# Reducing Virulence Through the Suppression of Retractile Pili

> **NIH NIH R21** · TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE RESEARCH · 2021 · $216,769

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Multidrug-resistant bacterial infection is becoming a health crisis worldwide. Treatments for previously
“untreatable” bacterial infection have been the spotlights of antibacterial studies, including minimizing the
emergence, spread and persistence of drug-resistance genes, as well as directly neutralizing virulence factors.
Many of these bacterial pathogens possess retractile pili, which are either part of secretion systems required
for gene/protein transfer, or responsible for virulence. In this project, it is proposed to manipulate pili through
ssRNA phages as an anti-virulence strategy against pathogenic bacteria and/or dissemination of antibiotic
resistance genes. From the preliminary data, the infection of ssRNA phage MS2 or Qβ was found to cause the
detachment of E. coli conjugative F-pilus through single-cell studies using fluorescence microscopy. Aim 1 is to
examine the F-pili detachment efficiency by varying different mutants of Type IV section systems and growth
conditions, and investigate how to reach 100% detachment efficiency. In addition, the study will be expanded
to other types of retractile pili and their ssRNA phage systems for pili detachment. Aim 2 is to identify the
essential components of ssRNA phages for F-pilus detachment and design novel minimal systems or virus-like
particles to efficiently detach the F-pilus.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10130294
- **Project number:** 1R21AI156846-01
- **Recipient organization:** TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Lanying Zeng
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $216,769
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-12-04 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10130294

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10130294, Reducing Virulence Through the Suppression of Retractile Pili (1R21AI156846-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10130294. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*