MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Abstract: Cholera is a life-threatening diarrheal disease caused by strains of Vibrio cholerae, a marine bacterium. Pathogenic strains cause outbreaks of cholera in areas where portable, clean water is unavailable, leading to 3-5 million cases per year, killing around 100,000 people (Emch, 2008) (WHO, 2012). V. cholerae is able to adapt to a range of osmotic environments due to its mechanosensitive (MS) channels, channel proteins that open directly in response to membrane tension and rescue a cell from membrane damage (Keymer, 2007). Recent electrophysiological experiments performed on V. cholerae identified two types of MS channels in the bacterium, similar to the Small-Conductance Mechanosensitive Channel (MscS) and Large-Conductance Mechanosensitive Channel (MscL) studied in E. coli previously (Rowe, 2012) (Edwards, 2012). MS channels are much less understood in V. cholerae, and if studied, could have far-reaching implications for understanding the abilities of MS channels and their role in the environmental fitness of the opportunistic pathogen. To further this understanding, we generated a genetic knockout (KO) for MscL in V. cholerae through natural transformation, and are working to generate a MscS KO mutant, as well as a double channel KO mutant (Dalia, 2014). We found in osmotic viability assays and patch-clamp characterization that ∆mscL had higher survival rates than expected, possibly due to overexpression of MscS. As such, efforts are ongoing to create and characterize a MscS KO. We anticipate the MS channel KO mutants will be vital in understanding how V. cholerae survives the transition from human gut to waste water to proliferate.

WC: 250

Voice: Formal throughout
Citation: Formal APA throughout

Reader profile: Scientists on the department of biology honors thesis review board, biophysicists, microbiologists

Reader reaction: While this sounds very technical, it is interesting, I know I don't want to have cholera, and decreasing the amount of disease in the world is good. This research sounds promising, especially since she already has some successful preliminary data, and a clear plan for how to go forward. It would be nice if there was more on the actual disease that infects people though, this is all so focused on one tiny part of a tiny bacteria.

K, your technical reader will not really have that reaction so, you are fine.

However, even the technical reader might need to know that your focus is important in a warmer, wetter, world. Vibrio infections go way up, including in places not used to this "developing country, equatorial disease." You may want to address that briefly.