ROPHARE · Insights into the role of phages on the bacterial resistome
„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“
- Период
- 2016-12-26 → 2019-12-25
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 254 480 €
- Участници
- 2
- Схема
- MSCA-IF-GF
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Бактериофагите (вируси, които убиват бактерии) се изследват като преносители на гени за антибиотикорезистентност между микроорганизмите в замърсена среда. Това помага да се разбере как се разпространяват устойчивите бактерии, които причиняват хиляди смъртни случаи годишно по света.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Insights into the role of phages on the bacterial resistome
Antibiotics have revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is today a global problem that requires an integral solution. AMR is responsible for an estimated 25,000 deaths per year in the EU and 700,000 worldwide. A report commissioned by the UK government in 2016 predicts that by 2050, AMR infections will kill 10 million people across the world, representing more than the current toll from cancer. One of the most promising alternatives to antibiotics is phage therapy – i.e. the use of viruses (bacteriophages) to specifically infect and kill bacteria. From an ecological perspective, (bacterio)phages are the most abundant and ubiquitous organisms on Earth, and play important roles in microbial physiology, population structure, dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Phages have the advantage to be extremely strain-specific and do not have a major impact on the commensal flora. The appearance and increase of AMR observed throughout the world cannot be explained only by the modern and growing use of antibiotics, as it implies a complex interaction of microbial communities, antibiotics and AMR genes from different ecosystems. In addition, horizontal gene transfer is the most relevant form of AMR propagation and is mediated by elements capable of transferring genetic information from one bacterium to another. The bacterial modulator properties of phages make them suitable vehicles for the mobilization of genes between microorganisms from different ecosystems. The general objective of this project is to understand the role of phages in the emergence, abundance and dissemination of AMR genes in human-impacted environments. Ultimately, a major exploitation goal consists of the recovery and characterization of novel phages with potential for the development of alternative antimicrobial therapies. We have unveiled an unprecedented amount of novel phages through culture-independent (agricultural soil) and culture-dependent (staphylococcal phages from wastewater) approaches, with complex and extended phage-bacterial networks. Our huge data set substantially increases the amount of currently available viral data, and provides insights into the yet largely undescribed environmental viral sequence space. We are further characterizing relevant phages for (i) their ability to mobilize AMR genes and (ii) their properties to be exploited for the development of novel antimicrobial strategies.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
There is an imperative need to gain knowledge on the spread and evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Recent evidence from environmental, animal and human microbial studies shows that AMR is ancient and environments without contact with anthropogenic antibiotics possess abundant AMR genes. Bacteriophages are the most abundant entities in Earth and recent studies provide indirect evidence for the major role of transduction in the dissemination of AMR genes. Hence, phages might be of critical importance for evading one of the bottlenecks (ecological connectivity) that modulates the transmission of AMR genes from natural environments to animal and human biomes. In this proposal, a holistic and multidisciplinary approach that combines molecular genetics, genomics, metagenomics, in-vitro experimental analysis, computational biology, bioinformatics analysis, and modelling will be followed to measure the potential of naturally occurring phages to be vehicles for AMR transmission and spread in environmental systems with different antibiotic selective pressure. This comprehensive approach will allow us to better understand the phage-bacteria interactions that drive the AMR spread in different ecosystems. From this understanding we expect to be able to design and develop new tools for the control of antimicrobial resistance in clinical and veterinary practice as well as in agriculture. This project will contribute to the objectives of the Work Programme by: 1) allowing the researcher to gain new skills and additional training-through-research in phage and phage-bacteria interactions, computational and (meta)genomic analysis; and to become an EU leading specialist in a research field with emerging growth potential; 2) transferring the acquired knowledge to the EU; 3) establish a long-term collaboration between several centres of excellence that will enhance the quality of research of Europe and make it more competitive and attractive for high-profile researchers.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
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Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз