Life Sciences Commons^™

Characterization Of The Transcriptional Elongation Factor Ell3 In B Cells And Its Role In B-Cell Lymphoma Proliferation And Survival, Lou-Ella M.M. Alexander

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The studies presented in this dissertation establish the dynamics of Eleven nineteen Lysine-rich leukemia (ELL) family of elongation factors during B cell differentiation and provide a description of ELL3 function in B cells.

The transition from a mature naïve B cells into an activated B cell is dependent on a large increase in transcriptional output, which is followed by focused expression on secreted immunoglobulin upon terminal differentiation into plasma cell. While ELL family members have previously been implicated in alternative splicing at the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus in plasma cells, their presence and function prior to differentiation is currently not …

Significance Of Pten Phosphorylation And Its Nuclear Function In Lung Cancer, Prerna Malaney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorylation mediated inactivation of PTEN leads to multiple malignancies with increased severity. However, the consequence of such inactivation on downstream functions of PTEN are poorly understood. Therefore, the objective of my thesis is to ascertain the molecular mechanisms by which PTEN phosphorylation drives lung cancer. PTEN phosphorylation at the C-terminal serine/threonine cluster abrogates its tumor suppressor function. Despite the critical role of the PTEN C-tail in regulating its function, the crystal structure of the C-tail remains unknown. Using bioinformatics and structural analysis, I determined that the PTEN C-tail is an intrinsically disordered region and is a hot spot for post-translational …

Identification Of New Cell Size Control Genes In S. Cerevisiae, Huzefa Dungrawala, Hui Hua, Jill Wright, Lesley Abraham, Thivakorn Kasemsri, Anthony Mcdowell, Jessica Stilwell, Brandt L. Schneider

Molecular Biosciences Faculty Publications

Cell size homeostasis is a conserved attribute in many eukaryotic species involving a tight regulation between the processes of growth and proliferation. In budding yeast S. cerevisiae, growth to a “critical cell size” must be achieved before a cell can progress past START and commit to cell division. Numerous studies have shown that progression past START is actively regulated by cell size control genes, many of which have implications in cell cycle control and cancer. Two initial screens identified genes that strongly modulate cell size in yeast. Since a second generation yeast gene knockout collection has been generated, we screened …