Dr. Wayne L. Hynes

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Track Coordinator, Biomedical Sciences
Director, Master's Degree Programs in Biological Sciences

The group A streptococcus, S. pyogenes, still manages to confound those of us who investigate its properties. The main emphasis of my research is focused on the extracellular products of this organism, in particular the hyaluronate lyase (hyaluronidase). Streptococcal extracellular hyaluronate lyase has been believed to be a virulence factor for Streptococcus pyogenes for a number of years. It is thought to be involved in the spread of the organism from its initial site of infection. The hyaluronidase would aid in the dispersal of the microorganism by breaking down the hyaluronic acid present in our tissues. My aim is to understand the production and regulation of the hyaluronidase gene and also to gain insight into what role this product has in the establishment of a streptococcal infection and any role in the diseases (in particular necrotizing fasciitis and rheumatic fever) caused by the organism. In addition I am beginning to examine to protein itself so that questions regarding structure-function relationships can be addressed.
Related to this is trying to understand how the organism (S. pyogenes) regulates production of the hyaluronate lyase gene. We are examining the effect of the various regulators the group A streptococci have to determine the mechanism by which hyaluronate lyase is regulated. As indicated the hyaluronate lyase is believed to be important in bacterial virulence. One other factor that has been shown to be important in the ability of S. pyogenes to produce infections is a hyaluronic acid capsule – this organism produces a capsule known to be antiphagocytic, but yet also produces an enzyme capable of degrading this capsular material. How does the organism regulate these two opposing activities? We are currently examining the relationship between these two possible virulence factors – are they produced at different times or do different signals trigger the production of one factor rather than the other.
The other component of this research is aimed at understanding the protein itself. This involves purifying the enzyme from both the Streptococcus as well as a purified form of the enzyme. This will involve a number of protein purification techniques including differ