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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sugarbeet Research » Research » Research Project #447602

Research Project: Studying of Metabolic Biomarkers for Rapid Detection of Microbial Contamination and Antimicrobial Resistance in Sugarbeet Processing Facilities

Location: Sugarbeet Research

Project Number: 3060-21000-045-030-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Dec 15, 2024
End Date: Sep 30, 2026

Objective:
1) To investigate the application of a metabolomics (LC-MS based) approach for the rapid and early detection of bacterial contaminants (metabolomic markers) in sugar processing facilities. 2) To screen bacterial contaminants for antibiotic resistance (AMR) and develop metabolic markers and models for prediction of bacterial AMR in sugar processing.

Approach:
The cooperator will carry out the following: 1) Targeted and untargeted analysis of microbial metabolites in inoculated vs uninoculated agar/raw juice using LC-QTOF-MS. 2) Identification of metabolite biomarker profile (unique to each species or group of bacteria) that can be used to rapidly detect key bacterial contaminants during sugar extraction. 3) Detection of antimicrobial resistance in sugar processing streams. 4) Pathway impact analysis and early detection prediction model.