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Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription

Gordon Research Conference

Phylogenetic Contrasts and Commonalities in Gene Expression Mechanisms

June 15 - 20, 2025

Chairs

and

Vice Chairs

and

Southern New Hampshire University

2500 North River Road

Manchester, New Hampshire, United States

Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

The Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes an array of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.

Transcription lies at the heart of gene expression, a process necessary for environmental adaptation and cellular homeostasis. The Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription GRC historically focused on the structure, function, and regulation of RNA polymerases and now includes research on a broad range of transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene expression mechanisms. We seek to continue broadening our community by including a wide variety of gene expression-related topics while maintaining our core strength in the mechanistic molecular biology of transcription. Our 2025 program features cutting-edge work on molecular mechanisms of gene expression in viruses, bacteria, and archaea including model organisms and pathogens.

Abstract Deadline: Although applications will be accepted until the date noted above, any applicants who wish to be considered for an oral presentation should submit their application by April 13, 2025.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Staff / Welcome and Introduction from the Chairs
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm	A Comparative View of Transcription in Bacterial Pathogens Discussion Leader:
7:40 pm - 7:50 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:50 pm - 8:15 pm	"Targeting Transcription in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis: A Strategic Approach to Develop Synergistic Treatments"
8:15 pm - 8:25 pm	Discussion
8:25 pm - 8:50 pm	"Mechanisms of Transcriptional Pausing and Regulation in Clostridioides Difficile"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm	Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm	"The rare σ⁷⁰ D445V Substitution Modulates Gene Expression and Phenotypes in the E. coli Pathobiont LF82 Associated with Crohn’s Disease"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	"Control of RNA Polymerase Abundance Promotes Virulence Gene Transcription in Salmonella"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Transcriptional Control of Homeostasis, Colonization, and Antimicrobial Resistance Discussion Leader:
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:30 am	"Studying Mycobacterial Transcription by SEnd-seq and Single-Molecule Microscopy"
9:30 am - 9:40 am	Discussion
9:40 am - 10:05 am	"An Unconventional CRP regulator Controls Polysaccharide Utilization in Bacteroides"
10:05 am - 10:15 am	Discussion
10:15 am - 10:25 am	"MtvS interacts with RNA Polymerase to Regulate the Francisella Type V-A CRISPR-Cas System"
10:25 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 10:55 am	Coffee Break
10:55 am - 11:20 am	"A Structural Perspective of RNAP Evolution: From Cyanobacterial RNAP to Plant Chloroplast PEP"
11:20 am - 11:30 am	Discussion
11:30 am - 11:40 am	"Structural Basis of σ^E-RNAP Activation by ppGpp/DksA"
11:40 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 11:55 am	"Dynamic Physiological States of the Bacterial Transcription Terminator, Rho"
11:55 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm	"Diverse Stresses Induce the Stringent Response in Escherichia coli through Amino Acid Starvation"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	"Mechanism of LoaP Antitermination in Gram-Positive Bacteria"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Structural Biology of Transcription Discussion Leader:
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:00 pm	"Structural Insights into σ²⁸Mediated Transcription Initiation and its Regulation by Anti-sigma Factor in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:35 pm	"Structural Basis for Eukaryotic Transcription and Co-Transcriptional Process"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm	"RNA Polymerase Inhibitors Reveal Active Site Motions Essential for the Nucleotide Addition Cycle"
8:55 pm - 9:00 pm	Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm	"Structural Basis of Intrinsic Transcription Termination: Structures of Intermediates in Intrinsic Transcription Termination"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	"(p)ppGpp Slows RNA Polymerase by Enhancing Swiveling via Site 1 and by Reducing Substrate GTP Levels"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	New Methods to Probe Gene Expression Discussion Leader:
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:30 am	"How Bacteria Tune Transcription Termination Efficiency"
9:30 am - 9:40 am	Discussion
9:40 am - 9:50 am	"Identification and Functional Elucidation of UDP-GlcNAc and UDP-MurNAc 5' capped RNAs in E. coli"
9:50 am - 9:55 am	Discussion
9:55 am - 10:05 am	"The Conformationally Dynamic Mycobacterium tuberculosis σ^A IDR Facilitates Ribosomal RNA Transcription"
