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Pathogenic Microbiology Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Pathogenic Microbiology

Mechanism Of Candida Albicans Biofilm And Virulence Inhibition By A Bacterial Secreted Factor, Carrie Graham Dec 2017

Mechanism Of Candida Albicans Biofilm And Virulence Inhibition By A Bacterial Secreted Factor, Carrie Graham

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The human microbiome is a diverse polymicrobial population comprised of both fungi and bacteria. Perturbations of the normal microbiome can have a profound impact on health, including the development of infections. Exploitation of these polymicrobial interactions has the potential to provide novel treatment and prevention strategies for infectious diseases. Enterococcus faecalis, a Gram-positive bacterium, and Candida albicans, a polymorphic fungus, occupy overlapping niches as ubiquitous constituents of the gastrointestinal and oral microbiome. Both species are also amongst the most important and problematic, opportunistic nosocomial pathogens and are often co-isolated during infection. Surprisingly, these two species antagonize each other’s …


Evaluating The Impact Of Post-Translational Modifications By The Secreted Zinc Metalloprotease, Gele, On The Major Autolysin Of E. Faecalis, Atla, And A Stress-Induced Protein, Salb, Emily K. Stinemetz May 2017

Evaluating The Impact Of Post-Translational Modifications By The Secreted Zinc Metalloprotease, Gele, On The Major Autolysin Of E. Faecalis, Atla, And A Stress-Induced Protein, Salb, Emily K. Stinemetz

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

AtlA is the major peptidoglycan hydrolase of E. faecalis involved in cell separation of dividing cells. SalB is a secreted stress-induced protein regulated by the CroRS system. In addition, these two proteins also appear to be affected by the virulence factor, gelatinase (GelE). GelE is a secreted zinc metalloprotease known to impact various cellular functions by post- translational modification of protein substrates. The overall objective of this work was to understand how GelE cleavage of secreted proteins, specifically AtlA and SalB, changes their function. Herein, I discovered that GelE modifies both AtlA and SalB. As visualized by Western blot analysis …