Biotechnology Commons^™

การผลิตไบโอดีเซลจากกรดไขมันอิสระของน้ำมันปาล์มโดยปฏิกิริยาสองขั้นตอนโดยใช้ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาชีวภาพทั้งเซลล์, ฐนิสา หวั่งประดิษฐ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การผลิตไบโอดีเซลสามารถผลิตได้จากกรดไขมันอิสระของน้ำมันปาล์มโดยปฏิกิริยาสองขั้นตอนโดยใช้ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาชีวภาพทั้งเซลล์ ในการศึกษานี้ได้ใช้ยีสต์ Candida rugosa เป็นตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาชีวภาพทั้งเซลล์ เนื่องจากเชื้อยีสต์ดังกล่าวมีความสามารถในการไฮโดรไลซ์น้ำมันปาล์มไปเป็นกรดไขมันอิสระ โดยพบว่าได้กรดไขมันอิสระสูงสุดเท่ากับ 82.61 เปอร์เซ็นต์ หลังจากทำการเพาะเลี้ยงเป็นเวลา 5 วัน จากนั้นกรดไขมันอิสระที่ผลิตโดย C. rugosa จะถูกนำไปใช้เป็นตัวเหนี่ยวนำในการผลิตเอนไซม์ลิเพสจากเชื้อ Aureobasidium pullulans var. melanogenum SRY 14-3 ซึ่งหลังจากการหาภาวะที่เหมาะสมพบว่าสามารถผลิตเอนไซม์ลิเพสที่มีค่าแอกทิวิตีและค่าแอกทิวิตีจำเพาะของเอนไซม์สูงสุด คือ 1.18 ยูนิตต่อมิลลิลิตร และ 17.28 ยูนิตต่อมิลลิกรัมโปรตีน ตามลำดับ โดยใช้ความเข้มข้นของกรดไขมันอิสระ 3 เปอร์เซ็นต์ ที่อุณหภูมิ 30 องศาเซลเซียส เป็นเวลา 120 ชั่วโมง การศึกษาการผลิตไบโอดีเซลจากปฏิกิริยาเอสเทอริฟิเคชันที่เร่งปฏิกิริยาด้วย A. pullulans var. melanogenum SRY 14-3 พบว่าสามารถผลิตไบโอดีเซลได้สูงสุดเท่ากับ 21.39 เปอร์เซ็นต์ เมื่อใช้อัตราส่วนโดยโมลของกรดไขมันอิสระต่อเมทานอลเท่ากับ 1:1 ที่อุณหภูมิ 30 องศาเซลเซียส เป็นเวลา 72 ชั่วโมง สำหรับการศึกษาตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาชีวภาพทั้งเซลล์ด้วยการใช้เทคนิคการแสดงออกที่ผิวเซลล์ยีสต์ เอนไซม์ลิเพส 1 และเอนไซม์ลิเพส 3 จาก C. rugosa (CRL1 และ CRL3) และเอนไซม์ลิเพส จาก A. pullulans var. melanogenum SRY 14-3 (AML) ได้ถูกนำมาเชื่อมต่อกับโปรตีนฐาน PpPIR1 แล้วทำการโคลนเข้าสู่ยีสต์เจ้าบ้าน Pichia pastoris KM 71 ได้เป็นยีสต์ Pp-CRL1, Pp-CRL3 และ Pp-AML ตามลำดับ จากการศึกษาพบว่ายีสต์สายพันธุ์รีคอมบิแนนท์ Pp-CRL1 และ Pp-CRL3 สามารถผลิตเอนไซม์ลิเพสที่ผิวเซลล์สูงสุดเท่ากับ 1,499.9 มิลลิยูนิตต่อOD600 และ 181.96 มิลลิยูนิตต่อOD600 …

Enhancement Of Biofuel Production In Microalgae By Genetic And Physiological Modification, Napisa Pattharaprachayakul

