2010 Student Research Conference:
23rd Annual Student Research Conference

Caenorhabditis elegans as a model host of Staphylococcus aureus virulence
Terin E. Budine
Dr. Timothy D. Walston, Faculty Mentor

Caenorhabditis elegans has been used as a model host for Staphylococcus aureus for several years. S. aureus is a bacterium that causes many infections from sores to lung infections. S. aureus has developed resistance to many conventional treatments, so new therapies are needed to combat the bacteria. Due to the high correlation of C. elegans mortality and mammalian virulence of S. aureus, C. elegans provides an inexpensive, simple method for screening mutants of S. aureus for virulence. This study assessed the survivability of C. elegans exposed to BKD, NOS and dnaK mutants for 120 hours. S. aureus COL, S. aureus SH1000 and E. coli OP50 were used as controls. S. aureus NOS and S. aureus dnaK mutant strains were shown to not have a significant difference in virulence when compared with S. aureus SH1000. However, the BKD mutant strain showed a significantly lower mortality rate than S. aureus SH1000.

Keywords: C. elegans, S. aureus, model host

Topic(s):Biology

Presentation Type: Poster

Session: 8-2
Location: SUB-GEO
Time: 4:15

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