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Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons™
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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Changes In Gene Expression From Long-Term Warming Revealed Using Metatranscriptome Mapping To Fac-Sorted Bacteria, Christopher A. Colvin
Changes In Gene Expression From Long-Term Warming Revealed Using Metatranscriptome Mapping To Fac-Sorted Bacteria, Christopher A. Colvin
Masters Theses
Soil microbiomes play pivotal roles to the health of the environment by maintaining metabolic cycles. One question is how will climate change affect soil bacteria over time and what could the repercussions be. To answer these questions, the Harvard Forest Long-Term Warming Experiment was established to mimic predicted climate change by warming plots of land 5℃ above ambient conditions. In 2017, 14 soil core samples were collected from Barre Woods warming experiment to mark 15 years since the establishment of the soil warming in that location. These samples underwent traditional metatranscriptomics to generate an mRNA library as well as a …
Characterization Of The Poly (Adp-Ribose) Polymerase Family In The Fusarium Oxysporum Species Complex, Daniel Norment
Characterization Of The Poly (Adp-Ribose) Polymerase Family In The Fusarium Oxysporum Species Complex, Daniel Norment
Masters Theses
Fusarium oxysporum is a filamentous fungus that is known to invade over a hundred different hosts and poses a major threat to the economy and food supply world-wide. Poly (Adenosine diphosphate-Ribose) Polymerase (PARP) is a family of regulatory proteins that affect change in the cell through transfer of ADP-Ribose moieties onto target molecules. The most well-studied PARP protein is the human PARP1, a PARylating nuclear protein that serves as our model PARP protein. F. oxysporum was found to contain a large expansion of PARP catalytic-domain-containing proteins compared to other filamentous fungi. We utilized in silico multiple sequence alignments and domain …
Chemosensory Receptors In Berghia Stephanieae: Bioinformatics And Localization, Kelsi L. Watkins
Chemosensory Receptors In Berghia Stephanieae: Bioinformatics And Localization, Kelsi L. Watkins
Masters Theses
Chemosensation is achieved through the binding of chemical signals to chemoreceptor proteins embedded in the membranes of sensory neurons. The molecular identity of these receptors, as well as the downstream processing of chemosensory signals, has been well studied in arthropods and vertebrates. However, very little is known about molluscan chemosensation. The identity of chemoreceptor proteins in the nudibranch mollusc Berghia stephanieae are unknown. Data from other protostome and molluscan studies suggest Berghia may use ionotropic receptors for some forms of chemoreception. This study used a bioinformatics approach to identify potential chemosensory ionotropic receptors in the transcriptome of Berghia. A …
The Sos Response In Escherichia Coli K12: An Exploration Of Mutations In Lexa And Reca Using Fluorescence Microscopy, Steven Van Alstine
The Sos Response In Escherichia Coli K12: An Exploration Of Mutations In Lexa And Reca Using Fluorescence Microscopy, Steven Van Alstine
Doctoral Dissertations
Faithful replication of the genome is paramount for maintaining the fitness of an organism. Therefore, life has evolved inducible mechanisms to be able to repair damaged DNA and maintain evolutionary fitness. The SOS response is a highly conserved DNA damage inducible response that is tightly regulated. Multiple factors contribute to the ability of the cell to perform proper DNA repair and induction of the SOS response including the amount of RecA, mutations in RecA that affect competition for DNA, and other proteins that interact with the RecA filament. The complex relationship between RecA and LexA is the subject of this …
Chemical Biology Approaches For Tracking And Manipulation Of Macrophage Phenotypes, Javier A. Mas Rosario
Chemical Biology Approaches For Tracking And Manipulation Of Macrophage Phenotypes, Javier A. Mas Rosario
Doctoral Dissertations
Macrophages are white blood cells of the innate immune system that have the ability to change phenotypically depending on the stimuli present in their surroundings through a process commonly referred to as polarization. Macrophage phenotypes broadly range from pro-inflammatory, anti-tumor (M1) to immune-suppressing (M2). Of particular interest to this work, breast cancer progression and metastasis rely on the presence of M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). While many studies have shown the involvement of macrophages in tumor progression and metastasis, there remains a need to further explore these interactions and the polarization process, including tracking of macrophage subtypes. Toward this end, I …
Characterizing The Multifaceted Roles Of The Proteasomal Deubiquitinase Uch37 In Proteostasis, Heather A. Bisbee
Characterizing The Multifaceted Roles Of The Proteasomal Deubiquitinase Uch37 In Proteostasis, Heather A. Bisbee
Doctoral Dissertations
Cellular protein pools are maintained through the biological processes of synthesis, degradation and quality control. As the dysregulation of these processes has been implicated in diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer, understanding their functions is critical for drug development. Modification of proteins with ubiquitin may direct them to the proteasome, a large cellular protease complex, for degradation. Yet, the proteasome contains three deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) which remove ubiquitin from proteins, potentially altering their fate. As each DUB recognizes specific ubiquitin linkages and architectures, their activity may regulate how the proteasome handles substrates in dynamic cellular contexts. In this work, we …
Controlling Myosin’S Function Via Interactions Between The Substrate And The Active Site, Mike K. Woodward
Controlling Myosin’S Function Via Interactions Between The Substrate And The Active Site, Mike K. Woodward
Doctoral Dissertations