10:05 am - 10:10 am	Discussion
10:10 am - 10:35 am	Coffee Break
10:35 am - 11:00 am	"Dynamic RNA Biology at the Single-Molecule Level: Watching how Interconnected Transcription-Related Processes Work in Real-Time"
11:00 am - 11:10 am	Discussion
11:10 am - 11:35 am	"MetaGPA and Metatranscriptomics: A Powerful Duo for Hypothesis-Free Novel Enzyme Discovery using Transcriptional Changes"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 11:55 am	"Unraveling the Start Element and Regulatory Divergence of Core Promoters Across Bacteria"
11:55 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm	"Assessing Rigor and Reproducibility in 3'-end Sequencing Data via a Common Analysis Approach"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	"RNA-Based Gene Regulation of Bacterial Manganese Exporters"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Post-Transcriptional Mechanisms Discussion Leader:
7:30 pm - 7:55 pm	"RNA-Based Regulation During Phage Infection"
7:55 pm - 8:05 pm	Discussion
8:05 pm - 8:30 pm	"Mapping the Borrelia Burgdorferi RNA-RNA Interactome Reveals Abundance of Base-Pairing sRNAs"
8:30 pm - 8:40 pm	Discussion
8:40 pm - 9:05 pm	"Newly Discovered Translation Factors that Prevent Ribosome Stalling and Cell Death in Bacteria"
9:05 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	"BR-bodies Switch from mRNA Decay to mRNA Storage in Stationary Phase"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Transcriptional Control in Archaea and Viruses Discussion Leader:
9:00 am - 9:10 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:35 am	"Non-Canonical RNA Polymerases of Bacteriophages"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 9:55 am	"Transcriptional Regulation in Archaea: Network Plasticity and Promoter Architecture"
9:55 am - 10:00 am	Discussion
10:00 am - 10:10 am	"RNA-templated RNA Extension and Bacterial 3' Extended RNAs"
10:10 am - 10:15 am	Discussion
10:15 am - 10:45 am	Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:10 am	"Post-Initiation Regulation of Archaeal Transcription"
11:10 am - 11:20 am	Discussion
11:20 am - 11:45 am	"From Old to New: Unravelling Transcription Factor Regulation in Archaea"
11:45 am - 11:55 am	Discussion
11:55 am - 12:05 pm	"Transcriptomic Analysis of Lytic Infection by the Bacteriophage K1-5"
12:05 pm - 12:10 pm	Discussion
12:10 pm - 12:30 pm	General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Chromosome Topology and Gene Expression Discussion Leader:
7:30 pm - 7:35 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:35 pm - 8:00 pm	"Transcription Activation Mechanism of a Non-Canonical Bacterial DNA Damage Response Pathway in C.crescentus"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:35 pm	"Breaking the Slide: How Switching from a DNA-Sliding Clamp to a Repressor Mediates Long-Range Gene Silencing"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm	"Unveiling the Role of CTP in VirB-dependent Anti-silencing of Virulence Genes in Shigella flexneri"
8:55 pm - 9:00 pm	Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm	"A Multimodal Approach Reveals Bridged H-NS Nucleoprotein Filaments Silence Transcription Elongation Genome-wide in E. coli"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	"CarD: Coupling Gene Expression to DNA Supercoiling in Rhodobacter"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Business Meeting Nominations for the Next Vice Chair(s); Complete the GRC Evaluation Forms; Election of the Next Vice Chair(s)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	Co-Transcriptional Mechanisms Discussion Leader:
9:00 am - 9:20 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:20 am - 9:45 am	"Coordination Between Transcription, Translation, and mRNA Degradation in Bacteria"
9:45 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:35 am	Coffee Break
10:35 am - 11:00 am	"Structural Basis of Transcription Regulation of HK022 put RNA and Beyond"
11:00 am - 11:10 am	Discussion
11:10 am - 11:35 am	"Post-Initiation Control of Plasmid Conjugation"
11:35 am - 11:45 am	Discussion
11:45 am - 11:55 am	"Role of DksA with Translational Quality Control Process During Nutrient-Rich Growth in E. coli"
11:55 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm	"Structures of Transcription-translation Coupling Complexes at Each Stage of the Translation Cycle"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	"Competition Between Elongation Factors Directs Their Dynamic Interactions with Elongation Complexes"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Keynote Session: A Global View of Transcription Discussion Leader:
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:50 pm - 8:30 pm	"The Alternative Sigma Universe"
8:30 pm - 8:40 pm	Discussion
8:40 pm - 9:20 pm	"Transcription Factors and the Management of Infection by E. coli Pathovars"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am	Departure

Contributors

Dick Brennan on behalf of the Department of Biochemistry, Duke University

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Conference History Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription (GRS)

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