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Janet
Westpheling
Associate
Professor of Genetics
Creative Research
Medal 2001
Janet Westpheling and her research group have developed an efficient
genetic method for transferring DNA between strains of bacteria
that produce commercially important antibiotics. The method they
developed – called generalizing transduction – allows them to move
genes into strains of the soil-inhabiting bacterium Streptomyces, which is used to produced therapeutics for humans and
animals but is completely refractory to genetic analysis. Streptomyces cannot
be transformed by the usual protocols that allow DNA uptake and
they do not exchange DNA by mating. Streptomyces verticillus, which makes the anti-cancer drug bleomycin – is an example.
Dr. Westpheling has shown that the bacterial viruses or phages
she recently isolated are capable of moving DNA in Streptomyces and
her team has used the phage to introduce constructed mutations
in the bleomycin pathway into the producing organism. This will
allow, for the first time, the use of genetic analysis to study
the biosynthetic pathway and regulation of bleomycin production.
This work is novel and will contribute to two important areas of
science: the study of the basic biology of Streptomyces, an unusual and important group of antibiotics producing bacteria;
and the emerging area of combinatorial biosynthesis for the engineering
of new antibiotic compounds.
Source: 22nd Annual Research Awards Program (2001)
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