Team:Aix-Marseille/HP/Interviews
Experts' Interviews
Mireille ANSALDI
As the project grows, we had more and more questions about our bacteriophage approach. Indeed, we wanted in the first place to use Xylella fastidiosa’s natural phages, but we met some difficulties. We went to see Ms ANSALDI, who directs the “phage cycle and bacteria metabolism” unity research in LCB, CNRS Marseille, France. As an expert in the field, she is an obvious choice to seek advice on the matter. She generously granted us time for an interview.
Thanks to her answers, we learned that Xylella fastidiosa certainly has some resistance mechanism, such as CRISPR and restriction enzymes. We had doubts about it, now we are fixed. She also told us that we could work on Xanthomonas campestris instead of Xylella fastidiosa since the binding proteins are similar. Indeed, the work on Xylella fastidiosa is not allowed in P1 or P2 labs, whereas Xanthomonas is allowed in P2 security labs. So we will use X.campestris instead, for more safety.
Finally, she also advises us to look about the prophages. By missing information about specific prophages of X.fastidiosa and the inducible toxicity by these phages, we let this approach aside. That’s why we end up with the phage-like particles approach, our final project.
To sum up, we question our phages approach with an expert opinion. Thanks to her, we change our mind about what we wanted to do. Now we are able to combine the phage’s specificity with the toxine’s efficiency.
Jacques VAN HELDEN
Marie-Agnès JACQUES
