Philip M. Silverman, Ph.D.

B.S., University of Illinois (Champagne-Urbana), 1964
Ph.D., University of California (Berkeley), 1969
Post-doctoral, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York), 1969-70
 
Joined OMRF Scientific Staff in 1988.
 
e-mail:Philip-Silverman@omrf.ouhsc.edu

E. coli horizontal transfer of DNA.

My laboratory studies the mechanism by which bacterial cells transfer genetic material to other bacterial cells. This horizontal transfer contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance, a growing public health concern.
 
Transfer requires about two dozen donor cell proteins to contact and recognize recipient cells and initiate and maintain DNA transfer. Neither the organization of these proteins with respect to each other nor their function is understood. My research is now directed at the question of organization.
 
We have defined binary interactions among the donor proteins required at the cell-cell contact stage of DNA transfer. These interactions separate the proteins into three "protein linkage groups." Each linkage group presumably defines a functional group as well, and some progress has been made in determining what these functions are.
 
Continuation of this work will lead to novel structural and functional insights into the mechansim of horizontal DNA transfer and possibly agents capable of combating the process in natural populations.

Silverman, P.M. Towards a structural biology of bacterial conjugation. Molec. Microbiol. 23, 423-429 (1997)

Harris, R.L., Sholl, K.A., Conrad, M.N., Dresser, M.E. and Silverman, P.M. Interaction between the F Plasmid TraA and TraQ proteins . Molec. Microbiol. 34:780-791 (1999)

Harris, R.L., Hombs, V. and Silverman, P.M. Evidence that F-plasmid proteins TraV, TraK and TraB assemble into an envelope-spanning structure in Escherichia coli. Molec. Microbiol. 42:757-766 (2001)

Harris, R.L. and Silverman, P.M. Role of internal cysteines in the function, localization, and reactivity of the TraV outer membrane lipoprotein encoded by the F-plasmid. J. Bacteriol. 184:3126-3129 (2002)

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
American Society for Cell Biology
American Society for Microbiology
The Harvey Society

Service on advisory panels for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Scientific Advisory Board, the Omniplex Science Museum, Oklahoma City; Director, the Oklahoma Science Project (an initiative aimed at pre-college science instruction in Oklahoma's public schools).