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Insights To Protein Pathogenicity From The Lens Of Protein Evolution, Janelle Nunez-Castilla
Insights To Protein Pathogenicity From The Lens Of Protein Evolution, Janelle Nunez-Castilla
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
As protein sequences evolve, differences in selective constraints may lead to outcomes ranging from sequence conservation to structural and functional divergence. Evolutionary protein family analysis can illuminate which protein regions are likely to diverge or remain conserved in sequence, structure, and function. Moreover, nonsynonymous mutations in pathogens may result in the emergence of protein regions that affect the behavior of pathogenic proteins within a host and host response. I aimed to gain insight on pathogenic proteins from cancer and viruses using an evolutionary perspective. First, I examined p53, a conformationally flexible, multifunctional protein mutated in ~50% of human cancers. Multifunctional …
Population Ecology Of A Caribbean Epiphyte Trichocentrum Undulatum (Orchidaceae): Defining Habitat And The Effects Of Herbivory And Hurricanes At Its Peripheral And Core Range, Haydee Borrero
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Population ecology studies are central to species conservation. My dissertation focused on the Florida state-listed endangered orchid, Trichocentrum undulatum at its northern-most range in the Everglades National Park (ENP), Florida and multiple populations throughout its core range in Cuba. Through surveying populations of T. undulatum across this range from 2013-2021, I made a new reporting on the occurrence of a specialized insect herbivore, Melanagromyza miamensis in Cuba (Chapter 1). This flower-crippling herbivore was previously known only in the ENP. With this discovery I assess the intensity and impacts of this herbivore, as well as others on T. undulatum across the …