Cristiano G. Moreira
Assistant Professor
BMB Division
BSc.: Federal University of São Carlos, 1999
MSc.: University of São Paulo, 2002
PhD.: University of São Paulo, 2005
Post-Doc: Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics/LNCC, 2006
Post-Doc: UT Southwestern Medical Center, 2006-2013
Assistant/Associate Professor: São Paulo State University, UNESP, 2013-2021
Visiting Professor: Emory University, Atlanta-GA, 2021-2023
Office: Life Sciences Annex A112
Lab Website: Under Construction
Area of Interest
How do bacteria make us sick? A very simple and complicated question at the same time. Our research group has been successfully studying pathogenesis and chemical signaling in Gram-negative bacteria over these last years in a diverse and integrated group of Scientists from different levels and backgrounds. We investigate mechanisms of pathogenesis in distinct Salmonella and Escherichia coli pathogenic strains in the gut and urinary tract. Always exploring from basic to complex biological questions, how do they cause diseases, how do they adapt to hostile niches and evade the host response? Several bacterial pathogens rely on chemicalsignaling or Quorum sensing to trigger their gene expression for distinct pathogenic pathways.
The Basic Science Axis:
Our main research projects cover distinct mechanisms such as bacterial 2-component systems, lipid-A modifications in their LPS layer, as well as O-antigen formation and regulation in the bacterial membrane, an important interface to interact with host-cells directly affecting bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Our main bacterial models are Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, ST313 isolates, hybrid pathogenic Escherichia coli, uropathogenic multidrug resistant Escherichia coli.
Translational and Applied Science Axis:
Development of alternative forms of treatment to circumvent bacterial resistance. Investigate novel products to cover the One Health perspective (Human-Animal-Environment) and treat multidrug resistant bacterial infections. Our group ultimate goal aims to improve the current forms of treatment, with alternate therapies and antibiotic combo treatment for infectious diseases.
Selected Publications
Ribeiro, T.R.M.; Salgaço, M.K.; Adorno, M.A.T.; da Silva, M.A.; Piazza, R.M.F.; Sivieri,K.; Moreira, C.G. “Human microbiota modulation via QseC sensor kinase mediated in the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak strain infection in microbiome model.” BMC Microbiology, v.21, p1-14, 2021.
Braz, V.S.; Melchior, K.; Moreira, C.G. Escherichia coli as a Multifaceted Pathogenic and Versatile Bacterium. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, v. 10, p. 1-9, 2020.
Melchior K, Moreira CG. Novel non-flagellated surface motility mediated by chemical signaling in Citrobacter rodentium. Braz J Microbiol. doi: 10.1007/s42770-019-00123-0. Aug 27, 2019.
Ribeiro, T.R.M.; Lustri, B.C.; Elias, W.P.; Moreira, C. G. QseC signaling in the outbreak O104: H4 Escherichia coli strain combine multiple factors during infection. Journal of Bacteriology, pii: e00203-19. doi: 10.1128/JB.00203-19. Aug 8;201(17), 2019.
da Silva, P.; Manieri, F. Z.; Herrera, C.M.; Trent, M.S.; Moreira, C.G. . A novel role of VisP and the Wzzsystem during O-antigen assembly in Typhimurium pathogenesis. Infection and Immunity, v. 86, p. IAI.00319-18, 2018.
Lustri, B.C.; Sperandio, V.; Moreira C.G. Bacterial chat: intestinal metabolites and signals in host-microbiota-pathogen interactions. Infection and Immunity, Vol. 85, p. IAI.00476-17, 2017.
Almeida, F.*; Seribelli, A. A.*; da Silva, P.*; Medeiros, M.I.C.; Rodrigues, D.P.; Moreira, C.G.; Allard, M.W.; Falcão, J.P. Multilocus sequence typing of Salmonella Typhimurium reveals the presence of the highly invasive ST313 in Brazil. Infect. Genet. Evol. Vol.51: 41-44, (* First authors, with same contribution), 2017.
Moreira, C. G. *, Russell R.*, Mishra, A.*, Narayanan, S., Ritchie, J., Waldor, M.K., Curtis, M.M., Weinshnker, D., Sperandio, V. Bacterial adrenergic sensors regulate virulence of enteric pathogens in the gut. mBio (* First authors, with same contribution), 2016.
Moreira, C. G., C. M. Herrera, B. D. Needham, C. T. Parker, S. J. Libby, F.C. Fang, M. S. Trent, and V. Sperandio. 2013. Virulence and stress-related periplasmic protein (VisP) in bacterial/host associations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 110:1470-1475, 2013.
Pacheco, A.R., Curtiss, M., Ritchie, J.M., Waldor, M.K., Moreira, C.G., and Sperandio, V. Fucose sensing by a novel two-component system regulates virulence gene expression and bacterial intestinal colonization. Nature, 492(7427):113-7, December, 2012.
Moreira, C.G., Sperandio, V. The interplay between the QseC and QseE bacterial adrenergic sensor kinases in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium pathogenesis. Infection and Immunity, 80(12): 4344-4353, December, 2012.
Njoroge, J.W., Nguyen, Y., Curtiss, M., Moreira, C.G., and Sperandio V. Virulence Meets Metabolism: Cra and KdpE Gene Regulation in Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC). mBio 16;3(5): :e00280-12, 2012.
Moreira, C.G., Weinshenker, D., Sperandio, V. QseC mediates Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence in vitro and in vivo. Infection and Immunity 78(3): 914-26, 2010.
Rasko, D.A.; Moreira, C. G.; Li de R.; Reading, N.C.; Ritchie, J.M.; Waldor, M.K.; Williams, N.; Taussig, R.; Wei, S.; Roth, M.; Hughes, D.T.; Huntley, J.F.; Fina, M.W.; Falck, J.R.; Sperandio, V. Targeting QseC signaling and virulence for antibiotic development. Science 321 (5892): 1078-1080, Aug, 2008.
UnitProt Consortium. 2007. The Universal Protein Resource (UniProt). Nucleic Acids Research. 35: D193-D197, Jan, 2007.
Moreira, C. G.; Palmer, K.; Whiteley, M.; Sircili, M. P.; Trabulsi, L. R.; Castro, A. F. P.; Sperandio, V. Bundle-forming pili and EspA are involved in biofilm formation by Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli.,J.Bacteriol. 188(11): 3952-3961, June, 2006.
Moreira, C. G.; Carneiro, S. M.; Nataro, J. P.; Trabulsi, L. R. Elias, W. P. Role of Type I Fimbria in the Aggregative Adhesion Pattern of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli., FEMS Microb. Let. 226(1):79-85, 2003
Elias, W. P.; Barros, S. F.; Moreira, C. G.; Trabulsi, L. R.; Gomes, T. A. T. Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli strains among classical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli O serogroups. J. Clin. Microbiol., 40: 3540-41, 2002