Molecular Biology Commons^™

Determining The Key Residues For Capsule Production In The Gbs Cpsa Protein, Anna Struba

Honors College

Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) is a common bacterium found commensally in the vaginal mucosa of healthy adults. GBS also causes severe infection in neonates, often leading to meningitis, which can cause lifelong health consequences including impaired hearing and seizures. Infection of newborns mainly arises from a colonized mother, either before birth through ascending infection or during labor. Ascending infection, where the bacteria travel to the fetus from the vaginal mucosa, is especially concerning as it can lead to loss of pregnancy or premature birth. The most common method of neonatal GBS disease prevention is antibiotic prophylaxis during delivery, though this method …

Identification Of Proteins Interacting With Zebrafish Miro Orthologs In The Yeast Two-Hybrid System, Yiran Tao

Honors Program Theses

The motility of mitochondria is required for providing energy and maintaining basic cellular functions in neurons. Mitochondrial Rho GTPase (Miro) is an essential component of the mitochondrial trafficking machinery, a protein complex that anchors mitochondria to the microtubule motor protein for long-distance transport. As a protein localizing to the mitochondrial outer membrane, Miro regulates the morphology and the motility of mitochondria. Upon mitochondrial depolarization, the PINK1/Parkin pathway is activated to arrest mitochondrial movement by targeting Miro for phosphorylation and ubiquitination in a calcium-sensitive manner. However, it remains unclear what effects the PINK1-dependent phosphorylation has on the structure and binding properties …

Functional Characterization Of Scaffold Protein Shoc2, Hyein Jang

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Signaling scaffolds are critical for the correct spatial organization of enzymes within the ERK1/2 signaling pathway and proper transmission of intracellular information. However, mechanisms that control molecular dynamics within scaffolding complexes, as well as biological activities regulated by the specific assemblies, remain unclear.

The scaffold protein Shoc2 is critical for transmission of the ERK1/2 pathway signals. Shoc2 accelerates ERK1/2 signaling by integrating Ras and RAF-1 enzymes into a multi-protein complex. Germ-line mutations in shoc2 cause Noonan-like RASopathy, a disorder with a wide spectrum of developmental deficiencies. However, the physiological role of Shoc2, the nature of ERK1/2 signals transduced through this …

Zebrafish Model Of Mll-Rearranged Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Alex J. Belt

Theses and Dissertations

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second most common type of leukemia and accounts for 80% of adult acute leukemia cases and is characterized by the accumulation of poorly or undifferentiated myeloid blast cells. Standard treatment includes chemotherapy, which if unsuccessful, is followed by more rigorous chemotherapy as well as stem cell transplantation. Considering most patients are over the age of 45, these more rigorous therapies are not always possible, and as such, new therapies must be developed. Furthermore, AML patients harboring a chromosomal rearrangement involving Multiple Lineage Leukemia (MLL) that results in the expression of an MLL fusion protein …

Evolutionary And Molecular Analysis Of Conserved Vertebrate Immunity To Fungi, Erin Carter

Honors College

The innate immune system is highly conserved amongst all multicellular organisms. Yet a constant battle exists between host cells and pathogens due to the rapid evolution of immune system components. Functional genomics and in silico methods can be employed to elucidate the evolutionary patterns of vertebrate immunity to pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause lethal candidiasis in the immunocompromised. Mammals such as humans and mice possess conserved C-type lectin receptors that recognize the C. albicans cell wall. However, these receptors have not been identified in fish. Here I describe how we identified potential …