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Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Pathogenic Microbiology
Harnessing The Anopheles Microbiome To Conditionally Express Anti-Plasmodial Effectors During The Blood Meal, Jackie Shane
Harnessing The Anopheles Microbiome To Conditionally Express Anti-Plasmodial Effectors During The Blood Meal, Jackie Shane
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The control of vector-borne diseases such as malaria has been an extremely important research subject for hundreds of years. Because of the complex lifecycles of the pathogens that cause these diseases, finding a comprehensive treatment or preventative strategy has proven extremely difficult. Malaria alone is responsible for almost half a million deaths annually, most of them children under 5 years old. This disease is caused by parasitic protists in the genus Plasmodium that are transmitted to humans from Anopheles sp. mosquitoes. Most preventative strategies that are in use today revolve around controlling the vectors, including bed nets, insecticides, and larval …
Nutritional Virulence Of Legionella Pneumophila., Ashley M. Best
Nutritional Virulence Of Legionella Pneumophila., Ashley M. Best
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Legionella pneumophila is an environment organism that parasitizes a wide range of protozoa. Growth within the environmental host primes L. pneumophila for infection of human alveolar macrophages when contaminated aerosols are inhaled. Intracellular replication within either host requires the establishment a replicative niche, known as the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). Biogenesis of the LCV depends on the type IVb translocation system, the Dot/Icm, to translocation >320 effectors into the host cytosol. Effectors are responsible for preventing lysosome fusion to the LCV, recruitment of ER-derived vesicles to the LCV, and modulation of a plethora of host processes to promote the intracellular …
Characterizing The Virulence Factor Yape In Yersinia Pestis., Tiva Templeton Vancleave
Characterizing The Virulence Factor Yape In Yersinia Pestis., Tiva Templeton Vancleave
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of bubonic plague and is primarily transmitted by fleas. Upon infection, the bacteria rapidly travel to the regional lymph nodes causing inflammation and cellulitis in these tissues (referred to as buboes). Two outer membrane proteins, YapE and Pla, have been implicated to have roles in dissemination to the lymph nodes. Their adhesive properties have shown that they are able to interact with host macrophages thereby increasing their ability to disseminate to regional lymph nodes. More recently, we have shown that YapE is cleaved by another virulence factor important for lymph node colonization, Pla, to …
Characterization Of Type Ii Toxin Anti-Toxin Systems In Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans., Blair W. Schneider
Characterization Of Type Ii Toxin Anti-Toxin Systems In Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans., Blair W. Schneider
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Microbes express many protective mechanisms in response to environmental stress. Toxin/anti-toxin systems encode a biologically active toxin and a labile anti-toxin that inhibits the toxin’s activity. These systems are known to contribute to persister cell and biofilm formation. A. actinomycetemcomitans thrives in the complex oral microbial community and is subjected to continual environmental flux. Little is known regarding the presence and function of TA systems in this organism or their contribution survival in the oral environment. Using BLAST searches and other informatics tools, we identified 11 intact TA systems that are conserved across all seven serotypes of A. actinomycetemcomitans and …