Día: 2026/09/30
Hora: 12:00
Lugar: Adela Moyua

"The Molecular Biology of Bacterial Membrane Microdomains". 
Daniel López Serrano. Molecular Infection Biology Laboratory. Centro Nabional de Biotecnología  CNB, CSIC, Madrid

Abstract: The function of many cellular processes depends on the formation of membrane microdomains or lipid rafts, yet their fundamental mechanistic role remains poorly understood. Akin to eukaryotes, bacteria also assemble Functional Membrane Microdomains (FMM), but their mechanism and biological function are also unclear. Using molecular biology approaches, I will show that bacterial FMM are dedicated to confining and stabilizing proteins that are unfolded due to cellular stress. The scaffold protein flotillin oligomerizes at FMM to hold unfolded proteins, stabilizing them and favoring their correct folding and stability-function balance. As this process does not impose a direct ATP cost on the cell, it enables the survival of ATP-depleted bacteria, especially of pathogens during infection. In the pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), FMM disassembly causes the accumulation of unfolded proteins, which compromises MRSA viability during infection and causes antibiotic re-sensitization. Thus, our results indicate that FMM mediate ATP-independent stabilization of unfolded proteins, which is essential for bacterial viability during infection.

Daniel Sancho López (Biosketch)

He obtained his PhD in the Department of Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Murcia and has been a Staff Scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) since April 2015. He currently leads the Molecular Infection Biology Laboratory at the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB) in Madrid (https://mib-lab.com/).

Following the completion of his PhD, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Roberto Kolter at Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow (2005–2010). In September 2010, he was appointed Young Investigator Group Leader at the University of Würzburg, Germany, where he established and led his own research laboratory from February 2011.

During his doctoral studies, he identified the molecular mechanisms employed by the marine bacterium Marinomonas mediterranea to produce the pigment melanin and to adhere to marine plants, leading to the formation of cell aggregates and biofilms. During his postdoctoral research, he focused on elucidating the signaling pathways involved in biofilm formation, using the bacterial model Bacillus subtilis. This training provided him with a broad range of experimental approaches and expertise that he subsequently brought to his own laboratory to investigate signaling mechanisms in bacterial pathogens, with a particular focus on Staphylococcus aureus, and to understand how these mechanisms contribute to the development of infection.

His laboratory uses methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a model pathogen to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying bacterial infection. By combining approaches spanning the subcellular to multicellular levels, the group aims to uncover fundamental mechanisms of pathogen biology and translate these insights into new strategies and antimicrobial therapies to combat infectious diseases.

He has led several European research projects and currently leads the ERC Advanced Grant project CLAMP, “Deciphering Membrane Compartmentalization in Protein-Misfolding Bacterial Dysfunction to Re-Sensitize Multi-Drug Resistant Pathogens.” He is also the holder of two patents.