CURRENTLY AVAILABLE PHAGE-BASED BIOCONTROLS AND PHAGE-BASED DETECTION ASSAYS FOR LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES ARE COMPOSED OF PHAGES THAT WERE ISOLATED FROM THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. THESE WILD PHAGES HAVE EVOLVED TO OVERCOME THE MANY SELECTIVE PRESSURES THAT PHAGE POPULATION WILL FACE OVER ITS ENTIRE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. HOWEVER, PHAGE-BASED BIOCONTROLS ARE EXPECTED TO FUNCTION IN CONDITIONS THAT ARE MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT THAT THEY EVOLVED TO FUNCTION IN, AND MANY OF THE TRAITS SELECTED FOR IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS ARE NOT IMPORTANT TO, OR COULD EVEN HINDER, A PHAGES POTENTIAL IN A BIOCONTROL CONTEXT. WE PROPOSE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR CAPACITY TO RAPIDLY EVOLVE BACTERIOPHAGES IN THE LABORATORY TO OVERCOME THE MOST COMMON FORMS OF RESISTANCE THAT EMERGE IN PHAGE TREATED POPULATIONS OF L. MONOCYTOGENES. WE ALSO PROPOSE TO ADAPT THESE PHAGES TO THE SPECIFIC CONDITIONS OF FOODS AND FOOD RELATED ENVIRONMENTS THAT PHAGE-BASED BIOCONTROLS WOULD BE DEPLOYED IN.WE AIM TO OVERCOME TWO MAJOR HURDLES LIMITING PHAGE-BASED BIOCONTROL OF LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES: (I) THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHAGE RESISTANCE AND (II) THE LIMITED AVAILABILITY OF PHAGES ADAPTED TO FOOD RELEVANT CONDITIONS. WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING OF BOTH LISTERIA AND PHAGE MUTANTS ISOLATED FROM THE EXPERIMENT WILL BE PERFORMED TO ELUCIDATE MECHANISMS OF PHAGE-HOST INTERACTIONS AND ADAPTATION TO FOOD RELEVANT CONDITIONS. THIS KNOWLEDGE WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW GENERATION OF PHAGE-BASED BIOCONTROLS THAT CAN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE BACTERIAL FOODBORNE PATHOGEN CONTAMINATION ON FOOD AND IN FOOD PROCESSING ENVIRONMENTS. THIS KNOWLEDGE WILL ALSO LEAD TO IMPROVED PHAGE-BASED DETECTION ASSAYS FOR LISTERIA.