Quantitating the Effects of a Klebsiella Bacteriocin on Enterobacter cloacae Models
Faculty Mentor
Sean Fox
Mentor Home Department
Health Sciences
Short Abstract
As multi-drug resistant infections become increasingly more common, researchers have been searching for ways to mitigate antibiotic resistance. One proposed method is to use bacteriocins as a synergistic treatment alongside antibiotics. Bacteriocins are antimicrobial proteins produced by bacteria to inhibit related species of bacteria. Previous studies have shown that bacteriocins reduce the concentration of antibiotics needed to eradicate bacteria in cultures. However, there are still many bacteriocins that have yet to be characterized that could potentially contribute to future antibiotic therapies. Klebsiella pneumoniae produces a bacteriocin that inhibits the growth of Enterobacter species, however the effects of this bacteriocin are not well understood outside of planktonic cell cultures. This research project aims to quantitate and compare the inhibitory effects of a Klebsiella produced bacteriocin on E. cloacae using planktonic cell cultures, biofilms, and in vivo models. So far, this has been accomplished by creating a fluorescent strain of E. cloacae. This strain was produced by transforming plasmids containing the RFP gene from E. coli into wild-type E. cloacae via electroporation. The presence of the RFP containing plasmid was confirmed using PCR and confocal fluorescence microscopy. Currently, different techniques for biofilm assays are being tested so that the biofilms can be quantitated using confocal fluorescence microscopy. In the future, C. elegans will be used as an in vivo model to test the efficacy of the Klebsiella bacteriocin against an E. cloacae infection. Hopefully, this research will demonstrate the potential of this bacteriocin as a synergistic treatment for drug resistant Enterobacter infections.
Category
Health
Start Date
5-4-2024 8:00 AM
End Date
5-4-2024 9:00 AM
Location
D.P. Culp Center Room 272 (East Tennessee Room)
Quantitating the Effects of a Klebsiella Bacteriocin on Enterobacter cloacae Models
D.P. Culp Center Room 272 (East Tennessee Room)
As multi-drug resistant infections become increasingly more common, researchers have been searching for ways to mitigate antibiotic resistance. One proposed method is to use bacteriocins as a synergistic treatment alongside antibiotics. Bacteriocins are antimicrobial proteins produced by bacteria to inhibit related species of bacteria. Previous studies have shown that bacteriocins reduce the concentration of antibiotics needed to eradicate bacteria in cultures. However, there are still many bacteriocins that have yet to be characterized that could potentially contribute to future antibiotic therapies. Klebsiella pneumoniae produces a bacteriocin that inhibits the growth of Enterobacter species, however the effects of this bacteriocin are not well understood outside of planktonic cell cultures. This research project aims to quantitate and compare the inhibitory effects of a Klebsiella produced bacteriocin on E. cloacae using planktonic cell cultures, biofilms, and in vivo models. So far, this has been accomplished by creating a fluorescent strain of E. cloacae. This strain was produced by transforming plasmids containing the RFP gene from E. coli into wild-type E. cloacae via electroporation. The presence of the RFP containing plasmid was confirmed using PCR and confocal fluorescence microscopy. Currently, different techniques for biofilm assays are being tested so that the biofilms can be quantitated using confocal fluorescence microscopy. In the future, C. elegans will be used as an in vivo model to test the efficacy of the Klebsiella bacteriocin against an E. cloacae infection. Hopefully, this research will demonstrate the potential of this bacteriocin as a synergistic treatment for drug resistant Enterobacter infections.