Students Advance Bacteriophage Research Through Genome Annotation

What can you discover right outside your residence hall? For a group of College of Coastal Georgia students studying biology and genetics, the answer was a novel bacteriophage. Their research, which involved annotating the bacteriophage’s genome, has been accepted for publication in microPublication Biology.

College of Coastal Georgia graduate John Barron ’25 discovered a novel bacteriophage in a soil sample collected near Lakeside Village residence hall while he was a student. A bacteriophage, or phage, is a virus that infects and often destroys bacteria. Because phages are highly specific to their bacterial hosts, they can target harmful bacteria without affecting the human body. As a result, they show promise as a tool for combating antibiotic-resistant infections. Bacteriophages are abundant in soil, which is where Barron found his. After isolating the phage from the sample using laboratory techniques, he named it “BaronJohn.”

The College participates in the Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program, which is jointly administered by the University of Pittsburgh and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s science education division. SEA-PHAGES is a two-semester, discovery-based undergraduate research program. By finding and naming their own bacteriophages, students develop a sense of ownership over their work and gain hands-on research experience.

Students in BIOL 3501 Going Viral II, taught by Professor of Biology Dr. Holly Nance, annotated the genome of BaronJohn to better understand its genetic makeup. By identifying and describing the genes in the phage’s genome, students and researchers can better understand how BaronJohn functions and how it relates to other bacteriophages. The annotation manuscript was co-authored by students in the course and published in microPublication Biology.

As part of the SEA-PHAGES program, all newly discovered phages from participating institutions are archived at the University of Pittsburgh, where they may be used for future research and potential medical applications. This opportunity allows the students who discovered and annotated the phage to contribute research that could one day benefit patients and advance scientific knowledge.

BaronJohn is not the first novel bacteriophage discovered by Coastal Georgia students. It joins others, including Persistence, discovered by Madison Lee ’20 on campus, and LilTerminator, discovered by Noah English ’25 on Jekyll Island. The annotation of LilTerminator was also published in microPublication Biology earlier this year.

Barron is now a graduate student at the University of Georgia, pursuing a master’s degree in public health.