This project aims to understand the ecological role of toxin carried by bacteria so that we can determine any public health risk from transmission via environmental routes. The outcomes will inform on how pathogens can emerge from environmental sources.
Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is a genotoxin produced by a number of different bacterial pathogens. However, it is not universal and seems to be limited to specific genetic lineages within a species. Many of the pathogens that encode CDT have multiple transmission pathways that result in human disease, including interactions with environmental hosts and habitats, such as soil, water and plants. Intriguingly, surveillance studies of animals have shown that CDT is also present in non-pathogenic isolates. Furthermore, we identified CDT in the genomes of some environmental Escherichia coli isolates. Functional characterisation shows it acts as a virulence factor in higher animals, but there is little information beyond that. Together, these facts point to a potential for a functional role of CDT in a wider context, where it may confer a type of ecological fitness advantage, e.g. by protecting against predation from nematodes or other invertebrates.
Therefore, this project will examine the potential role of CDT in environmental transmission or persistence of the microbes. We will focus on the environmental E. coli isolates in three interlinked aims: (i) to understand whether CDT is produced under conditions relevant to environment hosts and habitats; (ii) to look at functional roles including its impact on grazing nematodes, or its ability to cause disease in invertebrates; (iii) to relate the findings to well-known pathogens for which CDT has a characterised role in pathogenesis.
The project is a collaboration between different disciplines that brings together a range of expertise to draw on, from molecular microbiology, cellular biology and entomology. It offers an excellent opportunity to understand how pathogens cause disease and how they survive or thrive in non-animal habitats.
HOW TO APPLY
Application instructions can be found on the SRUC website- PhD opportunities | SRUC
- Download and complete the Equal opportunities survey and note the completion reference
- Download and complete the SRUC Application form
- Download the Academic Reference Request and send to two referees requesting they submit to [Email Address Removed] by the closing date.
Send your application including the following to [Email Address Removed]:
- Completed Application form quoting REF SRUC/NHo
- Academic Qualifications
- English Language Qualification (if applicable)
Unfortunately due to workload constraints, we cannot consider incomplete applications. Please make sure your application is complete by 5th January 2023.
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