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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Probing The Limits Of Singular Gene Expression Through The Activity Of High Representation Odorant Receptor Transgenes, Eugene Lempert Jun 2020

Probing The Limits Of Singular Gene Expression Through The Activity Of High Representation Odorant Receptor Transgenes, Eugene Lempert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Singular gene expression is a common phenomenon in biology, making its appearance in immunoglobulin selection, protocadherin expression, X chromosome-inactivation, random monoallelic expression, and olfactory receptor choice. Singularity involves an activation and a feedback step. The mechanisms of singular gene choice have some capacity to integrate additional member genes while still maintaining singularity, but will activate an additional member if an earlier choice was incapable of triggering the feedback step. Odorant Receptor (OR) genes are substantially divergent from each other in terms of coding sequence, promoter structure, and genomic locus, all of which plays a role in how many Olfactory Sensory …


Dictyostelium Discoideum Protein Kinase C-Orthologue Pkca Regulates The Actin Cytoskeleton Through Interaction With Phospholipase D And P21-Activated Kinase, Sean Singh Jun 2020

Dictyostelium Discoideum Protein Kinase C-Orthologue Pkca Regulates The Actin Cytoskeleton Through Interaction With Phospholipase D And P21-Activated Kinase, Sean Singh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Proper regulation of the actin cytoskeleton is crucial to many cellular processes. Many of these processes are regulated by extracellular signaling cues, which direct changes in the actin cytoskeleton, resulting in changes to cellular morphology, and directed motility. The social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, is used as a simple model system to study the translation of extracellular signals to the actin cytoskeleton. When starved, these unicellular amoebae undergo a multicellular developmental process characterized by a tightly regulated sequence of signaling events. This results in chemotaxis and formation of a multicellular aggregate, and ultimately cell differentiation and the formation of a fruiting …


Towards A Mathematical Model Of Motility Using Dictyostelium Discoideum: Proteins And Geometric Features That Regulate Bleb-Based Motility, Zully Santiago Sep 2019

Towards A Mathematical Model Of Motility Using Dictyostelium Discoideum: Proteins And Geometric Features That Regulate Bleb-Based Motility, Zully Santiago

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A variety of biological functions depend on actin organization. The organization of actin is tightly regulated by a plethora of extracellular and intracellular signaling, scaffolding, and actin-binding proteins. Dysfunctions in this regulation lead to immune diseases, increased susceptibility to pathogens, neurodegenerative diseases, developmental disorders, and cancer metastasis. A variety of actin-dependent processes, including cell motility, are regulated by several proteins of interest: Paxillin, a scaffolding protein; WASP, an actin nucleating protein; SCAR/WAVE, another WASP family actin nucleating protein; Talin, a cortex-to-membrane binding protein; Myosin II, an F-actin contracting motor protein; and Protein Kinase C, a protein kinase. D. discoideum cells …


Wnt Secretion Proteins Modulate Rankl-Induced Expression Of Aire In Thymic Epithelial Cells, Daniel Pollack Jan 2018

Wnt Secretion Proteins Modulate Rankl-Induced Expression Of Aire In Thymic Epithelial Cells, Daniel Pollack

Dissertations and Theses

Thymic epithelial cells (TEC) are essential for a proper adaptive immune response by regulating thymocyte development and establishing central tolerance. In the thymus, TECs differentially express Wnt proteins, which activate canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways. Wnt signaling is thought to regulate cell survival, proliferation, and development although the direct molecular mechanisms in TECs have yet to be elucidated. The inducible inhibition of canonical Wnt signaling with Dkk1 leads to a rapid loss of TEC progenitors as well as a decline in mature Aire-expressing mTECs. Therefore, we explore the role of Wnt ligands potentially responsible for stimulating and/or regulating Wnt …


Transcriptional And Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Histone Variant H2a.Z During Sea Urchin Development, Mihai Hajdu Feb 2017

Transcriptional And Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Histone Variant H2a.Z During Sea Urchin Development, Mihai Hajdu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Histone variant H2A.Z promotes chromatin accessibility at transcriptional regulatory elements and is developmentally regulated in metazoans. We characterize the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of H2A.Z in the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. H2A.Z depletion by antisense translation-blocking morpholino oligonucleotides during early development causes developmental collapse, in agreement with its previously demonstrated general role in transcriptional multipotency. During H2A.Z peak expression in 24-h embryos, endogenous H2A.Z 3’ UTR sequences stabilize GFP mRNAs relative to those with SV40 3’ UTR sequences, although the 3’UTR of H2A.Z does not determine the spatial distribution of H2A.Z transcripts during embryonic and postembryonic development. We …


The Sex Of The Cell Dictates Its Response, Carlos Ganesh Penaloza Feb 2014

The Sex Of The Cell Dictates Its Response, Carlos Ganesh Penaloza

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Male and female differences in frequency of occurrence in disease have perplexed scientists for some time. This in part derives from limitations in the systems in which one can evaluate sex differences. At the organismal level, differences can be hidden by a myriad of extensive and complex factors. Additional limitations exist since most biomedical studies are performed almost exclusively on male subjects, as the female hormonal milieu is intrinsically more variable and too troublesome for routine inclusion in research protocols. Research documenting sex differences continues to grow, and while most researchers suggests that sex hormones are at the core of …