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms, which could be used as potential microbial cell factories by directly converting CO2 into valuable bioproducts and biofuels. This study aims to improve the target biofuel feedstocks from the isolated green alga Chlorella sp. and the engineered cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 in terms of the improvement on lipids (as precursors of FAMEs) and terpene (α-farnesene), respectively. The first part is concerned with the enhancement of lipids and the determination of FAMEs and biodiesel properties in Chlorella sp. under the phosphorus (P) limitation (0-50%) alone or in combination with heavy metals (Fe, Co, Pb) supplementation. The …

Antioxidant And Antibacterial Agents From Parmotrema Dilatatum (Vainio) Hale, Knema Angustifolia (Roxb.) Warb. And Persicaria Odorata Lour, Asshaima Paramita Devi

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In the search of antioxidant and antibacterial agents, the extracts and isolated compounds from lichen Parmotrema dilatatum, Knema angustifolia full name, Persicaria odorata and Mansonia gagei. were examined. Nine compounds were isolated from lichen P. dilatatum including (E)-2,4-dihydroxy-6-methyl-3-(3-oxobut-1-en-1-yl)benzoate (PD.1), hopane-16ß,22-diol (PD.2), methyl orsellinate (PD.3), methyl haemmatomate (PD.4), methyl ß-orcinolcarboxylate (PD.5), 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid (PD.6), atranol (PD.7), atranorin (PD.8) and lecanorin (PD.9). The dichloromethane and acetone fractions, and atranol (PD.7) gave excellent activities as antioxidants. While in tyrosinase activity the dichloromethane fraction and atranorin (PD.8) showed the highest inhibition. For α-glucosidase inhibition activity, the methanol fraction and methyl haemmatommate (PD.4) revealed the …

Binding Kinetics Of Monoclonal Antibodies And Fluoroquinolone Derivatives, Patamalai Boonserm

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are a group of antibiotics which have been extensively used against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Some of FQs antibiotics commonly used in livestock and fishery include norfloxacin, enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and ofloxacin. However, misuse of these antibiotics may cause drug residues in food products. Therefore, to prevent consumers from getting residual antibiotics in food and the drug resistance of pathogens in humans. As a result, surveillance detection program of these drug residues must be in practice to ensure safety of the consumers in many countries. In general, detections based on immunological method include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has …

Development Of Oxidase Enzyme And Non-Enzyme Based Biosensors For Lactate And Creatinine Detection, Siraprapa Boobphahom

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This dissertation focused on the development of electrochemical sensors based on metal oxides and graphene modified electrodes for clinical applications, which is divided into two parts. The first part is development of a biosensor based on lactate oxidase (LOx) immobilized on titanium dioxide sol (TiO2 sol)/graphene nanocomposite modified nickel (Ni) foam electrode for enzymatic electrochemical detection of lactate via hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection. A TiO2/graphene nanocomposite was simply synthesized by hydrolysis and coated on Ni foam electrode to develop a novel electrode in biosensor. The results showed that the well intercalation of TiO2 sol within graphene film covered on the …

Detection Of Sickle Cell Disease-Associated Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Using A Graphene Field Effect Transistor, Kandace Fung

CMC Senior Theses

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a hereditary monogenic disorder that affects millions of people worldwide and is associated with symptoms such as stroke, lethargy, chronic anemia, and increased mortality. SCD can be quickly detected and diagnosed using a simple blood test as an infant, but as of now, there is currently limited treatment to cure an individual of sickle cell disease. Recently, there have been several promising developments in CRISPR-Cas-associated gene-editing therapeutics; however, there have been limitations in gene-editing efficiency monitoring, which if improved, could be beneficial to advancing CRISPR-based therapy, especially in SCD. The CRISPR-Chip, a three-terminal graphene-based field …

Dna Uptake By Type Iv Filaments, Kurt H. Piepenbrink

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Bacterial uptake of DNA through type IV filaments is an essential component of natural competence in numerous gram-positive and gram-negative species. Recent advances in the field have broadened our understanding of the structures used to take up extracellular DNA. Here, we review seminal experiments in the literature describing DNA binding by type IV pili, competence pili and the flp pili of Micrococcus luteus; collectively referred to here as type IV filaments. We compare the current state of the field on mechanisms of DNA uptake for these three appendage systems and describe the current mechanistic understanding of both DNA-binding and …

