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Partner choice: How does a host select and control its microbiome?

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA589
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Barrie Wilkinson
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	Unlisted - Mappin Street
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	39,365
Status	Current
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/07/2015
End date	30/06/2018
Duration	35 months

Abstract

We have begun to understand how protective mutualisms form between antibiotic-producing bacteria and eukaryotic hosts, using a combination of chemical ecology, microbiology and modelling. Our screening model and the experimental techniques we have developed using attine ants are applicable to all protective mutualisms, and this includes plant roots, which also form stable interactions with antibiotic-producing bacteria to protect themselves against fungal infections. This could enable the manipulation of crops and / or agricultural soils to incorporate antibiotic-producing strains and increase crop yields. We have built a collection of >400 antibiotic-producing strains from attine ants, including so-called “rare” actinomycete strains which are under-explored for antibiotics. Hutchings and Wilkinson are currently using PacBio genome analysis and 2D NMR to elucidate the pathway and structures of two novel antibiotics, one of which inhibits a multidrug resistant (MDR) human pathogen called Scedosporium prolificans. Mining the genomes of all 400+ strains will identify more novel secondary metabolites that may be useful as anti-infectives either in the clinic or in agritech

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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