The pandemic has made clear the danger that some viruses pose to humans. But viruses can trap life-sustaining bacteria and a team led by Johns Hopkins University has developed a test to find out if bacteria are sick, similar to the one used to test humans for COVID-19.
“If COVID-like pandemics were to occur in important bacterial populations it would be difficult to predict, because prior to this study, we did not have the accessible and accurate tools needed to study viral infections in populations. bacterial non-culture, “said the study ‘s co – author Sarah Preheim, Johns Hopkins’ s assistant professor of environmental health and engineering.
The findings were announced today in Nature microbiology.
Sick bacteria are activated as decomposition and as part of the foundation of the food web in the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways. The detection of viral infections in bacteria traditionally depends on the cultivation of both bacteria and viruses, which deprive 99% of the bacteria found in the environment because they cannot be grown in bacteria. culture, Preheim says, adds that testing for viral diseases in noncultural bacteria is expensive and difficult to implement. broadly, unlike the early stages of the COVID-19 test.
The key to testing for viral infections for faster and more accessible non-culture bacteria was to separate single bacterial cells into small bubbles (i.e. emulsion droplets) and to dissolve the genes of the virus and bacteria. together once inside.
“The fused genes act as name tags for the bacteria and viruses,” said lead author Eric Sakowski, a former researcher at Preheim Lab who is now an assistant professor at Mount St. Mary. “By binding the genes together, we can identify which bacteria are infected, as well as the strain of the virus that causes the disease.”
The resulting test provides a new method of screening for viral infections in a subset of bacterial populations. The experiment allows researchers to identify a link between environmental conditions and diseases in Actinobacteria, one of the most abundant bacterial groups in the Chesapeake Bay and one that plays a vital role in the decomposition of organic matter, which ‘nourishing plants and photosynthetic algae.
Although the researchers developed this device studying the Chesapeake Bay, they say their approach could be widely used across water ecosystems, throwing light on ecology. viral and helps predict – and even prevent – devastating environmental impacts.
“This diagnostic tool will allow us to monitor viral infections more easily, so we can monitor for these diseases to see when they are more likely to have a significant impact on the environment,” Preheim said.
Sakowski said the new test could affect how we treat bacterial infections.
“Viruses show potential for the treatment of diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” he said. “It will be essential for this type of treatment to know which viruses are most effective at infecting bacteria.”
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The Preheim team also included Johns Hopkins doctoral student Keith Arora-Williams, and Funing Tian, Ahmed A. Zayed, Olivier Zablocki, and Matthew B. Sullivan, all from Ohio State University.
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