Karina Xavier Lab
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Bacterial Signalling Lab

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência
 
Bacteria use small chemical molecules called autoinducers to communicate with one another by a process called quorum sensing. This process enables a population of bacteria to regulate behaviours, which are only productive when many bacteria act in concert as a group, similarly to what happens with multi-cellular organisms.
Behaviours regulated by quorum sensing are often crucial for successful bacterial-host relationships whether symbiotic or pathogenic.
In the Bacterial Signalling laboratory, we use biochemical and genetic approaches to study the molecular mechanisms underlying quorum sensing, with an emphasis on systems promoting bacterial interspecies communication.
Our research includes an integrated study involving elucidation of the chemical molecules that are used as signals, the network components involved in detecting the signals and processing information inside individual cells, and finally characterization of the behaviours regulated by these signal in multi-species bacterial consortia.
Our research goal is to understand how bacterial signalling shapes multi-species bacterial microbiota communities that can be found in animals and plants and how these communities affect host physiology. In particular our group is interested in understanding how bacterial signalling plays a role in assembling, maintenance and resilience of microbiota communities.


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Mammals possess complex bacterial communities that employ quorum sensing to sense the environment and regulate group behaviors accordingly. In our group, we are interested in the identification of novel quorum sensing signals and receptors that mediate this communication process.
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A healthy microbiota acts as a protective barrier against pathogens invasion. Antibiotics cause disturbance in microbiota with detrimental effects on the host (dysbiosis). Dysbiosis leads to the protective barrier destruction and susceptability to pathogens. We are using signalling chemical molecules from bacteria communication to recover the beneficial properties of microbiota.
Lab news
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Vitor Cabral from our lab received an award from 🥇InnOValley PoC to investigate the potential of our bacteria as next generation probiotics in disease context.
​April 2023

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Checkout the especial issue from Cell Host & Microbe on Social Network of Microbes
April 2023
Nandita Garud wrote a comment on Tanja's work. Check it out here: "Microbial Evolution: An overlooked biomarker of host diet"
​February 2022
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Our latest paper "Diet leaves a genetic signature in a keystone member of the gut microbiota"  was selected for the cover of Cell Host & Microbe
​February 2022
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Check our new published paper on Cell Host & Microbe:
"Diet leaves a genetic signature in a keystone member of the gut microbiota"
​February 2022
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Published paper on Nature Microbiology:
"Microbiome–diet interactions drive antibiotic efficacy"
July 2021
Published paper on mBio:
​"Erwinia carotovora Quorum Sensing System Regulates Host-Specific Virulence Factors and Development Delay in Drosophila melanogaster"
June 2020
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Our group is participating in the microbiota vault project which aims to save human associated microbes for the next generations. Read about at​www.microbiotavault.org/ and in Público
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June 2020
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Published paper on Current Biology:
"Specific Eco-evolutionary Contexts in the Mouse Gut Reveal Escherichia coli Metabolic Versatility"
​March 2020
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If you enjoyed our latest paper in Nature Microbiology read Rita’s blog to hear the story behind the paper
January 2020
Published paper on Nature Microbiology:
​"Klebsiella michiganensis transmission enhances resistance to Enterobacteriaceae gut invasion by nutrition competition"
January 2020

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