Off-campus ETSU users: To download "Campus Only" theses, please use the following link to log in to our proxy server with your ETSU username and password.
Non-ETSU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.
Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Biology
Date of Award
12-2016
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Bert C. Lampson
Committee Members
Christopher Pritchett, Abbas Shilabin
Abstract
The soil bacterium Rhodococcus is a member of the phylum Actinobacteria and is related to Streptomyces, which is known for its production of many secondary metabolites. Recent genomic investigation of Rhodococcus has uncovered many silent gene clusters that appear to code for nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and polyketide synthases (PKS) of unknown function. Previous work, showed that Rhodococcus species strain KCHXC3 produces an inhibitory compound in agar culture extracts that displays prominent activity against several Gram positive and Gram negative species including the pathogens Rhodococcus equi, Shigella dysenteriae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using the engineered Rhodococcus transposon vector, pTNR, the goal of this investigation is to screen random mutants of KCHXC3 for strains that no longer produce the inhibitory molecule. A library of 1825 random insertion mutants was produced via electroporation then screened for production of the inhibitory molecule by a disk diffusion assay against Shigella dysenteriae. From this screening, 7 mutants which no longer produce the compound of interest were identified.
Document Type
Thesis - restricted
Recommended Citation
Holley, Robert Christopher, "Random Mutagenesis of Rhodococcus Strain KCHXC3 and Detection of Mutants Which No Longer Produce an Antibacterial Compound" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3161. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3161
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.