Potential biotech and health applications with new knowledge on bacteria and viruses

University of Otago research to better understand how bacteria and their viruses interact and evolve will enable future studies to exploit the use of bacteria and their viruses for potential biotechnology and health applications. Research led by Dr. Simon Jackson and Associate Professor Peter Fineran, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, investigating the function of bacteria immune systems and what impact they have on the coevolution of bacteria and viruses was published today in a top tier scientific journal, Cell Host and Microbe. Viruses infecting bacteria are called bacteriophages ("phages" for short) and are the most abundant biological entities on the planet influencing many aspects of our lives and the global ecosystem.
Dr. Jackson says the war between phages and bacteria is ever-present and many bacteria protect themselves using immune defenses known as CRISPR-Cas systems. "Research to understand more about the interactions between phages and bacteria, particularly how bacterial CRISPR-Cas immunity functions, is being exploited internationally in many ground-breaking biotechnological applications including gene editing," Dr. Jackson explains. "We think this area of research holds a lot of promise for biotechnology applications and might also be an important consideration for the use of phages to treat infectious diseases.