Training ground, hideout, or both? The role of free-living amoebae in Klebsiella survival and virulence.
Supervisors
Dr Eva Heniz, University of Strathclyde
Dr Liam Rooney, University of Glasgow
Prof Fiona Henrique, University of Strathclyde
Summary
Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kpn) is a major cause of healthcare-associated bacterial infections, and the increasing number of multidrug-resistant isolates have placed it as ‘critical’ priority on the WHO list of pathogens of concern. Like a lot of opportunistic pathogens, it is an environmental organism that can also be part of a healthy human gut microflora but causes infections in populations at risk such as immunocompromised patients or neonates, and is a leading cause of neonatal sepsis in sub-saharan Africa.
Whilst we have a growing understanding of the genomic epidemiology of Klebsiella hospital isolates, we currently lack understanding how different genomic determinants translate into better success as hospital pathogen of certain lineages. This project will assess the role of one of the main natural predators of bacteria, free-living amoebae. Escaping phagocytosis and surviving intracellular can have two effects, i) enabling survival during harsh conditions by being protected within the amoebae cell, ii) selecting for evolutionary changes that can facilitate survival in human macrophages, which use very similar strategies to kill ingested bacteria, and thus escape the human immune system.
The student will acquire knowledge in both bioinformatics and experimental microbiology, working with prokaryotic (Klebsiella) and eukaryotic microbes (Acanthamoeba) as well as state-of-the-art microscopy; studying one of the most important opportunistic pathogens in the ongoing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.