How to build a super phage: Understanding and improving bacteriophage biocontrol of Pseudomonas syringae pathovars.

如何构建超级噬菌体：了解和改进丁香假单胞菌致病菌的噬菌体生物防治。

• 批准号: 2597241
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Kent
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2597241
• 关键词: How; build; super; phage; Understanding

Phytopathogenic bacteria affect a wide range of agricultural and horticultural crops and cause severe losses worldwide. Pseudomonas syringae pathovars are a major bacterial pathogen from an economic and scientific point of view. Pathovars syringae and morsprunorum cause bacterial canker on Prunus trees (e.g. cherry, plum...) with losses to UK fruit production estimated to above £500,000 every year. Severe rainfall and higher temperature due to climate change are predicted to make matters significantly worse. The current wide spectrum antimicrobial control strategies such as the use of antibiotics and copper are being banned due to their detrimental effects on environment, human health and due to the risk of passing antimicrobial resistance to human pathogens. The arch enemy of bacterial populations are bacteriophages, specific viruses that are able to hijack bacterial cells to produce more infectious virions before cell lysis. There are however several considerations before effective bacteriophage biocontrol can be developed. Phages need to target the right pathogen strains, they need to be stable in horticultural environment, should not compete for the same hosts, and should be able to evade emergence of bacterial resistance. The aim of this project is to answer a deceivingly simple question: What makes an effective biocontrol phage cocktail for agriculture? We will use in-vitro and in-vivo coevolution of phages and pathogens together with genome sequencing to assemble the possible evolutionary outcomes of phages and bacterial pathogens in planta. In silico design of bacteriophages will be then used to try to improve on biocontrol potential and stability of natural phages by combining genomic features of different phage strains. This project will contribute crucial knowledge on the interactions between phages, bacteria in plant that could transform our understanding of phage biocontrol with wide reaching impact beyond Pseudomonas spp.

植物病原细菌影响广泛的农业和园艺作物，并在世界范围内造成严重损失。从经济和科学的角度来看，假单胞菌致病变种是一种主要的细菌病原体。致病变种pathovars gravingae和morsprunorum引起李属树木（例如樱桃，李子.）据估计，英国水果生产每年的损失超过50万英镑。预计气候变化造成的强降雨和更高的温度将使情况变得更糟。目前的广谱抗微生物控制策略，如使用抗生素和铜，由于其对环境，人类健康的有害影响，并由于通过对人类病原体的抗微生物耐药性的风险，正在被禁止。细菌种群的主要敌人是噬菌体，这是一种能够在细胞裂解前劫持细菌细胞以产生更具感染性的病毒体的特定病毒。然而，在开发有效的噬菌体生物防治之前有几个考虑因素。噬菌体需要靶向正确的病原体菌株，它们需要在园艺环境中稳定，不应该竞争相同的宿主，并且应该能够避免细菌抗性的出现。这个项目的目的是回答一个看似简单的问题：是什么让一个有效的生物控制噬菌体鸡尾酒农业？我们将使用体外和体内共同进化的细菌和病原体与基因组测序组装可能的进化结果的细菌和病原体在植物。噬菌体的计算机设计将用于尝试通过结合不同噬菌体菌株的基因组特征来提高天然真菌的生防潜力和稳定性。该项目将有助于对植物中细菌之间的相互作用的关键知识，这些知识可以改变我们对噬菌体生物防治的理解，其影响范围超出假单胞菌属。