AIRBUs at DTU - Danmarks Tekniske Universitet

2. sektion
Fighting bacteria with bacteria
Knowledge of bacterial genes to create the replacement for penicillin
For anyone who contracts a bacterial
infection, the chances of recovery may
well depend on whether the doctors can
determine which strain is involved. A
number of bacteria are resistant to penicillin
and increasing numbers of people
fall ill from infections contracted while
hospitalized.
A new EU research project will be
instrumental in the development of new
gene technology which will facilitate the
design of advanced tests for detecting
pathogenic bacteria.
A group of researchers from the Center
for Biological Sequence Analysis (CBS) at
DTU will be using the DNA sequence of
the bacterium Bacillus subtilis to design
a microarray, a DNA chip covering the
bacterium’s entire hereditary material.
The research is part of a large-scale
EU project, BaSysBio (Bacillus Systems
Biology), the object of which is to find
new methods for combating undesirable
bacteria.
„The chip that will be developed
at DTU will be used for two types of
studies, which will generate a wide array
of data,“ explains Associate Professor
27. APRIL 2007 NR. 5
DTU in english
Hanne Jarmer at the Center for Biological
Sequence Analysis
„Above all, the chip will be designed
without any kind of assumptions, i.e.
without using any information other
than the DNA sequence itself. This will
make it possible to determine the physical
location and organization of both
known and unknown genes,“ says Hanne
Jarmer.
The chip will also be used to measure
the extent to which each individual gene
is expressed under very diverse growth
conditions. Finally, the chip will also be
PHOTO Bo Jarner
included as the last stage in a so-called
Chromatin ImmunoPrecipitation-on-chip
(ChIP-on-chip) procedure which will
permit localization of the protein-binding
areas in the DNA sequence which
contribute to gene regulation.
Besides supplying the chip, DTU
researchers will be involved in bioinformatics
analysis of the large volumes of
data generated by the BaSysBio project,
which will facilitate new discoveries with
potentially great significance for areas
such as medicine, the environment and
manufacturing.