Isolated, sequenced, and annotated a novel Mycobacteriophage, Murica, capable of consistently infecting the bacterial strain Mycobacterium smegmatis, a close phylogenetic relative of M. tuberculosis and M. leprae .
Discovery data and bioinformatic annotation results were published to the Actinobacteriophage Database at PhagesDB.org.
Learned and utilized isolation, purification, cloning (PCR), and sequencing techniques. Performed and/or analyzed restriction digests, gel electrophoresis runs, western blots, fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy. Employed bioinformatic software such as DNA Master, GeneMark, HHPred, NCBI Blast, Phamerator, and PhagesDB to perform comparative genomic analysis on the sequenced Murica genome.