Kabelo Stenger, a FK Norway participant with GenØk for the 2015/2016 session, presented the outcome of his work at the just concluded Microbial Physiology & Genomics conference which held in London 29-30 September.

Mr. Stenger presented a poster with the title “Identification of response pathways of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis to glyphosate and Aminomethyl phosphonic acid (AMPA)”. The highlight of his presentation is that glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, and its major breakdown product, AMPA, are being introduced into the food chain of humans and animals by genetically modified crops such as soybean and maize, in which residues of these chemicals have been found. Bacteria that are resident in the human and animal guts will therefore encounter glyphosate and AMPA albeit at very low concentrations. Thus, it was of interest to study how the gut-resident bacteria, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, will respond to sub-concentrations of glyphosate & AMPA. Glyphosate and AMPA may constitute important environmental determinant of habitat adaptation, expression of virulence and/or antibiotic resistance of gut bacteria.

This study is one of the on-going investigations in the SANCOOP project funded by Forskningsrådet. Attendance to the conference was jointly supported with funds from Fredrik korpset and SANCOOP projects.