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Don't Sell Them Short, There's More To Bacterial Natural Products Than Antibiotics, Alison Clare Domzalski
Don't Sell Them Short, There's More To Bacterial Natural Products Than Antibiotics, Alison Clare Domzalski
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Recent genomic studies of microbiomes have revealed an overwhelming number of biosynthetic genes of unknown function. Most of these “cryptic” biosynthetic genes are not expressed in laboratory monocultures of individual microbes. Thus, there remains tremendous untapped potential for natural products discovery. Here we employ mixed microbial culture (MMC) as a simple yet powerful approach to awaken cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters. Our preliminary studies demonstrated that arrays of metabolites could be induced in MMCs upon environmental cues, such as surface adhesion. Using this system, we have screened, identified, and isolated bioactive bacterial metabolites, which were characterized structurally and biologically. Of the …
The Structural And Functional Role Of Photosensing In Rgs-Lov Proteins, Zaynab Jaber
The Structural And Functional Role Of Photosensing In Rgs-Lov Proteins, Zaynab Jaber
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Light provides organisms with energy and spatiotemporal information. To survive and adapt, organisms have developed the ability to sense light to drive biochemical effects that underlie vision, entrainment of circadian rhythm, stress response, virulence, and many other important molecularly driven responses. Blue-light sensing Light-Oxygen-Voltage (LOV) domains are ubiquitous across multiple kingdoms of life and modulate various physiological events via diverse effector domains. Using a small molecule flavin chromophore, the LOV domain undergoes light-dependent structural changes leading to activation or repression of these catalytic and non-catalytic effectors. In silico analyses of high-throughput genomic sequencing data has led to the marked expansion …
Insights Into Leptopilina Spp. Immune-Suppressive Strategies Using Mixed-Omics And Molecular Approaches, Brian Wey
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Host-parasite interactions influence the biology of each over the course of evolution. Parasite success allows for the passage of potent virulence strategies from generation to generation. Host success passes stronger immunity and resistance strategies to the following generations as well. Only by studying both partners within their natural contexts can we begin to understand the relationship between the two and how immune mechanisms and virulence strategies interact as a molecular arms race.
In this work, we focus on a natural host-parasite pair, the Drosophila-Leptopilina model. Leptopilina species are parasites of several fruit fly species, including Drosophila melanogaster. This model …