Date of Award

Spring 2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biology

Committee Chairperson

Sean Buskirk, Ph.D.

Committee Member

John Pisciotta, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jessica Sowa, Ph.D.

Abstract

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the use of alcohol-based antiseptics by the general public has greatly increased. While this form of antimicrobial is effective in stopping the spread of both bacterial and viral infections, little research has been conducted in the development of alcohol tolerance by microorganisms or its mechanisms. In this study, experimental evolution was conducted on four separate strains of Staphylococcus aureus to determine if tolerance can develop towards moderate to high concentrations of ethanol. Once ethanol tolerance was established in the evolved populations, whole genome sequencing was performed to identify the potential mutations responsible for the observed alcohol tolerance.

Included in

Microbiology Commons

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