Genotype to phenotype studies in bacteria

About this project

As pathogen whole genome sequencing is poised to become standard routine in the clinics, the amount of data available for research is bound to reach sample sizes that make it amenable to statistical genetics approaches. This in turn means that we can rely solely on the genome sequences of the pathogens to identify the genetic determinants of clinically relevant phenotypes such as pathogenicity, virulence and antimicrobial resistance, which can then be validated with forward genetic assays. We are achieving this objective by leveraging statistical genetics methods we have previously developed and we are applying them to species such as Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, already with very useful results.