Bacteria commonly acquire important antibiotic resistance, virulence, and bioremediation genes through the movement of DNA from one bacterium to another, also known as lateral gene transfer or LGT. Unlike LGT in bacteria, LGT from bacteria to animals was thought to be rare and unimportant. But in fact, more than 70% of the genomes of Wolbachia-infected insects have evidence of LGT from bacterium to animal. The goal of this project is to examine the genomic changes in the fruity fly Drosophila due to LGT from the bacterium Wolbachia. The DNA of both the fruit fly insert and the resident bacterial genome will be sequenced using extremely high-throughput, next generation sequencing technologies. State-of-the-art bioinformatic techniques will be used to decipher the role and impact of the transferred DNA in flies.
Wolbachia are very abundant bacteria because their hosts are among the most abundant animals on earth. These hosts include parasitic worms and disease-spreading pests like mosquitoes and tsetse flies. Current drugs and pesticides targeting these organisms can be toxic to humans because the worm/insect genes are similar to human genes. However, LGT genes are more closely related to bacterial genes, and as such, can be targeted with less toxic drugs or pesticides similar to antibiotics. A portion of the project will focus on educating grade school children about genomics and genetics with an emphasis on relating science to everyday life.
