Discovery, Purification and Annotation of a Novel Mycobacteriophage Discovered on the Providence College Campus

Jenna Greene ’26, Biochemistry major Faculty mentor: Dr. Kathleen Cornely, Chemistry and Biochemistry Bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—offer a promising alternative to antibiotics in the face of rising antibiotic resistance. In this project, I isolated a novel phage from a soil sample collected in front of Raymond Dining Hall at Providence College. Using Mycobacterium smegmatis as the host, the sample underwent multiple rounds of purification until a single phage, named GMonster (a nod to my family nickname, “Greene Monster”), was isolated. GMonster was submitted to the PhagesDB database and confirmed through sequencing to belong to the A1 cluster—the first of its kind discovered on the Providence College campus. Gene annotation was performed based on sequence and functional similarities to closely related phages. Additionally, a lysogen was successfully created, meaning GMonster can integrate its DNA into the host genome without immediately destroying the bacterial cell. Future research will focus on performing BRED (Bacteriophage Recombineering of Electroporated DNA) to engineer GMonster and related phages for broader host infectivity, potentially enabling them to target a wider range of mycobacterial species like m. tuberculosis the causative agent of Tuberculosis. This work contributes to the ongoing search for alternative therapies to combat bacterial infections in a post-anti