Rhodococcus bacteria as a source of novel antibiotics
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: School of Life Sciences
Abstract
In the last 25 years the discovery rate of new antibiotics has plummeted. In the same time period, this problem has been compounded by the rapid rise of drug resistant bacteria for many of the antibiotics that are currently known. At the moment, the majority of the antibiotics that are used to treat bacterial infections in medicine, agriculture and veterinarian treatment originate from the bacterial genus Streptomyces. It is hoped that other actinomycetes genera such as Rhodococcus have the same capability as the Streptomyces.
The idea of this project is to look at Rhodococcus bacteria as a source for novel antibiotics due to them also being actinomycetes and having analogous genetic potential to Streptomyces that may indicate the presence of antimicrobial compound production. The regulatory system in Streptomyces has recently been characterised and it is believed that there is an analogue of this found in the Rhodococcus genome. The aim of this study is to understand the regulation of the Rhodococcus pathways that will ultimately lead to the development
The idea of this project is to look at Rhodococcus bacteria as a source for novel antibiotics due to them also being actinomycetes and having analogous genetic potential to Streptomyces that may indicate the presence of antimicrobial compound production. The regulatory system in Streptomyces has recently been characterised and it is believed that there is an analogue of this found in the Rhodococcus genome. The aim of this study is to understand the regulation of the Rhodococcus pathways that will ultimately lead to the development
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/M01116X/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
| 1898611 | Studentship | BB/M01116X/1 | 02/10/2017 | 02/04/2022 | Daniel Robertshaw |
| Description | Demuris Ltd |
| Organisation | Demuris Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | A number of plasmids and mutants have been engineered by myself for Rhodococcus bacteria and testing has begun ready for further work with Demuris Ltd |
| Collaborator Contribution | My supervisor from Demuris Ltd has been extremely useful in discussing the project and potential areas that the research should go into. He's also been a source of knowledge for fixing problems we've encountered during the partnership. I have been given access to the bacterial collection they possess and have used some of their strains for a number of experiments. |
| Impact | No outputs/outcomes yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |