The influence of Dam methylation on pathogenesis, DNA repair and chromosome structure in E. coli"

12:30 Lunch

Poster viewing

Session 2 - Genome instability and microbe-host interactions

13:30 Sebastian Suerbaum, Hannover, Germany: " Frequent genetic changes during long-term colonization by Helicobacter pylori "

14:15 Ivan Matic, Paris, France: "Ecological, physiological and genetic determinants of stress-induced mutagenesis in bacteria"

15:00 Brigitte Gicquel, Paris, France: "Epidemic strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis carry mutations in putative mutator genes"

15:45 Coffee break

Session 3 - Transformation (1)

16:15 David Dubnau, New York, US: "Mechanism of DNA uptake by competent Bacillus subtilis"

17:00 Anne Britt Kolstø, Oslo, Norway: "Bacillus cereus and B. thuringensis genome dynamics

19:30 Bus transport

20:00 Festive dinner at Holmenkollen Park Hotell

Monday September 8

Session 4 - Transformation (2)

9:00 Jean-Pierre Claverys, Toulouse, France: "Fate of incoming single strands in transformation of Streptococcus pneumoniae"

9:45 Donald A. Morrison, Chicago, USA: "Competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae: genes and regulatory pathways downstream of the competence pheromone".

10:30 Leiv Sigve Håvarstein, Ås, Norway: "Competence induced release of DNA from Streptococcus pneumoniae"

11:00 Coffee break

Session 5 - Consequences of transformation

Convenor: Leiv Sigve Håvarstein

11:30 Regine Hakenbeck, Kaiserslautern, Germany: "Mosaic genes and mosaic chromosomes - the definition of the pneumococcus"

12:15 Brian Spratt, London, UK: "The relative contributions of recombination and point mutation to the diversification of bacterial clones"

13:00 Lunch

Session 6 - Genome dynamics (1)

14:00 Igor Stojiljkovic, Atlanta, USA: "Mismatch repair affects neisserial epidemiology and virulence by creating hypermutator strains"

14:45 Janne Cannon, Chapel Hill, US: "Do defects in mismatch repair influence gonococcal virulence?"

15:30 Coffee break

16:00 Mike Koomey, Oslo, Norway: "Components of DNA binding and uptake in transformation linked to Neisseria Type IV pili"

16:45 Dan Andersson, Stockholm, Sweden: "Amplification-mutagenesis: an explanation for hypermutagenesis and stress-induced mutability of the lac operon"

Poster viewing

Tuesday September 9

Session 7 - Genome dynamics (2)

9:00 Chris Bayliss, Oxford, UK: "The role of tetranucleotide repeats, mismatch repair and phase variation of H. influenzae and N. meningitidis"

9:45 Jesus Blázquez, Madrid, Spain: "Hypermutator strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis"

10.30 Coffee break

11:00 Stuart Hill, Chicago, US: "Recombination in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Unique features and consequences for surface exposed components"

11:45 Torbjørn Rognes, Oslo, Norway: "The DNA Repair Gene Database - Exploring cross-organism gene relationships"

12:15 Lunch

Session 8 - DNA transfer

13:00 Matt Waldor, Boston, US: "Phage transfer of the cholera toxin genes"

13:45 Lisa Valentine, Basel, Switzerland: "The conquest of plants by Agrobacterium"

14:30 Coffee break

15:00 Staffan Normark, Stockholm, Sweden: "Bacterial plasticity in the interaction with the host innate immune system"

15:45 Closing remarks

16:00 Course exam (for doctoral students)

The posters will be accessible throughout the meeting