Abstract 1623 Analysis of copper ion binding to the copper resistance protein DcrB

Salmonella enterica is a common cause of food borne illness in the United States. S. enterica has a variety of different mechanisms that enable it to avoid the host immune system and cause infection. One mechanism the enables infection is resistance to toxic metal ions such as copper. The DcrB protein enables S. enterica to be resistant to toxic amounts of copper. However, it is unknown how DcrB enables copper resistance. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that DcrB directly interacts with copper ions.