Medical Biochemistry Commons^™

Epoxide-Mediated Cifr Repression Of Cif Gene Expression Utilizes Two Binding Sites In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Alicia E. Ballok, Christopher D. Bahl, Emily L. Dolben, Allia K. Lindsay, Jessica D. St. Laurent, Deborah Hogan, Dean Madden, George A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes an epoxide hydrolase virulence factor that reduces the apical membrane expression of ABC transporters such as the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). This virulence factor, named CFTR inhibitory factor (Cif), is regulated by a TetR-family, epoxide-responsive repressor known as CifR via direct binding and repression. We identified two sites of CifR binding in the intergenic space between cifR and morB, the first gene in the operon containing the cif gene. We have mapped these binding sites and found they are 27 bp in length, and they overlap the -10 and +1 sites of both the cifR …

Neutralization Of Botulinum Neurotoxin By A Human Monoclonal Antibody Specific For The Catalytic Light Chain., Sharad P Adekar, Tsuyoshi Takahashi, R Mark Jones, Fetweh H Al-Saleem, Denise M Ancharski, Michael J Root, B P Kapadnis, Lance L Simpson, Scott K Dessain

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) are a family of category A select bioterror agents and the most potent biological toxins known. Cloned antibody therapeutics hold considerable promise as BoNT therapeutics, but the therapeutic utility of antibodies that bind the BoNT light chain domain (LC), a metalloprotease that functions in the cytosol of cholinergic neurons, has not been thoroughly explored.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We used an optimized hybridoma method to clone a fully human antibody specific for the LC of serotype A BoNT (BoNT/A). The 4LCA antibody demonstrated potent in vivo neutralization when administered alone and collaborated with an antibody specific for …

Molecular Cloning And Sequence Analysis Of The Plasmodium Falciparum Dihydrofolate Reductase-Thymidylate Synthase Gene., David J. Bzik, Wu-Bo Li, Toshihiro Horii, Joseph Inselburg

Dartmouth Scholarship

Genomic DNA clones that coded for the bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and thymidylate synthase (TS) (DHFR-TS) activities from a pyrimethamine-sensitive strain of Plasmodium falciparum were isolated and sequenced. The deduced DHFR-TS protein contained 608 amino acids (71,682 Da). The coding region for DHFR-TS contained no intervening sequences and had a high A + T content (75%). The DHFR domain, in the amino-terminal portion of the protein, was joined by a 94-amino acid junction sequence to the TS domain in the carboxyl-terminal portion of the protein. The TS domain was more conserved than the DHFR domain and both P. falciparum domains …