Unpicking antibiotic resistance and stress tolerance in co-infecting hospital pathogens

Research seminar presented by:

Associate Professor Amy K. Cain
ARC Future Fellow
School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University

Abstract

In the modern age of ‘omics technologies, our increased understanding of antibiotic resistance, microbial pathogenicity and host-pathogen interactions hinges on applying innovative molecular studies to bacterial pathogens. In this work, we develop functional genomics techniques, like transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) and transcriptomics, and use comparative genomics to examine infection-relevant stresses in various hospital-associated pathogens through multiple molecular lenses.

Our research characterises complex resistance mechanisms that bacterial pathogens use to evade antibiotic treatment and evaluates the evolution of antibiotic resistance and stress tolerance over time. We use larger scale genomics to track antibiotic resistance spread across hospitals and single cell genomics for fine resolution within mixed bacterial populations. We elucidate how bacterial pathogens work together to co-infect efficiently, cross-feed each other and promote cross-resistance, particularly for the pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii. We utilise the Galleria mellonella insect model to evaluate the toxicity and efficacy of novel antimicrobials and to evaluate virulence gene function.   This work demonstrates the varied capabilities of functional genomics in understanding bacterial resistance and stress tolerance, as well as co-infection strategies.