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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Comparison Of The Humoral Immune Response Following Both Bacterial Challenge And Rnai Of Major Factors On Proliferation Of Bartonella Quintana In The Human Louse, Jake Zina
Masters Theses
Human body lice, Pediculus humanus humanus, and head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, have been hematophagous ectoparasites of humans for thousands of years. Despite being ecotypes, only body lice are known to transmit bacterial diseases to humans, and it appears that lower humoral and cellular immune responses allow body lice to possess a higher vector competence. We previously observed that the transcription level of the defensin 1 gene was up-regulated only in head lice following oral challenge of Bartonella quintana, a causative agent of trench fever, and also that body lice excreted more viable B. quintana in their …
Factors Influencing Primate Hair Microbiome Diversity, Catherine Kitrinos
Factors Influencing Primate Hair Microbiome Diversity, Catherine Kitrinos
Masters Theses
Primate hair is both a substrate upon which essential social interactions occur and an important host-pathogen interface. As commensal microbes provide important immune functions for their hosts, understanding the microbial diversity in primate hair could provide insight into primate immunity and disease transmission. While studies of human hair and skin microbiomes show differences in microbial communities across body regions, little is known about the nonhuman primate hair microbiome. In this study, we collected hair samples (n=159) from 8 body regions across 12 nonhuman primate species housed at 3 US institutions to examine 1) the diversity and composition of the primate …
Investigating The Role Of Rna-Binding Protein 5 In The Life Cycle Differentiation Of Trypanosoma Brucei, David Anaguano Pillajo
Investigating The Role Of Rna-Binding Protein 5 In The Life Cycle Differentiation Of Trypanosoma Brucei, David Anaguano Pillajo
Masters Theses
Trypanosomatid parasites such as Trypanosoma brucei have unusual mechanisms of gene expression including polycistronic transcription, mitochondrial RNA editing and trans-splicing. Additionally, these protists rely mainly on post-transcriptional regulation where RNA-binding proteins (RBP) have shown to play a major role. RBP6 and RBP10 are two examples of RBPs that play crucial roles in procyclic and bloodstream form parasites differentiation respectively, by post-transcriptional regulation. Over-expression of RBP6 is enough to promote differentiation into metacyclic trypomastigotes that are infective to mice. However, continuous expression is required, and this pattern does not reflect the natural expression in the tsetse fly or the influence of …
The Identification Of Notch1 Functional Domains Responsible For Its Physical Interaction With Pkcθ, Wesley D. Rossiter
The Identification Of Notch1 Functional Domains Responsible For Its Physical Interaction With Pkcθ, Wesley D. Rossiter
Masters Theses
The adaptive immune system is a complex network of cells that protect the body from invasion by foreign pathogens. Crucial to the function of the adaptive immune system is the activation, proliferation and differentiation of T cells in response to foreign pathogen presentation by antigen presenting cells. T cell activation is driven through different signaling pathways that are dependent on phosphorylation of substrates by kinases. In the PLC pathway that activates the il2 gene program, Protein Kinase C-q (PKCq) and Notch1 localize to the immunological synapse and help drive the signaling cascade that leads to robust T cell activation. It …