Downregulation Of A Cyp74 Rubber Particle Protein Increases Natural Rubber Production In Parthenium Argentatum, Dante F. Placido, Niu Dong, Chen Dong, Von Mark V. Cruz, David A. Dierig, Rebecca E. Cahoon, Byung-Guk Kang, Trinh Huynh, Maureen Whalen, Grisel Ponciano, Colleen Mcmahan

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

We report functional genomics studies of a CYP74 rubber particle protein from Parthenium argentatum, commonly called guayule. Previously identified as an allene oxide synthase (AOS), this CYP74 constitutes the most abundant protein found in guayule rubber particles. Transgenic guayule lines with AOS gene expression down-regulated by RNAi (AOSi) exhibited strong phenotypes that included agricultural traits conducive to enhancing rubber yield. AOSi lines had higher leaf and stem biomass, thicker stembark tissues, increased stem branching and improved net photosynthetic rate. Importantly, the rubber content was significantly increased in AOSi lines compared to the wild-type (WT), vector control and …

Delineating The Role Of Fanca In Glucose-Stimulated Insulin Secretion In Β Cells Through Its Protein Interactome, Dragana Lagundzin, Wen-Feng Hu, Henry C. H. Law, Kimiko L. Krieger, Fangfang Qiao, Emalie J. Clement, Andjela T. Drincic, Olgica Nedic, Michael J. Naldrett, Sophie Alvarez, Nicholas T. Woods

Nebraska Center for Biotechnology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Hyperinsulinemia affects 72% of Fanconi anemia (FA) patients and an additional 25% experience lowered glucose tolerance or frank diabetes. The underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to the dysfunction of FA pancreas β cells is unknown. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the functional role of FANCA, the most commonly mutated gene in FA, in glucosestimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). This study reveals that FANCA or FANCB knockdown impairs GSIS in human pancreas β cell line EndoC-βH3. To identify potential pathways by which FANCA might regulate GSIS, we employed a proteomics approach to identify FANCA protein interactions in EndoC-βH3 differentially regulated in response to …

Autologous Skin Cell Spray-Transplantation As An Innovative Alternative To Autologous Split- Thickness Skin Grafts For Deep Partial Thickness Burn Wounds: An Integrative Literature Review, Alexandria M. Beaudet

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Burn wounds tend to be a critical problem with a complicated healing process. Although advancements have been made and the treatment of burn wounds has improved significantly, the healing process for deep-partial thickness burn wounds remains problematic. The purpose of this thesis is to review the available literature on an innovate biotechnology, autologous skin cell-spray transplantation, to more effectively treat burn wounds and potentially other injuries in the future. This study was conducted by critically researching and comparing (N=7) peer-reviewed research articles focusing not only on burn wounds using traditional treatments, but also the treatment of burn wounds using revolutionary …

Determining Differential Effects Of Interleukin-2 On Innate And Adaptive Immune Cells In Lymphoid Organs And The Gastrointestinal Tract, Ayushi Singh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a pleiotropic cytokine demonstrated to be effective in treating cancer. However, the clinical use of IL-2 can be associated with severe side effects including gastrointestinal toxicity (GT). Similar GT symptoms are observed in inflammatory diseases such as CD (CD). Interestingly mounting evidence indicates a role for IL-2 in CD, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Indeed, studies on the in-vivo activities of IL-2 have mostly focused on secondary lymphoid organs and immune cells associated with them. Very few studies have addressed how IL-2 signals impact populations of immune cells in the gut. Here, we aim to identify …

Visualizing The Invisible: A Guide To Designing, Printing, And Incorporating Dynamic 3d Molecular Models To Teach Structure–Function Relationships, Michelle Howell, Karin Van Dijk, Christine S. Booth, Tomáš Helikar, Brain A. Couch, Rebecca Roston

