The project “Deciphering the Cellular Role of HelD, a Helicase-like Protein Associated with Bacterial RNA Polymerase” was a follow-up to the previous project, which focused on the study of several proteins that interact with bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) – an enzyme that is crucial for transcription of DNA into RNA. In this previous project, HelD was discovered as a new RNAP interaction partner, and given the central role of RNAP for gene expression that determines a cell’s ability to adapt to environmental changes or pathogens to survive in the host, it was very attractive to further study this protein and to obtain new information on functioning of the transcriptional apparatus.
Mgr. Libor Krásný, Ph.D.
Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences