Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

A Forward Genetic Screen Identifies Factors Associated With Fever Pathogenesis In Plasmodium Falciparum, Phaedra J. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious diseases that spread from person-to-person and continent-to-continent are a cause for concern for any health entity. One such disease is malaria, a mosquito-borne infection instigated by the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Hundreds of millions of people are affected annually and it is responsible for nearly 1 million deaths. It is the most fatal species causing malaria and proliferates in human red blood cells with a life cycle occurring every 48 hours. At this time, the parasite’s late stage form or schizont bursts from the erythrocyte releasing immune-inducing particles and infective forms (merozoites) into the bloodstream. The merozoites go …

A Functional Chlorophyll Biosynthesis Pathway Identified In The Kleptoplastic Sea Slug, Elysia Chlorotica, Julie A. Schwartz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The sacoglossan sea slug, Elysia chlorotica, feeds upon and sequesters plastids from the heterokont alga, Vaucheria litorea, and maintains the metabolically active organelles for up to nine months under starvation conditions while utilizing the photosynthate to survive and reproduce. The photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll a (Chla), is found in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms and is responsible for capturing photons of light and converting them into chemical energy. Chlorophyll and its associated proteins involved in the light capturing process are subject to photo oxidative damage and must be continually replaced for ongoing photosynthesis to continue; however, genes encoding these proteins are present …

Functional Analysis Of The Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Locus At 9p22.2 Reveals A Transcription Regulatory Network Mediated By Bnc2 In Ovarian Cells, Melissa Buckley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

GWAS have identified several chromosomal loci associated with ovarian cancer risk. However, the mechanism underlying these associations remains elusive. We identify candidate functional Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) at the 9p22.2 ovarian cancer susceptibility locus, several of which map to transcriptional regulatory elements active in ovarian cells identified by FAIRE-seq (Formaldehyde assisted isolation of regulatory elements followed by sequencing) and ChIP-seq (Chromatin Immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing) in relevant cell types. Reporter and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) determined the extent to which candidate SNPs had allele specific effects. Chromosome conformation capture (3C) reveals a physical association between Basonuclin 2 (BNC2) and …

High-Throughput Screening Of Age-Related Changes In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Neil Copes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project was developed to identify novel methods for high-throughput culturing and screening of C. elegans to investigate age-related metabolic changes and to survey the proteomic and metabolomic factors associated with age-related changes. To accomplish these goals we developed a novel way to grow C. elegans in liquid culture in 96-well microplates for several weeks without suffering significant fluid loss due to evaporation and without needing to shake or unseal the plates for aeration. We also developed methods for assaying the total volume of live C. elegans in microplate cultures using a fluorescence microplate reader and for performing RNAi experiments …

The Effects Of Supplemented Metabolites On Lifespan And Stress Response Pathways In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Clare B. Edwards

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how metabolites contribute to anaplerosis, antioxidant effects, and hormetic pathways during aging is fundamental to creating supplements and dietary habits that may decrease age-associated disease and decline, thus improving the quality of life in old age. In order to uncover metabolic pathways that delay aging, the effects of large sets of metabolites associated with mitochondrial function on lifespan were investigated.

Malate, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolite, increased lifespan and thermotolerance in C. elegans. Addition of fumarate and succinate also extended lifespan and all three metabolites activated nuclear translocation of the cytoprotective DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor and protected from paraquat-induced …