Evolution of mobile genetic elements in Streptococcus pyogenes

这项NSERC发现拨款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，这些噬菌体往往会将自己整合到细菌的基因构成中。化脓性链球菌是一种仅在人类中发现的细菌，大约10%的化脓性链球菌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，但这一假设从未得到验证。通过一系列改变噬菌体成分的遗传实验，这项应用将确定在什么条件下噬菌体可以在菌株之间转移，并梳理出这些噬菌体成分在化脓性链球菌定植能力中所起的作用。

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.