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Understanding the intricate relationship between macromolecular structure and function represents a central goal of undergraduate biology education (1–3). In teaching complex three-dimensional (3D) concepts, instructors typically depend on static two-dimensional (2D) textbook images or computer-based visualization software, which can lead to unintended misconceptions (4–6). While chemical and molecular kits exist, these models cannot handle the size and detail of macromolecules. Consequently, students may graduate in the life sciences without understanding how structure underlies function or acquiring skills to translate between 2D and 3D molecular models (5, 7). Building on recent technological advances, 3D printing (3DP) potentiates an era in which …

Genome‐Wide Association And Genomic Prediction For Biomass Yield In A Genetically Diverse Miscanthus Sinensis Germplasm Panel Phenotyped At Five Locations In Asia And North America, Lindsay V. Clark, Maria S. Dwiyanti, Kossonou G. Anzoua, Joe E. Brummer, Bimal Kumar Ghimire, Katarzyna Glowacka, Megan Hall, Kweon Heo, Xiaoli Jin, Alexander E. Lipka, Junhua Peng, Toshihiko Yamada, Ji Hye Yoo, Chang Yeon Yu, Hua Zhao, Stephen P. Long, Erik J. Sacks

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

To improve the efficiency of breeding of Miscanthus for biomass yield, there is a need to develop genomics‐assisted selection for this long‐lived perennial crop by relating genotype to phenotype and breeding value across a broad range of environments. We present the first genome‐wide association (GWA) and genomic prediction study of Miscanthus that utilizes multilocation phenotypic data. A panel of 568 Miscanthus sinensis accessions was genotyped with 46,177 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and evaluated at one subtropical and five temperate locations over 3 years for biomass yield and 14 yield‐component traits. GWA and genomic prediction were performed separately for different years …

Reintegrating Biology Through The Nexus Of Information And Energy, Kim L. Hoke, Sara L. Zimmer, Mary Jo Ondrechen, Amedee Des Georges, Adam B. Roddy, Nicole R. Buan, Craig E. Williamson

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Recent rapid advances in biology have led to diversification and sub-specialization of many fields, as well as a corresponding explosion of new findings. Advances in tools ranging from genomic techniques and high-resolution imaging to automated ecosystem- and biosphere-level sensors, along with correspondingly advanced analytics, have led to critical new insights that are transforming our understanding of biological systems. One of the consequences of these rapid advances has been accelerated splintering of biology into sub-disciplines with highly focused questions, vocabulary, and techniques. This splintering creates barriers to synergy across fields of biology and hinders the insights that could be gained at …

Agent Based Model Of Cavitation In Spinal Cord Injury, Rahma Ahmed

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Annually, approximately 375,000 people suffer from spinal cord injury (SCI) worldwide and many SCI patients develop secondary health conditions such as respiratory, cardiovascular, and urinary/bowel complications which negatively impact their daily lives. SCI occurs when there is damage to the spinal cord resulting in decreased motor functions, decreased sensory functions, or paralysis. Days to weeks after initial impact, the lesion (area of injury) continues to increase in size in a process called progressive cavitation which demyelinates axons and inhibits effective axonal regeneration. In an in vitro model of progressive cavitation, Fitch et al. showed that activated macrophages cause cavities to …

A 3d Bioprinter Platform For Mechanistic Analysis Of Tumoroids And Chimeric Mammary Organoids, John A. Reid, Xavier-Lewis Palmer, Peter A. Mollica, Nicole Northam, Patrick C. Sachs, Robert D. Bruno

Medical Diagnostics & Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

The normal mammary microenvironment can suppress tumorigenesis and redirect cancer cells to adopt a normal mammary epithelial cell fate in vivo. Understanding of this phenomenon offers great promise for novel treatment and detection strategies in cancer, but current model systems make mechanistic insights into the process difficult. We have recently described a low-cost bioprinting platform designed to be accessible for basic cell biology laboratories. Here we report the use of this system for the study of tumorigenesis and microenvironmental redirection of breast cancer cells. We show our bioprinter significantly increases tumoroid formation in 3D collagen gels and allows for precise …

Phenogeneranker: A Tool For Gene Prioritization Using Complete Multiplex Heterogeneous Networks, Cagatay Dursun, Naoki Shimoyama, Mary Shimoyama, Michael Schläppi, Serdar Bozdag

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Uncovering genotype-phenotype relationships is a fundamental challenge in genomics. Gene prioritization is an important step for this endeavor to make a short manageable list from a list of thousands of genes coming from high-throughput studies. Network propagation methods are promising and state of the art methods for gene prioritization based on the premise that functionally-related genes tend to be close to each other in the biological networks.

