Milica Ciric

Citation

Thesis Title
Metasecretome phage display: A new approach for mining surface and secreted proteins from microbial communities

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Billions of microbes (belonging to hundreds of different species) carry out feed digestion in the rumen. Digestion involves the coordinated action of different enzymes and other supporting proteins presented on the microbial surface or secreted into the rumen, allowing microbes to bind and degrade the ingested plant material and to provide essential nutrients for the ruminant. To explore the feed-digestion potential of the rumen microbial community tightly attached to feed, Ms Ciric has developed metasecretome phage display; a new method that combines metagenomics and phage display technology. Using this approach, she enriched and identified a wide assortment of feed-digesting enzymes and accessory proteins that help bacteria latch onto plant fibre to extract the nutrients. Ms Ciric’s methodology is widely applicable to future high-throughput exploration of surface and secreted proteins from complex microbial communities.

Supervisors
Professor Jasna Rakonjac
Dr Graeme Attwood
Dr Christina Moon
Dr Dragana Gagic