| Abstract | The primary objective of this study was to identify environmental stressors that could potentiate the infectivity of Bacillus anthracis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax, a lethal bacterial infection, and has been used as a bioweapon. This pathogen must be studied in model organisms to elucidate integral steps in pathogenesis and the mechanism of infection, as well as identify bacterial virulence factors. The B. anthracis- C. elegans model system must be refined, as B. anthracis does not cause potent, lethal bacterial infection to C. elegans. However, studies have shown that B. anthracis can be induced to infect C. elegans in the presence of the Cry5B toxin, and that the infectivity of the pathogen toward C. elegans can be instigated by environmental stress, starvation of nematodes, etc. Through manipulation of the environment of growing C. elegans, I have shown that the infectivity of Bacillus anthracis can be potentiated in the absence of the Cry5B pore-forming protein using environmental factors. |
