Project description:YerA41 is a myoviridae bacteriophage that was originally isolated due its ability to infect Yersinia ruckeri bacteria, the causative agent of enteric redmouth disease of salmonid fish. Several attempts to determine its genomic DNA sequence using traditional and next generation sequencing technologies failed, indicating that the phage genome is modified such way that it is an unsuitable template for PCR amplification and sequencing. To determine the YerA41 genome sequence we isolated RNA from phage-infected Y. ruckeri cells at different time points post-infection, and sequenced it. The host-genome specific reads were substracted and de novo assembly was performed on the unaligned reads.
Project description:The present work describes LC-ESI-MS/MS analyses of tryptic digestion peptides from phages that infect Staphylococcus aureus-causing mastitis, and isolated from dairy products. A total of 1935 non-redundant peptides belonging to 1282 proteins were identified and analyzed. Among them, 80 staphylococcal peptides from phages were confirmed. These peptides belong to proteins such as phage repressors, structural phage proteins, uncharacterized phage proteins and complement inhibitors. Moreover, of the phage origin peptides found, eighteen of them were specific to S. aureus strains. These diagnostic peptides could be useful for the identification and characterization of S. aureus strains that cause mastitis. Furthermore, a study of bacteriophage phylogeny and the relationship among the identified phage peptides and the bacteria they infect was also performed. The results show the specific peptides which are present in closely related phages, and the existing links between bacteriophage phylogeny and the respective Staphylococcus spp. infected.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in a Caulobacter crescentus NA1000 delta-CCNA_00382 (ccrM) mutant, compared to the wild-type strain. The mutations engineered into this strain render it incapable of methylating its genome on the adenine at GANTC motifs. References for strains : WT: Marks, M.E., Castro-Rojas, C.M., Teiling, C., Du, L., Kapatral, V., Walunas, T.L. and Crosson, S. (2010) The genetic basis of laboratory adaptation in Caulobacter crescentus. J Bacteriol, 192, 3678-3688; Collier, J. and Shapiro, L. (2009) Feedback control of DnaA-mediated replication initiation by replisome-associated HdaA protein in Caulobacter. J Bacteriol, 191, 5706-5716. DccrM: Gonzalez, D. and Collier, J. (2013) DNA methylation by CcrM activates the transcription of two genes required for the division of Caulobacter crescentus. Mol Microbiol, 88, 203-218. A six chip study using total RNA recovered from three separate wild-type cultures of Caulobacter crescentus NA1000 and three separate cultures of a triple mutant strain, Caulobacter crescentus NA1000 delta-CCNA_00382 (ccrM), in which the ccrM gene coding for a DNA methyltransferase methylating the adenine in GANTC motifs is truncated and its product inactive. Each chip measures the expression level of 3933 genes from Caulobacter crescentus NA1000 with 3 probes per gene and with three-fold technical redundancy.
