Your poster and research was strong, but your presentation was restarted a lot of times during your video, so it really took away from the presentation. Other than that, you presented your results and conclusions really well.
Once it’s sequenced, the nucleotide sequences and genes could be used in comparative genomics to discover and further research functions of different phage genes, especially if any gene sequences in this bacteriophage are novel or match other novel gene sequences. We could also archive this phage for eventual use in phage therapy for antibiotic-resistant infections, however, we would need to genetically modify it to become essentially a lytic phage, by removing the repressor and integrase proteins.
Since it’s a temperate phage, it would need to undergo genetic engineering before being used for things like phage therapy. Phage therapy uses phages to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans, and temperate phages aren’t ideal due to the fact they provide immunity to the host bacterial cells and they don’t lyse all of the cells. In order to use temperate phages in the medical field, we would need to remove the repressor protein (so that the lytic cycle would commence immediately in the cell) and most likely the integrase protein as well (so that there’s no chance of the phage DNA integrating into the host genome). By doing this, it could be used like a lytic phage in phage therapy.
How experimentally applicable would this phage be in understanding things such as tuberculosis if it infects bacteria with a common ancestry to tuberculosis?
The similarity between M. Smeg and M. Tuberculosis suggests a common ancestor between the two. Due to this, some bacterial strains from M. tuberculosis will have similar surface proteins to M. smeg bacteria that this phage would be able to use to gain entry into the host cell.
Therefore, this phage could be used in many ways to study and understand and treat tuberculosis. For example, we can put different DNA and proteins that would manipulate tuberculosis cells into the capsid head of the phage that would be able to integrate into the host’s genome after infection. This phage could also be used in phage therapy to treat antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, if the specific infection has a strain that has surface proteins with matching proteins to the tail fibers of the phage.
Unfortunately, due to the remote nature of this semester’s courses, our TAs were the ones to obtain the soil. I know our phage specifically was found from the soil of one of our TA’s backyards. However, bacteriophages in general are so abundant that they can be found in most soil samples.
Your poster and research was strong, but your presentation was restarted a lot of times during your video, so it really took away from the presentation. Other than that, you presented your results and conclusions really well.
Do you know what this bacteriophage could be used for once it is researched further?
Once it’s sequenced, the nucleotide sequences and genes could be used in comparative genomics to discover and further research functions of different phage genes, especially if any gene sequences in this bacteriophage are novel or match other novel gene sequences. We could also archive this phage for eventual use in phage therapy for antibiotic-resistant infections, however, we would need to genetically modify it to become essentially a lytic phage, by removing the repressor and integrase proteins.
Since it is a temperate phage, what medical uses could this phage be used for?
Since it’s a temperate phage, it would need to undergo genetic engineering before being used for things like phage therapy. Phage therapy uses phages to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans, and temperate phages aren’t ideal due to the fact they provide immunity to the host bacterial cells and they don’t lyse all of the cells. In order to use temperate phages in the medical field, we would need to remove the repressor protein (so that the lytic cycle would commence immediately in the cell) and most likely the integrase protein as well (so that there’s no chance of the phage DNA integrating into the host genome). By doing this, it could be used like a lytic phage in phage therapy.
How experimentally applicable would this phage be in understanding things such as tuberculosis if it infects bacteria with a common ancestry to tuberculosis?
The similarity between M. Smeg and M. Tuberculosis suggests a common ancestor between the two. Due to this, some bacterial strains from M. tuberculosis will have similar surface proteins to M. smeg bacteria that this phage would be able to use to gain entry into the host cell.
Therefore, this phage could be used in many ways to study and understand and treat tuberculosis. For example, we can put different DNA and proteins that would manipulate tuberculosis cells into the capsid head of the phage that would be able to integrate into the host’s genome after infection. This phage could also be used in phage therapy to treat antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, if the specific infection has a strain that has surface proteins with matching proteins to the tail fibers of the phage.
Where you able to use any type of soil or did it need to have certain characteristics ?
Unfortunately, due to the remote nature of this semester’s courses, our TAs were the ones to obtain the soil. I know our phage specifically was found from the soil of one of our TA’s backyards. However, bacteriophages in general are so abundant that they can be found in most soil samples.