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West Virginia University

Theses/Dissertations

2011

Molecular biology

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Can Changes In Sr Protein Acetylation Affect Alternative Splicing?, Heather E. Knupp Dec 2011

Can Changes In Sr Protein Acetylation Affect Alternative Splicing?, Heather E. Knupp

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Cellular phenotype and function is determined by the cellular proteome. Within the cellular proteome there are processes that have a potential to significantly alter the composition of the proteome. One such process is called alternative splicing. Splicing is the removal of introns from a pre-mRNA sequence and the remaining pre-mRNA sequences, called exons, are combined. Alternative splicing modifies the intron-exon combination, and can form novel products from the different arrangement of the coding sequences. This process, due to the high potential for new, possibly unwanted products, is highly regulated and can occur in a tissue and developmental-specific fashion. The misreguation …


Creating Reporter Systems Within Drosophila Melanogaster, Ashley Elizabeth Banks Dec 2011

Creating Reporter Systems Within Drosophila Melanogaster, Ashley Elizabeth Banks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The objective of these projects was to generate two fluorescently based systems within Drosophila melanogaster for the advancement of molecular research. The first project was aimed to create fluorescent phosphomimetic constructs of m8, a regulator in eye formation. The second project was to create a fluorescent visual marker for heterochromatic gene silencing in Drosophila. Proper formation of the eye requires that only one cell from a group of equipotent cells assumes a neural fate (the R8 cell). The cells surrounding the R8 cell are prevented from assuming this outcome through a process known as lateral inhibition. Lateral inhibition uses the …


Characterization And Genetic Manipulation Of Ergot Pathway Inefficiency In Fungi, Prashanthi Mulinti Aug 2011

Characterization And Genetic Manipulation Of Ergot Pathway Inefficiency In Fungi, Prashanthi Mulinti

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Ergot alkaloids are mycotoxins that negatively affect humans and animals but also have useful pharmaceutical properties. Ergot alkaloids have been extensively studied in Claviceps purpurea, and also have been reported in other fungi, such as certain Penicillium spp., Aspergillus fumigatus, and several Neotyphodium spp. that are endophytes of grasses. There is a high degree of variation in the production of ergot alkaloids within an individual species and among producers from different taxa, which means different fungi accumulate different profiles of ergot alkaloids rather than a single pathway end product. These varied profiles result, in part, from inefficiency in the pathway …


Functional Analysis And Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Oocyte-Specific Transcription Factors During Early Embryogenesis In Cattle, Swamy Krishna Tripurani May 2011

Functional Analysis And Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Oocyte-Specific Transcription Factors During Early Embryogenesis In Cattle, Swamy Krishna Tripurani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Newborn ovary homeobox (NOBOX) is an oocyte-specific transcription factor essential for folliculogenesis and expression of many germ-cell specific genes in mice. However, the temporal and cell specific expression of NOBOX in bovine oocytes and potential function and regulation of NOBOX in early embryogenesis have not been described previously. Messenger RNA for bovine NOBOX is preferentially expressed in ovaries and undetectable by RT-PCR in somatic tissues examined. NOBOX protein is present in oocytes throughout folliculogenesis and is stage-specifically expressed during oocyte maturation and early embryonic development. Depletion of NOBOX in early embryos demonstrated that NOBOX is an essential maternal derived transcription …


A New Member Of The Afap Family, Afap1l1, Binds To Cortactin And Localizes To Invadosomes, Brandi Nicole Snyder May 2011

A New Member Of The Afap Family, Afap1l1, Binds To Cortactin And Localizes To Invadosomes, Brandi Nicole Snyder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Cellular motility and invasion in normal cellular processes and disease states such as cancer are dependent upon the ability of a cell to efficiently interact with its microenvironment, rearrange its cytoskeleton and degrade tissue barriers for purposes of cell movement. The AFAP family of adaptor proteins, AFAP1, AFAP1L1 and AFAP1L2, integrates signals received from the microenvironment into coordinated cytoskeletal changes. While there have been many reports on the functions and binding partners of AFAP1 and AFAP1L2, this work aimed to determine the cellular location and function of newly discovered AFAP1L1. The overall amino acid and protein structures of AFAP family …


