Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Distinction Paper

Degree Name

Biology-BS

Department

Biology & Earth Science

Advisor

Dr. Jennifer Bennett

First Committee Member

Dr. Jennifer Bennett

Second Committee Member

Dr. David Sheridan

Third Committee Member

Dr. Sarah Bouchard

Keywords

streptomyces, streptomyces coelicolor, transposon mutagenesis, streptomyces development

Subject Categories

Higher Education | Microbial Physiology | Microbiology

Abstract

Streptomyces coelicolor is a Gram-positive, soil dwelling bacterium that is responsible for the production of various antibiotics. It displays a unique fungal-like life cycle that consists of three stages: vegetative mycelium production, aerial hyphae production, and sporulation. The goal was to isolate and characterize mutants that impact the life cycle. In this study, a double mutant was constructed using interspecies conjugation. The marked insertions for the two novel developmental genes of interest were selected, thus creating new double mutant candidates of S. coelicolor. Then, the phenotype of the double mutant strain was demonstrated individually and on plates with the wild type and the two single mutants. The double mutant presents with a “white” phenotype and an enhanced dark blue coloring in the surrounding agar. Studies to further characterize the phenotypes of the mutants were conducted. These included antibiotic resistance assays, bioinformatics, and plating on various media for visual and microscopic analysis. This study contributes to the characterization of two novel genes and will contribute to a better understanding of bacterial development and antibiotic production.

Licensing Permission

Copyright, all rights reserved. Fair Use

Acknowledgement 1

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Acknowledgement 2

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