Fellowship by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for her proposal “The mechanism and function of programmed cell death (PCD) in Caulobacter crescentus”. In the presence of severe DNA damage, the alpha-proteobacterium Caulobacter triggers the so-called SOS response, a program that arrests the cell cycle and promotes DNA repair. As unresolved DNA damage persists, Caulobacter induces a sequence-nonspecific endonuclease which fragments the bacterial genome and thus induces cell death. Using Caulobacter as a model system, the project aims to provide more detailed insight in the regulation and function of PCD in bacteria.

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