These months have been of intensive scientific work on several structures of the F. tularensis Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphatase (FtFBPase). This is an enzyme from the bacterial pathogen F. tularensis. My collleagues at UIC and myself are working on the research project to validate the gluconeogenic enzyme Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphatase (FBPase) as a valid target for three pathogens: M. tuberculosis, F. tularensis, and S. aureus.

These enzymes are members of the ClassII FBPases (FBPasesII).

The Spring and Summer months were devoted to finalize and submit a manuscript regarding two structures of F. tularensis FBPase and another from the same enzyme of M. tuberculosis (MtFBPase) to the Public Library of Science (PLOS-ONE). The manuscript discusses those three structures and suggests a novel catalytic mechanism for the entire classII FBPases.

The resulting manuscript has been made available by the bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.05.506711

A SIGNIFICANTLY REVISED VERSION OF THE MANUSCRIPT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN PLOS ONE IN JUNE 2023. See above in the corresponding section.