Madison Stock

"In the Alonzo lab, I investigate a recently identified protease called MroQ and its possible role in promoting activation of the Agr system. We hypothesize that MroQ may be directly or indirectly involved in the N-terminal cleavage of AgrD and/or its export from the cell, where it can carry out its function as AIP. However, if and how MroQ interfaces with the Agr system has not been fully resolved. My current efforts involve interrogating if MroQ interacts with members of the Agr system and whether MroQ serves as a protease for AgrD cleavage. In addition, infectious S. aureus strains harbor one of four Agr variants (I, II, III, and IV), and each variant harbors allelic variants of AgrD, AgrB, and AgrC. The amino acid sequence for MroQ is identical amongst all four Agr strain types, despite significant variation in the sequences for AgrC, AgrB, and AgrD. This observation poses interesting questions about the ability of MroQ to facilitate maturation of divergent AgrD sequence types that will also be explored during my predoctoral research.

 

Outside of lab, I enjoy cooking, reading, watching bad reality TV, and listening to Garth Brooks 🙂"