Bacterial Mucin Degradation in the Cystic Fibrosis Airways: A Potential Regulator of P. aeruginosa Pathogenicity.
2023-05
Loading...
View/Download File
Persistent link to this item
Statistics
View StatisticsJournal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Title
Bacterial Mucin Degradation in the Cystic Fibrosis Airways: A Potential Regulator of P. aeruginosa Pathogenicity.
Authors
Published Date
2023-05
Publisher
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
Abstract
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by impaired mucociliary clearance, leading to mucus accumulation and chronic bacterial respiratory infections. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a canonical pathogen in these infections and is found to nutritionally benefit from cross-feeding interactions with co-colonizing mucin-degrading bacterial genera. However, the impact of these cross-feeding interactions on the regulation of PA virulence remains unclear. Implementing a reductionist experimental approach, this thesis aims to investigate the proposed cross-feeding model to identify key exchanged metabolites and elucidate mechanisms underlying PA virulence. To successfully isolate and analyze variables of the multifaceted cross-feeding model, several specialized experimental tools and techniques were developed and described in Chapter 2. These tools were employed in Chapter 3 to fully characterize the growth profiles of several individual representative mucin-degrading bacterial species and investigate the effects of their secondary metabolites on PA physiology. Chapter 4 builds upon this by characterizing complex mucin-degrading bacterial communities enriched from clinical CF sputum samples, and again investigating their effects on PA physiology in vitro. These data establish validated methods for the field of CF research, expand our understanding of PA physiology, and pave the path for future development of novel targeted CF therapeutic strategies.
Description
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2023. Major: Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology. Advisor: Ryan Hunter. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 236 pages.
Related to
Replaces
License
Collections
Series/Report Number
Funding information
Isbn identifier
Doi identifier
Previously Published Citation
Suggested citation
Villarreal, Alex. (2023). Bacterial Mucin Degradation in the Cystic Fibrosis Airways: A Potential Regulator of P. aeruginosa Pathogenicity.. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/258681.
Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.