Background:

Dr. Steiner earned a Bachelor of Science from The University of Mount Union in Ohio. She then went to The Ohio State University to complete a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. She completed a research fellowship at the Lineberger Cancer Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics for LECOM in Bradenton, Florida in the College of Medicine.

Research question:

How does disturbance of translational quality control impact Gram-positive (Bacillus subtills) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria differently?

Assays Image of bacteria and names by LECOM

Background and Preliminary results:

Amino ACYL tRNA Synthetase Diagram

The amino acyl tRNA synthetase is the enzyme responsible for attaching the correct amino acid to a tRNA to be used in translation. Without internal proofreading mechanisms, errors can occur during protein synthesis.

Growth Deficiency charts between E.coli and B.subtillis

Mutation of the editing domain in E. coli induces growth defect, among other phenotypes, including antibiotic sensitivities. However, the same mutation in B. subtills does not induce a growth deficiency.

 

Publications:

**Rebecca E Steiner (formerly Mann)
2021          Srinivas, P., Steiner, R.E., Pavelich, I.J., Guerrero-Ferreira, R., Juneja, P., Ibba, M. & Dunham, C.M. “Oxidation alters the architecture of the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase editing domain to confer hyperaccuracy,” NAR, 2021.
2019           Canals, R., Chaudhuri, R.R., Steiner, R.E., Owen, S.V., Quinones-Olvera, N., Gordon, M.A., Baym, M., Ibba, M. and Hinton, J. C. D. “ The fitness landscape of the African Salmonella Typhimurium SY313 strain D23580 reveals unique properties of the pBT1 plasmid,” PLOS Pathogen, 2019 15(9): e1007948.
2019            Steiner, R.E., and Ibba, M. “Regulation of tRNA dependent translational quality control,” International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2019 71(8):1150-1157.
2019            Steiner R.E., Kyle AM, & Ibba M (2019) Oxidation of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase positively regulates translational quality control. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 116(20): 10058-10063.
2018            Sahai, S.K.*, Steiner, R.E.*, Au, M. G., Graham, J. M., Salamon, N., Ibba, M.,Pierson, T. M.(2018) FARS2 mutations presenting with pure spastic paraplegia and lesions of the dentate nuclei. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. 5(9): 1128-1133.

*Contributed equally to the work
2018             Steiner, R. E. and Ibba, M. (2018) Bridging the Gap between tRNA Modifications and the Respiratory Chain. Biochemistry. 57 (18), pp2565-2566.
2018             Mohler, K., Mann R., Kyle, A., Reynolds, N., and Ibba, M. (2018) Aminoacyl-tRNA Quality Control is Required for Efficient Activation of the TOR Pathway Regulator Gln3p. RNA Biology. 15(4-5): 594-603.
2017              Mohler K, Mann R, Bullwinkle TJ, Hopkins K, Hwang L, Reynolds NM, Gassaway B, Aerni HR, Rinehart J, Polymenis M, Faull K, Ibba M (2017) Editing of misaminoacylated tRNA controls the sensitivity of amino acid stress responses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nucleic Acids Res. 45 (7): 3985-3996.
2017              Mohler, K., Mann R. and Ibba, M. (2016) Isoacceptor specific characterization of tRNA aminoacylation and misacylation in vivo. METHODS. 113:127-131.