Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Molecular Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

The Type Iv Pilus Secretin Bfpb: Structural Analysis And Binding Interactions, Janay I. Little Jan 2023

The Type Iv Pilus Secretin Bfpb: Structural Analysis And Binding Interactions, Janay I. Little

Theses and Dissertations

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) causes severe diarrhea in young children. The type IV pilus (T4P) of EPEC, known as the bundle-forming pilus (BFP), plays an important role in EPEC pathogenesis. T4Ps are a family of surface appendages that are important for adhesion, colonization, biofilm formation, virulence, twitching motility and many other functions. One essential component of the BFP system is the secretin, BfpB. Secretins are a large family of integral outer membrane proteins found in T4Ps as well as type II and type III secretion systems, and filamentous phages. Details of the secretin structure have been limited to the overall …


The Role Of Manganese In Streptococcus Sanguinis, Tanya M. Puccio Jan 2020

The Role Of Manganese In Streptococcus Sanguinis, Tanya M. Puccio

Theses and Dissertations

Streptococcus sanguinis is primarily associated with oral health as a commensal bacterium. As an opportunistic pathogen, S. sanguinis is capable of colonizing heart valve vegetations, leading to the disease infective endocarditis. Previous studies from our lab have identified the high-affinity manganese transporter SsaACB as important for endocarditis virulence. The impact that manganese depletion has on S. sanguinis had never been evaluated and a secondary manganese transporter has not been identified. Thus, we employed the use of a fermentor to control large-scale growth over time and depleted manganese in an ΔssaACB mutant using a metal chelator, EDTA. The changes in …


Elucidation Of A Novel Pathway In Staphylococcus Aureus: The Essential Site-Specific Processing Of Ribosomal Protein L27, Erin A. Wall Jan 2015

Elucidation Of A Novel Pathway In Staphylococcus Aureus: The Essential Site-Specific Processing Of Ribosomal Protein L27, Erin A. Wall

Theses and Dissertations

Ribosomal protein L27 is a component of the eubacterial large ribosomal subunit that has been shown to play a critical role in substrate stabilization during protein synthesis. This function is mediated by the L27 N-terminus, which protrudes into the peptidyl transferase center where it interacts with both A-site and P-site tRNAs as well as with 23S rRNA. We observed that L27 in S. aureus and other Firmicutes is encoded with a short N-terminal extension that is not present in most Gram-negative organisms, and is absent from mature ribosomes. The extension contains a conserved cleavage motif; nine N-terminal amino acids are …