Go Fish - Targeted Capturing of Members of the Microbiome

We have been able to demonstrate the ability to detect glycan-glycan binding for specific bacteria to specific glycans and confirmed the results using both quantification on a Qubit fluorometer and qPCR methods. This is important in establishing a glycan-glycan binding library of bacteria to glycan binding combinations. Establishing this library allows for more complex studies into the microbiome such as targeted engineering of a microbiome by adding or removing a specific species. This can further shed light on glycan-glycan interactions in future research. Further testing will be needed of more bacteria strains with more glycans to create a better established binding library that could be used to detect, isolate and determine bacteria likely to be seen in a microbiome.

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The results show the potential for success of glycan-glycan interactions to target specific bacteria. This is important due to the implications it has for capture and isolation of specific bacteria strains as an alternative to both antibiotics in medical applications and a better cell sorting method in research applications. Utilising glycan-glycan interactions is still limited with its current applications due to the relative lack of knowledge in glycan-glycan binding but with continued growth and research into the field, there is potential for its use in bacterial isolation and capture.

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Future directions for the project would include continued testing of different bacteria strains and different glycans to continue to establish known binding pairs. One recommendation would be to find alternate sources of glycans that could be synthesized more quickly or to order from our current source in advance to get a larger variety of glycans to work with. Only working with four glycans limits the variety of glycan binding patterns we can establish. There is still much to be learned about glycan and bacteria binding, and discoveries in this area may  significantly impact the treatment of conditions involving bacterial infections and imbalances.