By Sandra Arias, Elizabeth Breckenridge, Bonnie Butter
Faculty mentor: Dr. Swati Agrawal
Background: The genus Bacillus is a medically important
genus because several species cause disease
like cereus and anthracis, that involves several species
within it. We chose B. thuringiensis, a non
pathogenic species of Bacillus, as our host as it is
very abundant in the environment and therefore it is easy
to isolate phages. The University of Mary Washington
Class of 2021-2022 isolated a total of eight phages. The
phages were photographed using a Transmission Electron
Microscope to determine their morphotype. They were
further characterized by host range analysis showed that
KoopaTroopa grew on other Bacillus species such as B.
cereus. B. cereus is a foodborne pathogen that can cause
gastrointestinal illness in humans. Since the goal of
phage research is to develop phage therapy against
pathogenic bacteria, we analyzed the genome
of KoopaTroopa further. Through genome annotation we
hope to find lytic and toxin producing genes that
help Koopa Troopa destroy the
pathogenic Bacillus species.
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