2022 Undergraduate Summer Research Program Participant

Home Department: Bioengineering
Mentor: KC Huang (Bioengineering and Microbiology & Immunology)

“Novel DNA Damage Repair Gene in Bifidobacterium breve”

Using a chemical-genetic screen of a transposon-insertion library in the gut commensal and probiotic Bifidobacterium breve, the Huang lab identified BBR_RS10560 as a protein with unknown function whose disruption results in an altered observable characteristic or phenotype that suggests the protein plays a role in DNA damage repair. To elucidate the function of BBR_RS10560, Arvie will analyze phenotypes from mutants in BBR_RS10560 and experimentally proven DNA damage-repair genes. She will quantify the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of chemical mutagens (Mitomycin C, metronidazole, nitrofurans) and viability after ultraviolet light exposure, and track BBR_RS10560 localization by tagging with anaerobic fluorescent proteins. These interdisciplinary experiments will provide insight into the critical process of DNA repair.