Honors Program
Midway Honors
Date of Award
5-2020
Thesis Professor(s)
Erik M. Petersen
Thesis Professor Department
Health Sciences
Thesis Reader(s)
Charlotte L. Powers
Abstract
Over time, “superbugs,” or bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics, have become a great concern in modern medicine. Viable alternates are currently being looked into as effective and safe ways to prevent or treat infections caused by these superbugs. One such method is through the utilization of the second messenger molecule cyclic-di-GMP (c-di-GMP) that has been shown to regulate phenotypes within other bacteria that may control surface colonization in Acinetobacter baumannii. Through a series of experiments, the active enzymes that create c-di-GMP - diguanylate cyclases - and break down c-di- GMP - phosphodiesterases - have been inactivated in mutants to test phenotypes including biofilm formation, motility, antibiotic resistance, and desiccation survival. The research’s objective is to show that manipulation of c-di-GMP within the multi-drug resistant strain of Acinetobacter baumannii may serve as a means to control this bacteria.
Publisher
East Tennessee State University
Document Type
Honors Thesis - Withheld
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Deal, Justin, "Second Messenger Cyclic-di-GMP Regulation in Acinetobacter baumannii" (2020). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 534. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/534
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
Bacteria Commons, Bacteriology Commons, Microbial Physiology Commons, Other Microbiology Commons, Pathogenic Microbiology Commons