WildNOut: Discovery, isolation, and annotation of a novel bacteriophage — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

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Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

WildNOut: Discovery, isolation, and annotation of a novel bacteriophage

Name: Mikayla Bell
Major: Biology
Hometown: Franklin, WI
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Name: Sidney Dickinson
Major: Neuroscience/Chemistry
Hometown: Crystal Lake, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Name: Peyton Nazos
Major: Biology
Hometown: Bolingbrook, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Name: Madison Schafer
Major: Biology
Hometown: Stoughon, WI
Faculty Sponsor: Deborah Tobiason
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Course project
Funding: Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Abstract

Bacteriophages are viruses that specifically infect bacteria. They have been widely studied for application in treating bacterial infections, and present a possible alternative to antibiotics, helping to alleviate the rising issue of antibiotic resistance. The bacteriophage, WildNOut, was isolated at Carthage College in Fall 2019 using the bacterial host Microbacterium foliorum. Isolation techniques involved direct isolation from a soil sample and purification by plaque assays utilizing serial dilutions. Large, haloed plaques with clear centers are produced by WildNOut on a lawn of host bacteria, indicating that it is a lytic phage. Electron microscopy revealed that WildNOut has a siphoviridae morphology, which is characterised by possession of a long, flexible non-contractile tail. Genomic DNA was extracted from the phage particles and sequenced. Based upon the genome sequence, WildNOut is a phage in the EA1 cluster with circularly permuted ends indicating that the genomic DNA is packaged into the phage capsid via headful packaging. To determine the function of the genes present in the WildNOut genome, annotation was completed using a variety of bioinformatic programs including DNAmaster, phamerator, and PECAAN. During the annotation process, comparisons are made to phages who have already been annotated in order to determine possible start sites and functions of each gene in WildNOut. In addition to our annotation, bioinformatics analyses are also being performed to compare our phage genome to other M. foliorum phages’ genomes in terms of phylogeny.