Utilising the Underlying Genetic Mechanisms of Survival Exhibited by Pseudomonas aeruginosa during Chronic Lung Infection for Novel Drug Target Discov

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, opportunistic plant and animal pathogen and one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections. As an opportunistic pathogen, P. aeruginosa mainly causes infections in immuno-compromised individuals and its success as a human pathogen can be attributed to its intrinsic resistance to many antibiotics, its adaptability to changes in its environment and its ability to form biofilms.Understanding the underlying genetic mechanisms essential for bacterial survival in the host is key to identifying novel therapeutic targets. Transposon mutagenesis has been shown to be a valuable genetic tool for linking phenotype to genotype by creating mutant libraries with mutations in all non-essential genes. These mutant libraries can then be used to screen for genes essential for growth and survival under a variety of conditions. We aim to construct a transposon mutant library from a chronic infection clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa which will subsequently be used to screen for genes essential for survival in the lung during chronic infection. These screens have the potential to identify novel drug targets and/or determine the functions for genes of unknown function.