Accessing microbial diversity for drug discovery and resistance gene dispersion

We are studying the diversity and distribution of genes associated with the synthesis (e.g., PKS) and resistance to antibiotics (e.g., bla, aadA, ermB etc).  This work is based on the screening of soil metagenomic DNA.  The Drug Discovery work is done in collaboration with Libragen.  The antibiotic resistance genes are being studied in respect to bacterial adaptation and human health issues.

Publications

Lefevre F, Robe P, Jarrin C, Ginolhac A, Zago C, Auriol D, Vogel T.M.,  Simonet P and Nalin R. Drugs from hidden bugs: Discovery from untapped  resources. Res. Microbiol. 159:153-161.

Demanèche S, Sanguin H, Poté J, Navarro E, Bernillon D, Mavingui P,  Wildi W, Vogel TM and Simonet P. 2008 Antibiotic resistant soil  bacteria in transgenic plant fields. (Proc Natl Acad. Sci. USA) PNAS. 105:3957-3962.

van Elsas, J.D., Costa, R., Jansson, J., Sjöling, S., Bailey, M., Nalin, R., Vogel, T.M. and van Overbeek, L. 2008. The metagenomics of disease suppressive soils – experiences from the METACONTROL project. Trends in Biotechnol. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2008.07.004

Ginolhac A., Jarrin C., Robe P., Perrière G., Vogel T. M. , Simonet P. and Nalin R. 2005. Type I PKS may have evolved through horizontal gene transfer. Journal of Molecular Evolution.  60:5.

Ginolhac, A., Jarrin, C., Gillet, B., Robe, P., Pujic, P., Tuphile, K.,Bertrand, H., Vogel,T.M., Perrière, G., Simonet, P., and Nalin, R. 2004. Phylogenetic Analysis of Polyketide Synthase I Domains from Soil Metagenomic Libraries Allows Selection of Promising Clones. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. .70:5522-5527.