Project introduction

Table of contents

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Project description

One common trait shared between humans and bacteria is that we are all infected by viruses. However, given the number of phages out in the environment, how is it that all bacteria are not wiped out by these killer viruses? The answer is that, just like us humans, bacteria have evolved to have many immune responses that are able to defend against the viral threat. In order to better understand the ways in which bacteria defend against phages, we will be isolating new phages that are able to infect Cglu that we have made “immunocompromised” by mutating phage-defense regions in the genome. We will then test to see if these phages are able to infect “immunocompetent” hosts and use these differences in phage host range to further understand bacterial immunity.

Host: Corynebacterium glutamicum (Cglu)

• Cglu is a soil bacterium that is most famous for industrially producing the umami flavoring MSG. It has a really interesting (and cool!) envelope structure that is composed of complex sugars and unique lipids which makes it more impermeable to stresses like antibiotics. Cglu is an Actinomycete, which is an understudied phylum of bacteria, and new phages will allow for us to study phage-host interactions and learn more about how these cool bacteria grow and divide.

Temperature	30℃
Media	LB
Doubling time	50 min