METAGENOMIC DISCOVERY AND EXPRESSION OF CLASS IIA BACTERIOCINS FROM FERMENTED FOODS TO IMPROVE FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY FROM FARM TO FORK

Goal:Contribute to sustainable agriculture practices by making the most efficient use of on-farm resources through the implementation of natural biological controls.Objective 1:Phylogenetic Reconstruction of Class IIa Bacteriocin Sequences from Publicly Available Whole Genome and Whole Metagenome Sequencing Data.Objective 2:Amplicon-Based Metagenomic Sequencing of Class IIa Bacteriocin-Encoding Genes from Fermented Foods.Objective 3: Purification and Analysis of Novel Class IIa Bacteriocins Expressed in E. coli.