• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, September 5, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Potential biotech and health applications with new knowledge on bacteria and viruses

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 18, 2019
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: University of Otago


University of Otago research to better understand how bacteria and their viruses interact and evolve will enable future studies to exploit the use of bacteria and their viruses for potential biotechnology and health applications.

Research led by Dr Simon Jackson and Associate Professor Peter Fineran, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, investigating the function of bacteria immune systems and what impact they have on the coevolution of bacteria and viruses was published today in a top tier scientific journal, Cell Host and Microbe.

Viruses infecting bacteria are called bacteriophages (“phages” for short) and are the most abundant biological entities on the planet influencing many aspects of our lives and the global ecosystem.

Dr Jackson says the war between phages and bacteria is ever-present and many bacteria protect themselves using immune defences known as CRISPR-Cas systems.

“Research to understand more about the interactions between phages and bacteria, particularly how bacterial CRISPR-Cas immunity functions, is being exploited internationally in many ground-breaking biotechnological applications including gene editing,” Dr Jackson explains.

“We think this area of research holds a lot of promise for biotechnology applications and might also be an important consideration for the use of phages to treat infectious diseases.

“For example, because phages kill specific bacteria, they can be used as alternatives to antibiotics to treat some infectious diseases and can even kill antibiotic resistant bacteria.”

Bacterial adaptive immunity is similar in concept to human adaptive immunity. Bacteria must first become “vaccinated” against specific phages, which involves the bacteria storing a short snippet of viral DNA, termed a “spacer”, used to recognise and defend against future infections.

In a previous study examining how CRISPR-Cas systems acquire spacers, the Otago research team found that often bacteria acquire “incorrect” spacers, known as “slipped spacers”. At the time, they did not know whether the incorrect or imprecise slipped spacers were functional.

Associate Professor Fineran, a molecular microbiologist, says their initial observations were surprising and showed these slipped spacers were very efficient at boosting bacterial immunity by stimulating bacteria to acquire extra spacers targeting the same phage. This unexpected role increases immune diversity, which is important for bacteria to protect against the rapidly evolving phages.

“Several groups had previously identified the occurrence of imprecisely acquired or slipped spacers. However, no-one had previously considered whether they were functional or what impact they might have on immunity,” Associate Professor Fineran explains.

“By showing they are functional and can provide benefit to bacteria, we have revealed an unexpected complexity to the evolutionary battle between bacteria and phages.”

If in the future, researchers can determine how immunity is first gained, they may be able to either prevent or promote it for different applications, Associate Professor Fineran says.

“For example, in the dairy industry for the production of cheese and yoghurt it is beneficial for bacteria to have resistance against phages, whereas if phages are used as antimicrobials, emergence of immunity would be undesirable – akin to antibiotic resistance.”

###

Dr Jackson carried out the work as part of his post doctoral research under the supervision of Associate Professor Fineran who was last year awarded the United Kingdom Microbiology Society’s 2019 Fleming Prize. The prize is awarded to an early career researcher who has achieved an outstanding research record; it is named after Nobel Prize winning scientist, Sir Alexander Fleming.

For more information contact:

Dr Simon Jackson

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Tel +64 3 479 8428

Email [email protected]

Associate Professor Peter Fineran

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Tel +64 3 479 7735

Email [email protected]

Liane Topham-Kindley

Senior Communications Adviser

Tel 03 479 9065

Mob 021 279 9065

Email [email protected]

Media Contact
Liane Topham-Kindley
[email protected]
64-212-799-065

Tags: BacteriologyBiologyBiotechnologyMicrobiology
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Triazophos Effects on Immune Responses in Snakehead Fish

September 5, 2025
Unraveling Trebouxiophyceae Algae: Evolutionary and Ecological Insights

Unraveling Trebouxiophyceae Algae: Evolutionary and Ecological Insights

September 5, 2025

Boosting Quasi-2D Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency and Stability with Dicyandiamide Interface Engineering

September 5, 2025

Nitrogen Boosts Wheat Recovery via TaSnRK2.10 Pathway

September 5, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    150 shares
    Share 60 Tweet 38
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    142 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    115 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Modified DASH Diet Reduces Blood Sugar Levels in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Clinical Trial Finds

    61 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Scientists Convert Plastic Waste into High-Performance CO2 Capture Materials

MD Anderson and Phoenix SENOLYTIX Forge Strategic Cross-Licensing Partnership to Advance Inducible Switch Technologies in Cell and Gene Therapies

Harnessing Good Vibrations: A New Era in Assisted Reproductive Technology

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.