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

铜绿假单胞菌是一种革兰氏阴性的机会性植物和动物病原体，是医院感染的主要原因之一。铜绿假单胞菌是一种机会致病菌，主要引起免疫功能低下的个体感染，其对多种抗生素的内在耐药性、对环境变化的适应性以及形成生物膜的能力是其成为人类致病菌的重要原因，了解其在宿主体内生存的遗传机制是寻找新的治疗靶点的关键。转座子诱变已被证明是一种有价值的遗传工具，用于通过创建在所有非必需基因中具有突变的突变体文库来将表型与基因型联系起来。然后，这些突变体文库可用于筛选在各种条件下生长和存活所必需的基因。我们的目标是构建一个转座子突变库，从慢性感染临床分离的铜绿假单胞菌，随后将用于筛选在慢性感染期间在肺中生存所必需的基因。这些筛选具有鉴定新的药物靶点和/或确定未知功能基因的功能的潜力。

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.