Molecular motors, such as myosin, have evolved to transduce chemical energy from ATP into mechanical work to drive essential cellular processes, from muscle contraction to vesicular transport. Dysfunction in these motors is a root cause of many pathologies necessitating the application of intrinsic control over molecular motor function. We hypothesized that altering the myosin’s energy substrate via minor positional changes to the triphosphate portion of the molecule will allow us to control the protein and affect its in vitro function. We utilized positional isomers of a synthetic non-nucleoside triphosphate, azobenzene triphosphate, and assessed whether myosin’s force- and motion-generating capacity could …
Investigating Structures And Functions Of Apoptotic Caspases, Ishankumar V. Soni
Investigating Structures And Functions Of Apoptotic Caspases, Ishankumar V. Soni
Doctoral Dissertations
Caspases are cysteine aspartate proteases involved in various cellular pathways including apoptosis, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. Caspase-9 is classified as an initiator apoptotic caspase that is activated upon intrinsic stress. Caspase-9 is composed of two domains: an N- terminal CARD domain and a catalytic core domain. We have employed hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (H/DX-MS) to determine the 1) dynamics of the full-length caspase- 9, 2) dynamic impacts on caspase-9 upon substrate-induced dimerization, and 3) regions involved in the CARD: catalytic core domains interactions. Upon intrinsic stress, caspase-9 activates executioners, procaspase-3 and -7 but not procaspase-6. We have employed site-directed mutagenesis …
Tracking And Modulating Circadian Rhythms In Cell Culture Models, Sujeewa Sampath Lellupitiyage Don
Tracking And Modulating Circadian Rhythms In Cell Culture Models, Sujeewa Sampath Lellupitiyage Don
Doctoral Dissertations
Circadian rhythms are 24–hour activity cycles that exist for all organisms, from yeast and bacteria to mammals. Epidemiological data has shown that disruptions to circadian rhythms are associated with various diseases, including cancers. Circadian rhythms are regulated at the cellular level by a "molecular clock,” whose oscillations in protein transcription and translation control a range of downstream pathways. However, the connections between altered rhythms and diseases at the molecular level is unclear. Therefore, in this project, I tracked circadian rhythms in a high-resolution manner and thoroughly analyzed them to more completely reflect circadian behaviors and clock functioning at the molecular …
Screening For Binding Partners And Protein-Protein Interactions Of A Fungal Transcription Factor- Xdr1, Nishadi Punsara Gallala Gamage
Screening For Binding Partners And Protein-Protein Interactions Of A Fungal Transcription Factor- Xdr1, Nishadi Punsara Gallala Gamage
Masters Theses
Clarireedia spp. (formerly Sclerotinia homoeocarpaF.T. Bennett) is the causal agent dollar spot, the most economically important turfgrass disease impacting golf courses in North America. The most effective strategy for dollar spot control is repeated application of multiple classes of fungicides. However, reliance on chemical application has led to resistance to four classes of fungicides as well as multidrug resistance (MDR). Fungi are known to detoxify xenobiotics, like fungicides, through transcriptional regulation of three detoxification phases: modification, conjugation and secretion. Little is known, however, of the protein-protein interactions that facilitate these pathways. Following next-generation RNA sequencing of Clarireedia spp., a …
Characterizing Mechanical Regulation Of Bone Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells, Boyuan Liu
Characterizing Mechanical Regulation Of Bone Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells, Boyuan Liu
Doctoral Dissertations
Breast cancer most frequently metastasizes to the skeleton. Bone metastatic cancer is incurable and induces wide-spread bone osteolysis, resulting in significant patient morbidity and mortality. Mechanical stimuli in the skeleton are an important microenvironmental parameter that modulates tumor formation, osteolysis, and tumor cell-bone cell signaling, but which mechanical signals are the most beneficial and the corresponding molecular mechanisms are unknown. This work focused on bone matrix deformation and interstitial fluid flow based on their well-known roles in bone remodeling and in primary breast cancer. The goal of our research was to establish a platform that could define the relationship between …
Quantitative Imaging Of Tensile Forces At Cell-Cell Junction With Dna-Based Probes, Puspam Keshri
Quantitative Imaging Of Tensile Forces At Cell-Cell Junction With Dna-Based Probes, Puspam Keshri
Doctoral Dissertations
Mechanical forces are an integral part in biology, they regulate several cellular properties, such as morphology, proliferation, migration. These forces are also involved in receptor signaling and the differentiation of different cell types. Different proteins and biomolecules such as cadherin, integrin, notch proteins are essential elements of these processes. Measuring these intercellular forces are challenging considering the minimal intensity (piconewton-level) of these molecular forces. In our lab, we have developed a membrane DNA tension probe (MDTP) that uses a DNA hairpin module to sense tensile forces and has a lipid anchor to modify onto live-cell membranes. The programmability of DNA …
Plants, Pipettes And Pcr, Elizabeth Vierling
Plants, Pipettes And Pcr, Elizabeth Vierling
Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars
Plants are amazing organisms that provide us with food, building materials, the pleasure of gardens, as well as providing the foundation of critical world ecosystems. Although they may look like they are just stuck in one place and doing not more than growing, they have many, many complex ways in which they respond to the environment. The goal of this STEM Ed session will be to discuss ways that plants can respond to the environment with hands on exercises and exploration of possible classroom activities. Participants will engage in state-of-the art methods of testing plant DNA composition using the polymerase …