In this study, we present PhenoGeneRanker, an improved version of a recently developed network propagation method called Random Walk with Restart on Multiplex Heterogeneous Networks (RWR-MH). PhenoGeneRanker allows multi-layer gene and disease networks. …

Toward An Enzyme-Coupled, Bioorthogonal Platform For Methyltransferases: Probing The Specificity Of Methionine Adenosyltransferases, Tyler D. Huber

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Methyl group transfer from S-adenosyl-l-methionine (AdoMet) to various substrates including DNA, proteins, and natural products (NPs), is accomplished by methyltransferases (MTs). Analogs of AdoMet, bearing an alternative S-alkyl group can be exploited, in the context of an array of wild-type MT-catalyzed reactions, to differentially alkylate DNA, proteins, and NPs. This technology provides a means to elucidate MT targets by the MT-mediated installation of chemoselective handles from AdoMet analogs to biologically relevant molecules and affords researchers a fresh route to diversify NP scaffolds by permitting the differential alkylation of chemical sites vulnerable to NP MTs that are unreactive to …

Field Evaluation Of Tobacco Engineered For High Leaf-Oil Accumulation, James Perry

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

The biofuel market is dominated by ethanol and biodiesel derived from cellulosic and lipid-based biomass crops. This is largely due to the relatively low costs and reliability of production. At present, production of non-food plant-derived oils for biofuel production in the U.S. is minimal. A research team from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an independent Australian federal government research institution, has developed an efficient transgenic system to engineer oil production in tobacco leaves. This novel system is comprised of multiple transgenes that direct the endogenous metabolic flux of oil precursors towards triacylglycerol (TAG) production. Additional genes were …

Strain-Specific Protein Interaction And Localization Of Two Strains Of Potato Yellow Dwarf Virus And Functional Domains Of Their Matrix Protein, Chanyong Jang

Theses and Dissertations--Plant Pathology

Potato yellow dwarf virus (PYDV) is the type species of the genus nucleorhabdovirus which is typified by its nucleotropic characters of the members. The virus accomplishes its replication and morphogenesis in the nuclei of infected cells. Two strains, Constricta strain (CYDV) and Sanguinolenta strain (SYDV) have been described at the level of vector-specificity. CYDV is vectored by Agallia constricta and SYDV is transmitted by Aceratagllia sanguinolenta. The full-length genome of CYDV was sequenced. The 12,792 nt antisense genome encodes seven open reading frames in the order of, nucleocapsid protein (N), unknown protein (X), phosphoprotein (P), movement protein (Y), matrix …

Looking For Maize Genes Involved In Cold Response: Producing Knockouts For Arabidopsis Homologs Of Maize Candidate Genes Using A Crispr/Cas9 Approach, Katie Hillmann

Departmental Honors Projects

Most of today’s maize is cultivated outside its original climate zone, where yields are constrained by the changes in climate. Maize is especially vulnerable to high temperatures and drought stress, both of which negatively affect corn yields. An important strategy to combat this is early sowing, which avoids the effects of summer droughts and high temperatures in many places around the globe. However, maize is a cold sensitive species (Sanghera et al., 2011), making improvement to cold stress crucial for its adaption. The relatively new system CRISPR (Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas9 offers the potential to study cold-stress related …

Capital Efficiency For Development Stage Biotech-Based Firms: An Ipo Perspective, Mark J. Ahn, Amir Shaygan

