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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Characterization Of The Atpase Activity Of Casding, Christian Cahoon Dec 2021

Characterization Of The Atpase Activity Of Casding, Christian Cahoon

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

The battle between bacteria and phage has been ongoing for eons. This battle has generated the evolutionary pressure necessary for the development of microbial immune systems. Characterization of these systems has led to the discovery of molecular tools such CRISPR-Cas systems. This system uses a genetic memory of past viral infections coupled with associated proteins to form ribonucleoprotein complexes which seek out and destroy foreign genetic elements. These systems have been repurposed by scientists to create powerful gene editing tools such as Cas9. With such powerful molecular tools being discovered, we have pursued the characterization of a relatively unknown system, …


Determining The Nucleic Acid Binding Affinities Of Crispr-Associated Ding (Casding), Matt Armbrust Dec 2021

Determining The Nucleic Acid Binding Affinities Of Crispr-Associated Ding (Casding), Matt Armbrust

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

CRISPR-Cas systems are adaptive prokaryotic immune systems that enable host cells to defend against attack from foreign nucleic acids such as phage infections or plasmids. CRISPR-Cas systems are diverse and encompass 2 classes, 6 types, and 33 subtypes. The Type IV-A CRISPR-Cas system from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain 83 is composed of five different genes (csf1, csf2, csf3, cas6, and dinG). Type IV-A systems are poorly understood, and currently there is little research detailing their biological and biochemical mechanism of immunity. CasDinG, an ancillary protein within the Type IV-A system, is required for an immune response in vivo. However, the role …


Discovering Virally Encoded Proteins That Block Type Iv Crispr Immune Systems, Andrew Williams Dec 2021

Discovering Virally Encoded Proteins That Block Type Iv Crispr Immune Systems, Andrew Williams

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Bacteria and the viruses that infect them have been at war from the beginnings of life until today. Due to selective pressure from viral infection, bacteria have evolved various biological defense systems, including CRISPR-Cas systems that use a genetic memory of previous viral encounters to protect against future invasions. However, recently it has been shown that viruses have evolved counter-strategies to evade CRISPR systems. Virally encoded proteins called anti-CRISPRs use a variety of mechanisms to block the activity of CRISPR immune systems in order to infect bacterial cells. The Jackson lab at USU recently showed that a Type IV-A CRISPR-Cas …


Characterizing The Mechanisms Of C. Elegans Prmt1 Temperature Dependence, Arianna Towne Dec 2021

Characterizing The Mechanisms Of C. Elegans Prmt1 Temperature Dependence, Arianna Towne

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Over time, cellular enzymes evolve through amino acid mutations which allow them to remain functional at temperatures specific to the host organism. This activity may be partially or completely lost when enzymes are removed from their optimal temperature range, as is observed for the C. elegans protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (cPRMT1). This construct demonstrates maximum enzymatic activity at the C. elegans optimum of 20°C, but no activity at 37°C where activity for mammalian PRMT1 variants is observed. Given dysregulation of PRMT1 has been linked to various disease states, we are interested in exploiting the biophysical mechanisms of cPRMT1 temperature dependence …


Determination Of The Structure, Function, And Mechanism Of Type Iv Crispr-Cas Prokaryotic Defense Systems, Hannah Nicole Taylor Aug 2021

Determination Of The Structure, Function, And Mechanism Of Type Iv Crispr-Cas Prokaryotic Defense Systems, Hannah Nicole Taylor

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bacteria are under constant threat of invasion by bacteriophage (viruses which infect bacteria). To prevent bacteriophage from entering and overtaking the bacteria, bacteria utilize defense systems to identify and destroy foreign elements. One method of defense is called CRISPR-Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats – CRISPR-Associated). Many different bacteria and most archaea use CRISPR-Cas systems. There are many diverse types of CRISPR-Cas systems, each of which provides defense in a slightly different way. One such CRISPR-Cas type is called type IV. The type IV CRISPR-Cas system is poorly understood and there are very few studies published on type IV …


Investigations Of Substrate Reduction By Nitrogenase: Light Powered Substrate Reduction By A Cds:Femoco System And Understanding Dinitrogen Inhibition Of Electron Transfer, Hayden Kallas May 2021

Investigations Of Substrate Reduction By Nitrogenase: Light Powered Substrate Reduction By A Cds:Femoco System And Understanding Dinitrogen Inhibition Of Electron Transfer, Hayden Kallas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nitrogen fixation is a key step of the nitrogen cycle which makes biologically inert N2 gas available for organisms to use in the form of ammonia. Nitrogen fixing microorganisms all contain the same enzyme called nitrogenase which catalyzes the six electron transfers to N2 required for conversion into ammonia. Nitrogenase is a two-component enzyme that contains a cofactor composed of iron and sulfur as well as heavier metals whose identity can be molybdenum, vanadium, or an additional iron atom depending on the variant. The two components of nitrogenase are the MFe protein and the Fe protein. The Fe …