MAINE: INBRE researcher publishes research in BMC Microbiology
Results from research conducted in the lab of Maine INBRE project leader Dr. Sally Molloy provide evidence that prophage (integrated viral genomes) alter expression of important mycobacterial antibiotic resistance genes, as reported in the journal BMC Microbiology.
Co-authors include a graduate student at UMaine’s GSBSE and four undergraduates, including UMaine Honors College alumna Emma Freeman, who is now an MD student at Tufts Medical School.
Research reported in this project was supported by a University of Maine Faculty Development Grant and by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM103423.
The global rise in the incidence of non-tuberculosis mycobacterial infections is of increasing concern due their high levels of intrinsic antibiotic resistance. Although integrated viral genomes, called prophage, are linked to increased antibiotic resistance in some bacterial species, we know little of their role in mycobacterial drug resistance.
This study provides evidence that prophage alter expression of important mycobacterial intrinsic antibiotic resistance genes and additionally offers insight into the role prophage may play in mycobacterial adaptation to stress.