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

Pathogenic Microbiology Commons

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

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Pathogenic Microbiology

Identification Of Novel Small Rnas And Characterization Of The 6s Rna Of Coxiella Burnetii, Indu Warrier, Linda D. Hicks, James M. Battisti, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick Jun 2014

Identification Of Novel Small Rnas And Characterization Of The 6s Rna Of Coxiella Burnetii, Indu Warrier, Linda D. Hicks, James M. Battisti, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Coxiella burnetii, an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes Q fever, undergoes a biphasic developmental cycle that alternates between a metabolically-active large cell variant (LCV) and a dormant small cell variant (SCV). As such, the bacterium undoubtedly employs complex modes of regulating its lifecycle, metabolism and pathogenesis. Small RNAs (sRNAs) have been shown to play important regulatory roles in controlling metabolism and virulence in several pathogenic bacteria. We hypothesize that sRNAs are involved in regulating growth and development of C. burnetii and its infection of host cells. To address the hypothesis and identify potential sRNAs, we subjected total RNA …


Colonization Of Intestinal Pathogen Changes The Gut Microbiota, Kaitlyn Shondelmyer Apr 2014

Colonization Of Intestinal Pathogen Changes The Gut Microbiota, Kaitlyn Shondelmyer

Senior Honors Theses

Enterohemorrhagic Escherechia coli is a serious human pathogen causing bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome. It is difficult to study in animal models, but pathogenesis may be modeled in mice with the similar murine pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium. C. rodentium does not cause disease in streptomycin-treated mice, suggesting that it is competition with other facultative anaerobes that triggers pathogenesis. Streptomycin-treated mice were co-colonized with C. rodentium and a commensal E. coli strain. The intestinal microbiota of each group was observed over a 15-day period using quantitative PCR. Colon weights were also measured over the same period. Results indicate that the …


The Toxavapa Toxin-Antitoxin Locus Contributes To The Survival Of Nontypeable Haemophilus Influenzae During Infection, Dabin Ren, Alexis A. Kordis, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Dayle A. Daines Mar 2014

The Toxavapa Toxin-Antitoxin Locus Contributes To The Survival Of Nontypeable Haemophilus Influenzae During Infection, Dabin Ren, Alexis A. Kordis, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Dayle A. Daines

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is an opportunistic pathogen that is a common cause of acute and recurrent mucosal infections. One uncharacterized NTHi toxin-antitoxin (TA) module, NTHI1912-1913, is a host inhibition of growth (higBA) homologue. We hypothesized that this locus, which we designated toxAvapA, contributed to NTHi survival during infection. We deleted toxAvapA and determined that growth of the mutant in defined media was not different from the parent strain. We tested the mutant for persistence during long-term in vitro co-culture with primary human respiratory tissues, which revealed that the DeltatoxAvapA mutant was attenuated for survival. We then …


Transcriptome Analysis Of Listeria Monocytogenes Exposed To Biocide Stress Reveals A Multi-System Response Involving Cell Wall Synthesis, Sugar Uptake, And Motility, Aidan Casey, Edward M. Fox, Stephan Schmitz-Esser, Aidan Coffey, Olivia Mcauliffe, Kieran Jordan Feb 2014

Transcriptome Analysis Of Listeria Monocytogenes Exposed To Biocide Stress Reveals A Multi-System Response Involving Cell Wall Synthesis, Sugar Uptake, And Motility, Aidan Casey, Edward M. Fox, Stephan Schmitz-Esser, Aidan Coffey, Olivia Mcauliffe, Kieran Jordan

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Listeria monocytogenes is a virulent food-borne pathogen most often associated with the consumption of “ready-to-eat” foods. The organism is a common contaminant of food processing plants where it may persist for extended periods of time. A commonly used approach for the control of Listeria monocytogenes in the processing environment is the application of biocides such as quaternary ammonium compounds. In this study, the transcriptomic response of a persistent strain of L. monocytogenes (strain 6179) on exposure to a sub-lethal concentration of the quaternary ammonium compound benzethonium chloride (BZT) was assessed. Using RNA-Seq, gene expression levels were quantified by sequencing …


Phages Of Non-Diary Lactococci: Isolation And Characterization Of Phi L47, A Phage Infecting The Grass Isolate Lactococcus Lactis Ssp Cremoris Dpc6860, Daniel Cavanagh, Caitríona M. Guinane, Horst Neve, Aidan Coffey, R. Paul Ross, Gerald F. Fitzgerald, Olivia Mcauliffe Jan 2014

Phages Of Non-Diary Lactococci: Isolation And Characterization Of Phi L47, A Phage Infecting The Grass Isolate Lactococcus Lactis Ssp Cremoris Dpc6860, Daniel Cavanagh, Caitríona M. Guinane, Horst Neve, Aidan Coffey, R. Paul Ross, Gerald F. Fitzgerald, Olivia Mcauliffe

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Lactococci isolated from non-dairy sources have been found to possess enhanced metabolic activity when compared to dairy strains. These capabilities may be harnessed through the use of these strains as starter or adjunct cultures to produce more diverse flavor profiles in cheese and other dairy products. To understand the interactions between these organisms and the phages that infect them, a number of phages were isolated against lactococcal strains of non-dairy origin. One such phage, ΦL47, was isolated from a sewage sample using the grass isolate L. lactis ssp. cremoris DPC6860 as a host. Visualization of phage virions by transmission electron …