By Jay Boudreau, Emily Rosario, Sarah White

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ginny Morriss

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance has become a global, urgent problem. Tetracycline resistance genes have made appearances in many bacterial strains through horizontal gene transfer and have made resistance in Bacillus cereus and other bacteria skyrocket. Phage Therapy has emerged as a possible treatment. However, there remain problems with the synergy between bacteriophages and antibiotics. We hope to look at the impact of tetracycline resistance genes K, L, M, and O on phage lysis ability. We will measure this by performing RT-qPCR on samples of two phages, tetracycline, and combinations between the two. We will compare and analyze gene expression to see if these tet genes are upregulated in the presence of these two phages.