Paige Webber

Ms. Paige Webber

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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21 July 2023 in Antibiotics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
ENEllisiv Nyhamar
Ellisiv Nyhamar
PWPaige Webber
Paige Webber
OLOlivia Liong
Olivia Liong
ÖYÖzgenur Yilmaz
Özgenur Yilmaz
MPMaria Pajunen
Maria Pajunen
XWXing Wan
Xing Wan
In the escalating battle against antimicrobial resistance, there is an urgent need to discover and investigate new antibiotic strategies. Bacteriophages are untapped reservoirs of such potential antimicrobials. This study focused on Hypothetical Proteins of Unknown Function (HPUFs) from a Staphylococcus phage Stab21. We examined its HPUFs for bactericidal activity against E. coli using a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based approach. Among the 96 HPUFs examined, 5 demonstrated cross-species toxicity towards E. coli, suggesting the presence of shared molecular targets between E. coli and S. aureus. One toxic antibacterial HPUF (toxHPUF) was found to share homology with a homing endonuclease. The implications of these findings are profound, particularly given the potential broad applicability of these bactericidal agents. This study confirms the efficacy of NGS in streamlining the screening process of toxHPUFs, contributes significantly to the ongoing exploration of phage biology, and offers promises in the search for potent antimicrobial agents.