Understanding the role of phages in the spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes in Enterococci

肠球菌是医院获得性感染的主要原因之一，并且由于抗生素耐药性的增加而变得越来越难以治疗。一个未充分研究的领域是噬菌体（感染细菌的病毒）如何在抗生素抗性基因的转移中发挥重要作用。人们早就知道噬菌体可以介导水平基因转移;然而，最近发现的横向转导，其中噬菌体介导水平基因转移，发生的频率远远高于以前已知的。此外，现在有越来越多的证据表明，原噬菌体（整合到细菌基因组中的噬菌体）在其基因组中含有抗生素抗性基因和毒力基因。本项目将着重于了解在肠球菌介导水平基因转移的作用。该项目汇集了来自两个互补研究小组的专业知识，提供了培养兼性厌氧菌，噬菌体分离，基因组分析和在Galleria mellonella中开发体内模型系统以研究横向基因转移的培训机会。

Enteroccoci are one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections and are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to increasing antimicrobial resistance. An understudied area of research is how bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) may play an important role in the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. It has long been known phage can mediate horizontal gene transfer; however, the recent discovery of lateral transduction, where phage mediate horizontal gene transfer, occurred at frequencies far higher than previously known. Additionally, there is now increasing evidence that prophages (phages that integrate into a bacterial genome) harbour antibiotic resistance genes and virulence genes within their genome. This project will focus on understanding the role of phages in mediating horizontal gene transfer in Enterococcus. The project brings together expertise from two complementary research groups, offering the opportunity for training in culturing of facultative anaerobes, phage isolation, genomic analysis and development of an in vivo model system in Galleria mellonella to study lateral gene transfer.