HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

EXCELLGEN · What to expect of ExPEC: is the success of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli linked to specific genomic and cellular properties?

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 191 078 €
Участници: 1
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Бактериите E. coli се изследват, за да се разбере защо някои щамове причиняват тежки инфекции извън червата, като например сепсис или менингит. Това е важно, за да се подобри контролът върху патогените, които често са устойчиви на антибиотици.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

What to expect of ExPEC: is the success of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli linked to specific genomic and cellular properties?

The EXCELLGEN project aims to understand why some strains of Escherichia coli, normally harmless bacteria living in the intestines, can cause serious infections outside the gut. These so-called extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) are a major cause of urinary tract infections, sepsis, and meningitis, and are often resistant to multiple antibiotics. Their growing prevalence represents a significant challenge for human and animal health and for the sustainability of healthcare systems. The project investigates whether the success of ExPEC is linked to specific genetic or cellular features that distinguish them from harmless or intestinal pathogenic E. coli (IPEC). Combining large-scale comparative genomics with high-throughput single-cell analysis, EXCELLGEN bridges molecular biology, microbiology, and data science to reveal how particular genes and cellular behaviours contribute to ExPEC’s pathogenic potential. Ultimately, EXCELLGEN contributes to the EU’s priorities under the European Green Deal and “An Economy that Works for People” by improving understanding of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and supporting more sustainable and effective responses to infection control.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) are one of the greatest challenges for the healthcare system, with a frightening prognosis for the future. Despite being heavily studied in recent years, no unifying principle explaining their success has been identified. Only limited attention has been paid to the additional genomic properties of ExPEC strains that are not virulence factors or antimicrobial resistance genes. I aim to demonstrate that these additional genomic features lead to alterations in cellular features (related to physiology, growth ability and metabolism) that contribute to ExPEC (pathogenic) success. To do so, I will first setup a database of ExPEC specific regions and use this to perform an unbiased large-scale screen comparing them to publicly available E. coli genomes. This analysis will yield specific genomic regions that can be confidently assigned to ExPEC or ExPEC subgroups. To further demonstrate the biological significance of these regions, high-throughput single-cell phenomics will be employed to quantitatively examine specific strains of interest across different growth conditions and identify the genes or groups of genes present in the ExPEC specific regions associated with specific phenotypic alterations. Finally, the identified genomic regions will be further characterized using a deep mutational scanning approach to uncover the exact molecular mechanisms that underlie phenotypic alterations of pathogenic strains in comparison to their non-pathogenic counterparts. I expect this project to bring much-needed insights into ExPEC physiology, linking it with its specific genomic background. Such fundamental knowledge will contribute to managing ExPEC more effectively in the future.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenКоординаторБелгия