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

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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