Invited
Small molecule metabolism at the host-microbe interface

Escherichia coli is a common inhabitant of the human microbiota and a beacon model organism in biology. However, an understanding of its chemical signaling systems that regulate population-level phenotypes, cell-extrinsic stress responses, and host phenotypes remain largely unknown. In this lecture, we will discuss the characterization of a quorum sensing factor, "autoinducer-3" (AI-3), a drug stress response that controls the formation of signals that we term the "indolokines," and an oncogenic risk factor pathway that produces "colibactin." We will discuss their bacterial genetic origins, their new chemical structures, and their host responses at the detailed molecular level.