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Innovative Approaches In The Discovery Of Aquatic Mycobacteriophages, Janis H. Doss

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Bacteriophages (phages), viruses that infect bacteria, have many applications in medicine, agriculture, molecular biology, and other fields. As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasing problem, interest in phages has grown. The traditional techniques of phage discovery are successful for some phages, but others require modified procedures to achieve detectable host infection.

Mycobacterium is a diverse bacterial genus characterized by a unique cell wall containing mycolic acids, which aids in survival and pathogenesis. The aims of the present research were to isolate mycobacteriophages, use bioinformatics techniques to analyze mycobacterial prophages, and combine genetic analysis with multi-well plate host range studies to identify …