Genome Evolution of Streptomyces Bacteria From Insectivorous Bats

Author

• Manuela Montoya Giraldo, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6952-9207

Date of Award

Summer 2026

Language

English

Embargo Period

7-13-2027

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Program

Biology

First Advisor

Cheryl P. Andam

Committee Members

Cara T. Pager, Ing-Nang Wang, Diana E. Northup, Teddy Garcia-Aroca

Keywords

Bacterial evolution, Streptomyces, microbial genomics, bacterial ecology

Subject Categories

Bioinformatics | Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology | Genomics | Population Biology

Abstract

The Gram-positive bacterial genus Streptomyces (Phylum Actinomycetota) are frequently found as free-living inhabitants of the soil, extreme environments, and as symbionts of invertebrates. Streptomyces are an important source of drugs or drug precursors with broad pharmaceutical and industrial applications, including the most commonly used antibiotics. Natural products from Streptomyces have been developed into compounds with antibacterial, antiviral, cytotoxic and antitumor, immunosuppressive, antifungal, and cellulolytic activities. These clinically important compounds are derived from secondary metabolites produced by Streptomyces during the stationary phase of their growth. Nonetheless, the genetic and ecological factors that contribute to Streptomyces biosynthetic and genomic diversity from underexplored or overlooked environments, such as vertebrates, remain poorly studied. The overall goal of this research is to elucidate the genetic and ecological drivers that contribute to Streptomyces colonization of the skin surface of insectivorous bats. I used a dataset of 481 Streptomyces strains derived from 12 species of healthy bats sampled from six cave sites in Arizona and New Mexico, provided by my collaborators Drs. Diana Northup (University of New Mexico) and Ernest Valdez (US Geological Survey). My central hypothesis is that Streptomyces genetic diversity is shaped by the bat host identity, mobile genetic elements, and inter-strain interactions. In Chapter 1, I showed that cave sites and bat host species influence the genomic diversity of Streptomyces but did not affect the distribution of major classes of their biosynthetic gene clusters. In Chapter 2, I uncovered a rich reservoir of mobile genetic elements – prophages and phage-borne inteins – that have configured Streptomyces genomes within and between species. Lastly, in Chapter 3, I described that Streptomyces’ ability to antagonize other strains is constrained by their phylogenetic distance and shared bat host. Taken together, findings from my research bring critical insights to understanding Streptomyces-bat ecology and genome evolution that may contribute to bat health and in augmenting current efforts in natural product discovery, especially from underexplored or overlooked environments.

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Montoya Giraldo, Manuela, "Genome Evolution of Streptomyces Bacteria From Insectivorous Bats" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 499.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/499