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Principal Investigator: Andrew Camilli
Organization: TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $465,324
Funding agency: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
PROJECT SUMMARY
Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria. Phages have been shown to play
important roles in the life cycle of many bacterial pathogens, particularly water-borne pathogens that cause
gastrointestinal tract infections. For example, the lysogenic phages, which integrate their DNA into the host
genome, can play positive roles by providing virulence factors such as toxins that enhance the virulence of
their host bacterium. Other phages known as lytic or virulent phages can play negative roles by infecting and
killing their host bacterium, thus reducing the number of the pathogen below the threshold needed to cause
disease. Vibrio cholerae is a water-borne pathogen that infects the small intestine to cause the severe
diarrheal disease cholera. Although it is well known that a lysogenic phage called the CTX phage enhances
virulence by providing the genes encoding cholera toxin, our recently published and preliminary data indicate
a pervasive negative role for several virulent phages that are commonly found in cholera endemic areas
around the Bay of Bengal. These virulent phages appear to reduce the virulence, transmission, and potentially
dissemination of V. cholerae. However, there is much we still do not know about these phages in terms of
their ability to kill V. cholerae in the environment, to inhibit fecal-oral transmission of cholera such as occurs
frequently within households, and their impact on the emergence of new V. cholerae strains. In this project,
we will investigate each of these areas. In addition, we will study the importance of another lysogenic phage
called Kappa in the virulence of V. cholerae.
Terms: <Adsorption><Alimentary Canal><Animals><Area><Assay><Bacteria><Bacteriophages><Bioassay><Biological Assay><CRISPR><CRISPR/Cas system><CTX><CYCLO-cell><Carloxan><Cell Body><Cells><Cholera><Cholera Enterotoxin CT><Cholera Exotoxin><Cholera Toxin><Choleragen><Ciclofosfamida><Ciclofosfamide><Cicloxal><Clafen><Claphene><Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats><Cycloblastin><Cycloblastine><Cyclophospham><Cyclophosphamide><Cyclophosphamidum><Cyclophosphan><Cyclophosphane><Cyclophosphanum><Cyclostin><Cyclostine><Cytophosphan><Cytophosphane><Cytoxan><DNA><Data><Deoxyribonucleic Acid><Digestive Tract><Disease><Disorder><Domestic Rabbit><Endoxan><Endoxana><Enduxan><Environment><Evolution><Fiber><Fosfaseron><GI Tract><Gastrointestinal Tract><Gastrointestinal tract structure><Genes><Genome><Genoxal><Genuxal><Household><Hydrogen Oxide><In Vitro><Infant><Infection><Ledoxina><Life Cycle><Life Cycle Stages><Lytic><Measures><Mice><Mice Mammals><Mitoxan><Modeling><Murine><Mus><Neosar><Oral><Oryctolagus cuniculus><Pathogenesis><Pathogenicity Factors><Phages><Phenotype><Plaque Assay><Play><Population><Population Sizes><Predatory Behavior><Procytox><Production><Prophage Inductions><Prophages><Publishing><Rabbits><Rabbits Mammals><Role><Sendoxan><Small Intestines><Syklofosfamid><Symptoms><Tail><Testing><Time><Toxin><Transmission><V cholerae><V. cholerae><Vibrio cholerae><Vibrio comma><Virulence><Virulence Factors><Virulent><Virus><Water><Water contamination><Zytoxan><alimentary tract><aquatic pathogen><bacteria pathogen><bacterial pathogen><bacterial virus><biotypes><communicable disease transmission><contaminated water><deep sequencing><density><diarrheal disease><diarrheal illness><digestive canal><disease transmission><experiment><experimental research><experimental study><experiments><fitness><infectious disease transmission><life course><mutant><pathogen><pathogenic bacteria><predation><prevent><preventing><prophylactic><small bowel><social role><transmission process><water borne pathogen><water-borne><waterborne><waterborne pathogen>