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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Investigating Autophagy Dysfunction Induced By A Parkinson's Disease-Causing Mutation In Vps35, Abir Ashfakur Rahman Dec 2018

Investigating Autophagy Dysfunction Induced By A Parkinson's Disease-Causing Mutation In Vps35, Abir Ashfakur Rahman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is an idiopathic disorder with no known cure. With number of cases steadily rising around the world, it is imperative to turn to the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of the disease manifestation and neurodegeneration to craft novel modes of therapy. VPS35 is one of the few genes that have identified and definitively linked to familial PD. The particular mutation that has been associated is known to cause dysfunction of a key cellular process known as autophagy. This process is primarily responsible for clearance of unwanted, damaged or misfolded proteins, among other things. Our study reveals an …


Harnessing The Physical Properties Of Zno Nanoparticles For Biological Applications And Factors That Impact Zno Nanoparticle Toxicity, Joshua Eixenberger Dec 2018

Harnessing The Physical Properties Of Zno Nanoparticles For Biological Applications And Factors That Impact Zno Nanoparticle Toxicity, Joshua Eixenberger

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The production of materials at the nanoscale leads to novel properties and has made the field of nanotechnology a part of everyday life. Numerous applications of nanomaterials have led to their use in electronics, optics, and medicine. However, creating materials at such a small size brings them on the same scale as many biomolecules and cellular components, altering their interactions with biological systems. This can lead to unintended biological impacts as many nanomaterials are considerably more toxic than their bulk counterpart material. ZnO nanoparticles (nZnO) are particularly interesting in this context. The FDA classifies ZnO as a generally recognized as …


Developing Ultra-High Throughput Sequencing Based Assay For Ligase Ribozymes For The Study Of Evolutionary Innovations, James Collet Dec 2018

Developing Ultra-High Throughput Sequencing Based Assay For Ligase Ribozymes For The Study Of Evolutionary Innovations, James Collet

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The study of evolutionary innovations, or novel traits, is integral to understanding evolution yet is poorly understood. By studying the regions between genotype networks that produce the same phenotype, we can better characterize the process by which innovation occurs. The overarching goal of this study is to assign fitness values to the overlapping genotype network of two catalytic RNA molecules, or ribozymes. Properly characterizing this region requires the study of thousands of individual sequences, which is achievable through the use of high-throughput sequencing analysis. This thesis focuses on developing assays for one of the ribozymes, the ligase ribozyme. Due to …


The Regulation Of Notch Signaling By Src Kinase And Polyphenolic Compounds, Bryce David Lafoya Aug 2018

The Regulation Of Notch Signaling By Src Kinase And Polyphenolic Compounds, Bryce David Lafoya

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Cellular signaling pathways provide cells with the means to sense their environment and communicate with other cells. The Notch signaling pathway is comprised of a set of protein machines which work in unison to coordinate cellular processes in response to stimuli coming from neighboring cells and changing microenvironmental conditions. Notch signaling is an important mode of cellular communication which is crucial to many processes involved in development and disease. During Notch activation, information about the extracellular environment is fed into the cell and relayed to the nucleus through a number of biochemical processes. The information-rich messages carried by Notch signaling …


Investigation Of Catalytic Activity Of Stable Β-Ketoacyl-Acp Substrate Analogs In Quorum Sensing Signal Synthesis, Nhu Lam May 2018

Investigation Of Catalytic Activity Of Stable Β-Ketoacyl-Acp Substrate Analogs In Quorum Sensing Signal Synthesis, Nhu Lam

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Quorum sensing is an intercellular mechanism used by many bacterial pathogens to regulate behaviors, such as motility, virulence, and antibiotic production. Disruption of quorum sensing is shown to be deleterious to bacterial pathogenicity, without causing lethality. In Gram-negative bacteria, acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL or acyl-HSL) signal molecules are synthesized by AHL synthase enzymes using acylated-acyl carrier protein (acyl-ACP) and S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) as their substrates. Pantoea stewartii EsaI, which causes Stewart’s wilt in corn, and Yersinia pestis YspI, which causes bubonic plague are AHL synthases that use 3-oxohexanoyl-ACP and 3-oxooctanoyl-ACP as the acyl-substrate to synthesize 3-oxohexanoyl-HSL and 3-oxooctanoyl-HSL signals, respectively. Unfortunately, the …