SUPER SOLDIERS​

With the onset of "superbugs", bacteria with evolved resistance to several antibiotics at once, new types of treatments are needed outside of antibiotics. In fact, some strains of bacterial already contain their own systems to kill off others of the same species. The effectiveness of these contact-dependent inhibition, or CDI, systems suggest the possibility of creating a bacterial "super soldier" able to outcompete various other infectious strains at once.

CROSS-SPECIES CDI​

After obtaining a vector containing a complete E. coli CDI system from Dr. Hayes at UCSB, we were able to successfully transform non-CDI E. coli and produce the functional phenotype. Following this, to create the first "super soldier" strain with a CDI system that inhibits a separate species, we are in the process of generating a plasmid vector with an Enterobacter aerogenes CDI system and transforming this into an E. coli strain.
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KNOCK-OUT ANALYSIS AND IMMUNITY

A current issue with CDI systems is the location of each part of the system within the genome. Although there is general idea of the system's location, it unknown whether all parts of this relatively large sequence contribute to the functional system or even what receptor the inhibition works through on the target bacteria. Using transposon mutagenesis, we are aiming to get a better idea of what constitutes the system by knocking out certain regions of the genome. Additionally, a sequence within the CDI system codes for inter-species immunity, and we aim to counteract this by producing a recombinant E. coli CDI system with an E. aerogenes toxin.
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