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E. Davis full thesis 6-29-17.pdf (1.61 MB)

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Diverse environmental Pseudomonas encode unique secondary metabolites that inhibit human pathogens

Davis, Elizabeth A
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1498481537530199

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, Biological Sciences.
Antibiotic resistance has become a crisis of global proportions. People all over the world are dying from multidrug resistant infections, and it is predicted that bacterial infections will once again become the leading cause of death. One human opportunistic pathogen of great concern is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa is the most abundant pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients' lungs over time and is resistant to most currently used antibiotics. Chronic infection of the CF lung is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in CF patients. With the rise of multidrug resistant bacteria and lack of novel antibiotics, treatment for CF patients will become more problematic. Escalating the problem is a lack of research from pharmaceutical companies due to low profitability, resulting in a large void in the discovery and development of antibiotics. Thus, research labs within academia have played an important role in the discovery of novel compounds. Environmental bacteria are known to naturally produce secondary metabolites, some of which outcompete surrounding bacteria for resources. We hypothesized that environmental Pseudomonas from diverse soil and water habitats produce secondary metabolites capable of inhibiting the growth of CF derived P. aeruginosa. To address this hypothesis, we used a population based study in tandem with transposon mutagenesis and bioinformatics to identify eight biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) from four different environmental Pseudomonas strains, S4G9, LE6C9, LE5C2 and S3E10. Of the eight BGCs identified, seven had putative products of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases and one had a putative product of a phenazine. All compounds appeared to be diverse and potentially novel, but further biochemical research must be done to verify these findings. Overall, we were able to identify genes that encode secondary metabolites capable of inhibiting the growth of CF derived P. aeruginosa as well as other human pathogens. This research has created ground work for the possibility of extracting, characterizing and developing new antibiotics.
Hans Wildschutte (Advisor)
Ray Larsen (Committee Member)
Jill Zeilstra-Ryalls (Committee Member)
112 p.
Biology; Microbiology; Molecular Biology
Cystic Fibrosis; environmental Pseudomonas; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; biosynthetic gene clusters; transposon mutagenesis; bioinformatics; antibiotic discovery

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Davis, E. A. (2017). Diverse environmental Pseudomonas encode unique secondary metabolites that inhibit human pathogens [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1498481537530199

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Davis, Elizabeth . Diverse environmental Pseudomonas encode unique secondary metabolites that inhibit human pathogens . 2017. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1498481537530199.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Davis, Elizabeth . "Diverse environmental Pseudomonas encode unique secondary metabolites that inhibit human pathogens ." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1498481537530199

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1498481537530199
721
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.