Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs), such as temperate bacteriophages and conjugative plasmids, which can transfer horizontally and vertically between bacterial cells, are known to play a crucial role in shaping the composition and behaviour of microbial communities.
In this project, using synthetic engineering, bioinformatics, bioimaging and experimental infection assays to investigate the molecular interactions between temperate bacteriophages and conjugative plasmids in both laboratory strains of E. coli and clinical isolates. Using bioinformatic analyses to understand the cooccurrence patterns of temperate phages and conjugative plasmids in nature and find target genes involved in those patterns. These genes will be tested by cloning them into a model phage and plasmid, followed by quantifying their spread through infection assays at the population level and microscopy techniques at the single cell level.
These findings will be extended to clinical isolates to assess the relevance of phage-plasmid interactions in natural microbial communities and their potential impact on antimicrobial treatments. By combining genomic patterns of phage-plasmid interactions with genetic manipulation of model organisms and infection assays of clinical isolates, it will be determined how temperate phages and conjugative plasmids interact and how those interactions influence their vertical and horizontal spread between bacterial cells.
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