Location: Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research
Project Number: 5030-32000-236-004-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2022
End Date: Aug 28, 2027
Objective:
Define the virulence determinants and mechanisms used by MmmSC to cause disease in ruminant species by generating a transposon mutant library with a selected MmmSC isolate.
Approach:
To understand such virulent factors, a transposon mutant library of MmmSC will be generated and the mutants will be screened for attenuation by various in vitro assays.
Mutants will be screened to identify essential and non-essential genes, including those that support the core biology of the pathogen and molecule, e.g., virulence factors and immune modulators. Selected mutants will be assessed for degree of attenuation in host-cell cytotoxicity and neutrophil-mediated killing assays. A subset of mutants will be selected for transcriptomic analysis. RNA from mutants will be prepared and the transcriptome libraries will be analyzed.
Additionally, should both parties agree and have funding available this agreement will facilitate personnel and knowledge exchanges.
