Evolution of mobile genetic elements in Streptococcus pyogenes

这个NSERC发现资助申请旨在了解病毒在化脓性链球菌进化中的作用。许多细菌物种可以被称为噬菌体的病毒感染，这些噬菌体通常会将自己整合到细菌的遗传组成中。化脓性链球菌是一种仅在人类中发现的细菌，并且来自化脓性链球菌的大约10%的DNA来自噬菌体。人们普遍假设噬菌体元件是化脓性链球菌进化的重要因素，但这从未被证实。使用一系列遗传实验来改变噬菌体元件，该应用程序将确定在何种条件下噬菌体可以在菌株之间转移，并梳理出这些噬菌体元件在化脓性链球菌定殖能力中发挥的作用。

This NSERC Discovery grant application is designed to understand the role of viruses in the evolution of Streptococcus pyogenes. Many bacterial species can be infected with viruses called bacteriophages, and these bacteriophages will often integrate themselves into the genetic makeup of the bacterium. Streptococcus pyogenes is a bacterium that is only found in association with humans and approximately 10% of DNA from Streptococcus pyogenes comes from bacteriophages. It has been widely hypothesized that the bacteriophage elements are important factors in the evolution of Streptococcus pyogenes, yet this has never been tested. Using a series of genetic experiments to alter the bacteriophage elements, this application will determine under what conditions the bacteriophage may transfer between strains, and tease out the role that these bacteriophage elements play in the ability of Streptococcus pyogenes to colonize.