Tyrosine Phosphorylation Linked To Cardiac Arrhythmias Via Hcn Pacemaker Channel, Yen-Chang Lin Jan 2011

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Linked To Cardiac Arrhythmias Via Hcn Pacemaker Channel, Yen-Chang Lin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Cardiac sudden death (CSD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. Although the causes of CSD are not understood completely, cardiac arrhythmias have been indicated as the major contribution to CSD. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias, therefore providing scientific basis for clinical applications in the future to lower the rate of CSD.;My thesis contains four chapters. Chapter 1 aims to examine a novel role of tyrosine phosphorylation in the arrhythmogenesis. To achieve this goal, a rat arrhythmia model was established without structural remodeling, and the Src tyrosine kinase …


Rna In Forensic Science: Novel Techniques For Biological Evidence, Stephanie T. Young Jan 2011

Rna In Forensic Science: Novel Techniques For Biological Evidence, Stephanie T. Young

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The techniques currently utilized for collecting biological evidence at the scenes of violent crimes such as murder, rape, and kidnapping are employed simply to preserve evidence for future DNA analysis. Although DNA is extremely useful in forensic casework, biological samples possess yet another valuable molecule, RNA. The use of RNA in forensic analysis of samples is currently on the rise. In the past, RNA was thought to degrade much too quickly to be of any benefit to the forensic community. The work presented in this dissertation seeks to demonstrate otherwise. While true that RNA is not as stable as DNA, …


Expression Of The Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 Isozymes In The Human Breast Cancer Cell Line Models Mda-Mb 231 And Mcf-7 And The Normal Breast Cell Line Model Mcf-10a, Debolina Ganguly Jan 2011

Expression Of The Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 Isozymes In The Human Breast Cancer Cell Line Models Mda-Mb 231 And Mcf-7 And The Normal Breast Cell Line Model Mcf-10a, Debolina Ganguly

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer related death among women worldwide. Numerous reports have provided evidence of a role of inflammation in the onset and progression of many cancers, including breast cancer. A mechanism that leads to inflammation involves the arachidonic acid (AA) pathway, which leads to the production of a group of pro-inflammatory bioactive lipids, collectively known as the eicosanoids. Despite evidence of AA and the eicosanoids in cancer, limited work has been done on the enzyme cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) that provides the unesterified AA that can be used for eicosanoid generation. The present …


Role Of Nitric Oxide And Reactive Oxygen Species In Apoptotic, Inflammatory And Migratory Signaling Pathways In Cancer, Siera Jo Talbott Jan 2011

Role Of Nitric Oxide And Reactive Oxygen Species In Apoptotic, Inflammatory And Migratory Signaling Pathways In Cancer, Siera Jo Talbott

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Cancer represents over 200 different diseases of different cell and tissue type origins. The heterogeneity of tumors presents challenges in finding effective treatments for the different diseases. Therefore, understanding the molecular events that promote tumorgenesis can assist in the development of better targeted treatments and therapies. Reduction/oxidation (redox) biology has become increasingly important as high levels of nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are reported in both the development of cancer and in response to treatment. In addition to their known potential biotoxic effects on DNA, proteins and lipids, NO and ROS are recognized as secondary messengers within …


Computational Hybrid Systems For Identifying Prognostic Gene Markers Of Lung Cancer, Ying-Wooi Wan Jan 2011

Computational Hybrid Systems For Identifying Prognostic Gene Markers Of Lung Cancer, Ying-Wooi Wan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Lung cancer is the most fatal cancer around the world. Current lung cancer prognosis and treatment is based on tumor stage population statistics and could not reliably assess the risk for developing recurrence in individual patients. Biomarkers enable treatment options to be tailored to individual patients based on their tumor molecular characteristics. To date, there is no clinically applied molecular prognostic model for lung cancer. Statistics and feature selection methods identify gene candidates by ranking the association between gene expression and disease outcome, but do not account for the interactions among genes. Computational network methods could model interactions, but have …