Date of Submission

12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology

Department

Biology and Environmental Sciences

Advisor

Nikolas M. Stasulli, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Anna Kloc, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Martha Anne Taddeo Ph.D.

Keywords

Bacterial Interactions, Luteibacter Anthropi, Streptomyces Viridochromogenes, Sporulation, Sporulation-Inhibiting Metabolite, Lanthipeptide-Class-ii Genome Cluster

MeSH

Microbial Interactions, Gammaproteobacteria, Streptomyces, Bacteriocins

LCSH

Bacteria, Streptomyces, Microbial inactivation, Microbial metabolites, Microbial genetics

Abstract

Interactions between bacterial species have been an up and coming area of scientific research, as the transcriptional changes leading to phenotypic changes in many of these interactions have yet to be fully characterized. One of these interactions was discovered between an environmental isolate of Luteibacter anthropi and a type strain of Streptomyces viridochromogenes. Many Streptomyces species undergo a sporulation process during reproductive growth, but when grown together with L. anthropi, S. viridochromogenes' reproductive sporulation is inhibited. The chemical components responsible for said interaction have not yet been determined. This experimental design aimed to characterize the chemical components responsible for the inhibition of sporulation during the interactions between these bacteria using analytical techniques, including infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet spectroscopy, to further characterize how this interaction is mediated. The analytical results were cross referenced with the genomic sequence of L. anthropi to identify potential gene clusters that may produce the specialized metabolite responsible for sporulation inhibition. Results suggest that the responsible compound is a small secondary metabolite produced by a lanthipeptide-class-ii genome cluster that contains a high concentration of alcohol functional groups and polar amino acids, such as serine and threonine.

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