Adam Driks, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Ph.D., Brandeis University

Molecular Microbiologist

Spore formation in Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis: 
roles in survival and pathogenesis, and 
defense against biological weapons

Bacterial spores can survive even the most extreme environments. This property allows pathogenic spores, such as those produced by Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, to serve as biological weapons. We study the composition and assembly of spore structures responsible for their unusual durability, in both B. anthracis and B. subtilis. This work allows us to address several basic science issues, including the molecular mechanisms controlling assembly of cellular structures, and the roles of spore protective structures in pathogenesis. Our studies also allow us to contribute to a variety of efforts to defend against biological weapons, including the development of novel spore detection and decontamination methods, as well as vaccines

Selected Publications

Severson, K. Mallozzi, M., Driks, A., Knight, K. L. B Cell Development in GALT: Role of Bacterial and Endogenous Super antigen-like Molecules. J. Immunol. 184: 6782-6789 (2010).

McKenney, P.T., Driks, A., Eskandarian, H.A., Grabowski, P., Guberman, J., Wang, K.H., Gitai, Z. Eichenberger, P.. A distance-weighted interaction map reveals a previously uncharacterized layer of the B. subtilis spore coat. In press at Current Biology 25: 934-938 (2010).

Chen, G., Driks, A., Tawfiq, K., Mallozzi, M. and Patil, S. Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis Spore surface properties and transport. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 76: 512-518 (2010).

Moody, K.L., Driks, A., Rother, G.L., Cote, C.K., Brueggmann, E.E., Hines, H., Friedlander, A.M., and Bozue, J. Assembly and Localization of a Bacillus anthracis Spore Coat Protein that Undergoes Processing. Microbiology 156:174-183 (2010).

Traag, B.A., Driks, A., Stragier, P., Bitter, W., Broussard, G., Hatfull, G., Chu, F., Adams, K.N., Ramakrishnan, L., and Losick, R. Do Mycobacteria Produce Endospores? P.N.A.S. USA 107: 878-881 (2010).

Moody KL, Driks A, Rother GL, Cote CK, Brueggemann EE, Hines HB, Friedlander AM, Bozue J. Processing, assembly and localization of a Bacillus anthracis spore protein. Microbiology. 156(Pt 1):174-83 (2010). Epub 2009 Oct 15. PMID: 19833771.

Severson, K.M., Mallozzi, M. Bozue, J., Welkos, S.L., Cote, C.K., Knight, K.L., Driks, A.. Roles of the Bacillus anthracis Spore Protein ExsK in Exosporium Maturation and Germination.J. Bacteriology. 191: 7587-7596 (2009).

Driks A. The Bacillus anthracis spore. Mol. Aspects Med. 30:368-373 (2009)

Driks, A. and Mallozzi, M. Outer structures of the Bacillus anthracis spore. In, Bacillus anthracis and Anthrax, (Nicholas Bergman, Editor). John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey (2009).

Giorno R, Mallozzi M, Bozue J, Moody KS, Slack A, Qiu D, Wang R, Friedlander A, Welkos S, Driks A. Localization and assembly of proteins comprising the outer structures of the Bacillus anthracis spore.Microbiology. 155(Pt 4):1133-45 (2009) .PMID: 19332815

Mallozzi, M., Bozue, J., Giorno, R., Moody, K.-S., Slack, A., Cote, C., Qiu, D., Wang, R., Lai, E.-M., Maddock, J.R., Friedlander, A., Welkos, S., and Driks, A. Characterization of a Bacillus anthracis spore coat-surface protein that influences coat surface morphology. FEMS Microbiology. 289:110-117 (2008).

Giorno, R., Bozue, J., Mallozzi, M., Moody, K.-S., Slack, A., Qui, D., Wang, R., Friedlander, A., Welkos, S., and Driks, A. Localization and assembly of proteins comprising the outer structures of the Bacillus anthracis spore. Microbiology. In press.

Wang, L., Perpich, J., Driks, A., and Kroos, L. One perturbation of the mother cell gene regulatory network suppresses the effects of another during sporulation of Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 189:8467-8473 (2007).

Wang, L., Perpich, J., Driks, A., and Kroos, L. Maintaining the transcriptional factor SpoIIID level late during sporulation causes spore defects in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 189:7302-7309 (2007).

Wang, R., Krishnamurthy, S.N., Jeong, J.S., Driks, A., Mehta, M., Gingras, B.A. Fingerprinting Species and Strains of Bacilli Spores by Distinctive Coat Surface Morphology. Langmuir. 23:10230-10234 (2007).

Rose, R., Setlow, B. , Monroe, A., Mallozzi, M., Driks, A. and Setlow, P. Comparison of the properties of Bacillus subtilis spores made in liquid or on agar plates. J. Appl. Microbiol. 103:691-699 (2007).

Driks, A. Surface appendages of bacterial spores. Mol. Microbiol. 63:623-625 (2007).

Giorno, R., Bozue, J., Cote, C., Wenzel, T., Moody, K.-S., Ryan, M., Wang, R., Zielke, R., Maddock, J. M., Friedlander, A., Welkos, S., and Driks, A. Morphogenesis of the Bacillus anthracis spore coat. J. Bacteriol. 189:691-705 (2007).

Jagtap, P., Michailidis, G., Zielke R., Walker A. K., Patel N., Strahler J.R., Driks A., Andrews P. C., and Maddock, J. R. Early events of Bacillus anthracis germination identified by time-course quantitative proteomics. Proteomics. 6:5199-5211 (2006).

Kim, H., Grabowski, P., Hahn, M., McPherson, D., Wang, R., Ferguson, C., Eichenberger, P., and Driks, A. The Bacillus subtilis Spore Coat Protein Interaction Network. Mol. Micro. 59:487-502 (2006).

McPherson, D., Kim, H., Hahn, M., Wang, R., Grabowski, P., Eichenberger, P., and Driks, A. Characterization of the Bacillus subtilis spore coat morphogenetic protein CotO. J Bacteriol. 187:8278-8290 (2005).

Rhee, K.-J. Sethupathi, P., Driks, A., Lanning, D. K. and Knight, K. L. Role of Commensal Bacteria in Development of Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissues and Preimmune Antibody Repertoire. J. Immunol. 172:1118-1124 (2004). 

Driks, A. From Rings to Layers: Surprising Patterns of Protein Deposition during Bacterial Spore Assembly. J. Bacteriol. 186:4423-4426 (2004).

Erh-Min, L., Phadke, N. D., Kachman, M. T., Giorno, R., Vazquez., S., Vazquez, J. A., Maddock, J. R. and Driks, A. Proteomic Analysis of the Spore Coats of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus anthracis. J. Bacteriol. 185:1443-1454 (2003).

Driks, A. The dynamic spore. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A. 100: 3007-3009 (2003).

Chada, V., Sanstad, E., Wang, R. and Driks, A. Morphogenesis of Bacillus spore surfaces. J. Bacteriol. 185:6255-6261 (2003).