Since 1928 with the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been used to treat bacterial infections. Due to large-scale antibiotic use, there has been an increase in antibiotic resistance infections. Therefore, it is important to identify bacterial targets for new antibiotics. In the Auerbuch Stone lab, we study how bacteria control expression of special genes critical for causing disease, called virulence factors. We recently identified an enzyme called a polyadenylase that regulates virulence factor expression in the human pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Adaku’s project for the 2022-23 academic year was to understand the mechanism that this polyadenylase uses to control virulence factor expression. To do this, Adaku, under the mentorship of grad student Kate Schubert and junior specialist Micah Braly, mutated different regions of this polyadenylase and observed virulence factor activity in Yersinia encoding normal or mutated polyadenylase. Adaku’s results will help us determine if this polyadenylase might be a good target for new antibiotics.