CULTIVAR DEVELOPMENT: ACCELERATED INTROGRESSION OF SYNTHETIC HEXAPLOID DERIVED DIVERSITY INTO AN APPLIED HARD WINTER WHEAT BREEDING PROGRAM

The goal of this proposal is to demonstrate the utility of bacteriophage cocktails to reduce or eliminate the shedding of STEC O157:H7 in cattle feces and to develop a bioinformatical approach to predict sensitivity of STEC O157:H7 strains to bacteriophage cocktails.Objectives: To conduct interaction assays between E. coli O157:H7 strains, and phages known to be active against E. coli O157:H7 to determine interactions of selecting phages from different activity groups to use in phage cocktails. To build a machine learning classifier to allow phage cocktails to be developed based only on the sequence of an E. coli O157:H7 isolate without repeating the interaction assays. To validate the tailored phage cocktail through a cattle challenge study by administering the cocktail rectally (at the known site of colonization) to cattle inoculated with a STEC O157:H7 strain known to persistently colonize cattle.