Transcriptome of Escherichia coli in response to abiotic intervention mediated by gaseous chlorine dioxide and ozone on non-host tomato

Escherichia coli is a foodborne pathogens detected on fresh tomato produce. Gaseous chlorine dioxide (ClO2) treatments is an effective method to reduce bacterial growth on tomato. In this project, we are testing the hypothesis that abiotic intervention mediated by gaseous ClO2 leads to potential adaptation and acclimation in E. coli. By use of next-generation sequencing applications, our aims are to: 1) Discover genes and co-expression network that are associated defense response to gaseous ClO2 stressor; 2) Provide evidence of potential acclimation and adaptation of E. coli during ClO2 treatment; 3) establish an algorithmic pipeline to facilitate future omics data analysis to elucidate the transcriptional regulatory network in bacterial species. Outcomes of this exploratory research are expected to advance our knowledge of chemical induced gene co-expression network, towards novel applications in selection of target molecules and pathways for eliminating the bacterial contamination in food industry.

大肠杆菌作为一种食源性病原体，常被检测于新鲜番茄产品中。气态二氧化氯（ClO2）处理是一种有效的减少番茄上细菌生长的方法。在本项目中，我们旨在检验以下假设：通过气态ClO2介导的非生物干预，可能导致大肠杆菌的潜在适应和驯化。利用下一代测序技术，我们的目标包括：1）发现与气态ClO2应激源相关的防御反应基因及其共表达网络；2）提供证据证明大肠杆菌在ClO2处理过程中的潜在驯化和适应；3）建立算法流程，以促进未来组学数据分析，阐明细菌物种中的转录调控网络。本探索性研究的成果预期将深化我们对化学诱导的基因共表达网络的认识，为食品工业中消除细菌污染的目标分子和途径的选择提供新的应用。