Skip to main content

Write a PREreview

Quantifying the antimicrobial activity of CRISPR-Cas9-accA modified Δ B. subtilis mutants against V. harveyi and E. Coli

Posted
Server
bioRxiv
DOI
10.1101/2021.08.10.455802

Probiotics are increasingly popular, currently. Probiotics have been described with the ability to treat many disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Crohn’s disease. Types of probiotics include bacterial strains from Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium . Probiotics can restore balance to gut microbiota by outcompeting pathogenic bacteria for nutrients and secrete antimicrobials to eliminate these bacterial pathogens. However, the viability of most advertised probiotics lose their potency due to being freeze dried into powders during storage or for consuming. Many probiotics become ineffective and produce lower CFUs while traversing through the gastric acids of the digestive system. For these reasons, this study sought to enhance the antimicrobial response of a highly potent probiotic known as Bacillus subtilis. B. subtilis has been used to treat many disorders of the gut and secrete many antimicrobials lethal for pathogenic microbes. B. subtilis was genetically modified to express CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease deletion of the accA gene (Δ B.subtilis mutants), which inhibits expression of an essential accA gene a part of the fatty acid synthesis (FAS) metabolic pathway. The CRISPR-Cas9- accA ΔB.subtilis mutants were co-cultured with V. harveyi and E. Coli . Bacterial growth, biofilm formation, antimicrobial activity, and antibiotic resistance were quantified. It was found that ΔB.subtilis mutants co-cultured with V. harveyi and E. Coli lessened bacterial growth, amplified biofilm with V. harveyi , reduced biofilm formation of E. Coli , the co-cultures with the mutants lacked antimicrobial activity, and increased the antibiotic resistance of V. harveyi and E. Coli . It can be concluded that there is an immense potential for using genetically engineered probiotic strains to enhance the antimicrobial activity of B. subtilis , which can amplify the reduction of pathogenic bacteria. However, the safety and frugality of using B. subtilis as a probiotic requires further consideration.

You can write a PREreview of Quantifying the antimicrobial activity of CRISPR-Cas9-accA modified Δ B. subtilis mutants against V. harveyi and E. Coli. A PREreview is a review of a preprint and can vary from a few sentences to a lengthy report, similar to a journal-organized peer-review report.

Before you start

We will ask you to log in with your ORCID iD. If you don’t have an iD, you can create one.

What is an ORCID iD?

An ORCID iD is a unique identifier that distinguishes you from everyone with the same or similar name.

Start now