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Access to multiple tranches of capital is critical for predominantly no revenue development stage biotech firms. While financing needs are monotonically increasing over multiple years in the product development approval cycle, the market for high risk, milestone driven biotech investment is significantly more volatile than the financial markets as a whole. In this paper, we analyzed the role and relative importance of global biotech IPOs, as well as other sources of capital such as strategic alliances, for research and development funding. We also explored and assessed the degree of mismatch between the access to capital, operational efficiencies, and how firms …

Prevention Of Harmful Algal Blooms By The Mitigation Of Phosphorus Nutrient Loading Via Filtration By Steel Wool And Activated Carbon, Sara Kidd, Ronald Simpson, Samantha Zidd

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are a devastating ecological and economic consequence of the abundance of nutrient-rich agricultural runoff entering aquatic ecosystems (Baker et al. 2014). Bioavailable phosphorus from synthetic fertilizers is one of the major nutrients contributing to this global issue. Preliminary studies indicate that dissolved phosphorus can be removed from an aqueous environment when passed through a composite mixture of granular steel wool particles and activated carbon (Erickson, Gulliver, and Weiss (2007). Further research was conducted using higher quality concentration measurements to determine what grades of steel wool (0000, 000, 00) and types of activated carbon (GAC, PAC, EAC) …

Therapeutic Delivery Technology And Its Economic Impact, Paul E. Savas Jr.

Senior Honors Theses

Therapeutic delivery technology is a current area of high interest in both university and industrial settings. These technologies are being developed in order to deliver therapeutic agents, such as genes, proteins, and drugs, to patients more efficiently. Nanoscale delivery vehicles have proven to be useful for these applications; these vehicles may either be naturally produced or chemically synthesized. The physical properties of these nanomaterials must be characterized correctly using instrumentation that evaluates their size, morphology, and potential for agglomeration. These technologies represent a high-growth economic area that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation. Because of this innovative spirit, research and economic interest …

Screening And Identification Of Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria From Plant Samplesd, Ratthanatda Nuhwa

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Seventy lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from flowers (17 strains), 3 tree barks (7 strains), one fruit (2 strains), ten fermented tea leaves (31 strains) and two silage (13 strains). They were identified as Lactobacillus pentosus (12 strains), L. plantarum subsp. plantarum (9 strains), L. paracasei subsp. tolerans (5 strains), L. brevis (1 strain), L. silagincola (1 strain), L. kunkeei (1 strain), and L. formosensis (1 strain), Enterococcus durans (3 strains), E. lactis (2 strains), E. faecalis (1 strain), E. faecium (1 strain), E. gallinarum (1 strain) and E. gilvus (1 strain), Pediococcus acidilactici (1 strain) and P. pentosaceus …

Role Of Enzymes In Glyoxylate Cycle In Transgenic 'Kdml 105' Rice Oryza Sativa L. Overexpressing Oscam1-1 Under Salt Stress, Tanaporn Ausaha

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The previous study reported that the transcriptome profiling of the KDML 105 rice overexpressing OsCam1-1 widely affected the expression of genes involved in several cellular processes including the genes associated with the glyoxylate cycle, which exhibited up-regulation in KDML 105 overexpressing OsCam1-1 under salt stress. In this study, we focused on the role of the glyoxylate cycle in transgenic KDML 105 rice under salt stress. The phenotypes as follows: fresh weight and dry weight of shoot & root, SPAD value, activities of isocitrate lyase, and malate synthase; sugar, and starch contents, and total lipid content were investigated at 0, 2, …

Structure/Function Analysis Of Fega And Fhua In Bradyrhizobium Sp., Alexander James Herd

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Bradyrhizobium japonicum is a Gram-negative soil bacterium commonly known for its agriculturally significant mutualistic relationship with soybean. In this symbiosis, the bacteria and plant undergo complex molecular signaling characterized by sent and received signals resulting in the formation of infection threads and root nodules. This research aimed to compare two related bacterial outer membrane proteins, FegA and FhuA, associated with the molecular signaling between the bacteria and plant. Previous work has led to the hypothesis that the N-terminal domain (NTD) of FegA in B. japonicum is needed for a functional symbiosis to occur. Recombinant bacterial strains expressing altered FegA proteins …