Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 15 of 15
Full-Text Articles in Medical Genetics
Non-Identity-Mediated Crispr-Bacteriophage Interaction Mediated Via The Csy And Cas3 Proteins, Kyle C. Cady, George A. O'Toole
Non-Identity-Mediated Crispr-Bacteriophage Interaction Mediated Via The Csy And Cas3 Proteins, Kyle C. Cady, George A. O'Toole
Dartmouth Scholarship
Studies of the Escherichia, Neisseria, Thermotoga, and Mycobacteria clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) subtypes have resulted in a model whereby CRISPRs function as a defense system against bacteriophage infection and conjugative plasmid transfer. In contrast, we previously showed that the Yersinia-subtype CRISPR region of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain UCBPP-PA14 plays no detectable role in viral immunity but instead is required for bacteriophage DMS3-dependent inhibition of biofilm formation by P. aeruginosa. The goal of this study is to define the components of the Yersinia-subtype CRISPR region required to mediate this bacteriophage-host interaction. We show that the Yersinia-subtype-specific CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins …
H-Ns Binding And Repression Of The Ctx Promoter In Vibrio Cholerae, Emily A. Stonehouse, Robin R. Hulbert, Melinda B. Nye, Karen Skorupski, Ronald K. Taylor
H-Ns Binding And Repression Of The Ctx Promoter In Vibrio Cholerae, Emily A. Stonehouse, Robin R. Hulbert, Melinda B. Nye, Karen Skorupski, Ronald K. Taylor
Dartmouth Scholarship
Expression of the ctx and tcp genes, which encode cholera toxin and the toxin coregulated pilus, the Vibrio cholerae O1 virulence determinants having the largest contribution to cholera disease, is repressed by the nucleoid-associated protein H-NS and activated by the AraC-like transcriptional regulator ToxT. To elucidate the molecular mechanism by which H-NS controls transcription of the ctxAB operon, H-NS repression and binding were characterized by using a promoter truncation series, gel mobility shift assays, and DNase I footprinting. Promoter regions found to be important for H-NS repression correlated with in vitro binding. Four main H-NS binding regions are present at …
Nicotinamide Riboside Kinase Structures Reveal New Pathways To Nad+, Wolfram Tempel, Wael M. Rabeh, Katrina L. Bogan, Peter Belenky, Marzena Wojcik, Heather F. Seidle, Lyudmila Nedyalkova, Tianle Yang, Anthony A. Sauve, Hee-Won Park, Charles Brenner
Nicotinamide Riboside Kinase Structures Reveal New Pathways To Nad+, Wolfram Tempel, Wael M. Rabeh, Katrina L. Bogan, Peter Belenky, Marzena Wojcik, Heather F. Seidle, Lyudmila Nedyalkova, Tianle Yang, Anthony A. Sauve, Hee-Won Park, Charles Brenner
Dartmouth Scholarship
The eukaryotic nicotinamide riboside kinase (Nrk) pathway, which is induced in response to nerve damage and promotes replicative life span in yeast, converts nicotinamide riboside to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) by phosphorylation and adenylylation. Crystal structures of human Nrk1 bound to nucleoside and nucleotide substrates and products revealed an enzyme structurally similar to Rossmann fold metabolite kinases and allowed the identification of active site residues, which were shown to be essential for human Nrk1 and Nrk2 activity in vivo. Although the structures account for the 500-fold discrimination between nicotinamide riboside and pyrimidine nucleosides, no enzyme feature was identified to recognize …
The Virulence Activator Apha Links Quorum Sensing To Pathogenesis And Physiology In Vibrio Cholerae By Repressing The Expression Of A Penicillin Amidase Gene On The Small Chromosome, Gabriela Kovacikova, Wei Lin, Karen Skorupski
The Virulence Activator Apha Links Quorum Sensing To Pathogenesis And Physiology In Vibrio Cholerae By Repressing The Expression Of A Penicillin Amidase Gene On The Small Chromosome, Gabriela Kovacikova, Wei Lin, Karen Skorupski
Dartmouth Scholarship
Activation of the tcpPH promoter on the Vibrio pathogenicity island by AphA and AphB initiates the Vibrio cholerae virulence cascade and is regulated by quorum sensing through the repressive action of HapR on aphA expression. To further understand how the chromosomally encoded AphA protein activates tcpPH expression, site-directed mutagenesis was used to identify the base pairs critical for AphA binding and transcriptional activation. This analysis revealed a region of partial dyad symmetry, TATGCA-N6-TNCNNA, that is important for both of these activities. Searching the V. cholerae genome for this binding site permitted the identification of a second one upstream of a …
Rhythmic Binding Of A White Collar-Containing Complex To The Frequency Promoter Is Inhibited By Frequency, Allan C. Froehlich, Jennifer J. Loros, Jay C. Dunlap
Rhythmic Binding Of A White Collar-Containing Complex To The Frequency Promoter Is Inhibited By Frequency, Allan C. Froehlich, Jennifer J. Loros, Jay C. Dunlap
Dartmouth Scholarship
The biological clock of Neurospora crassa includes interconnected transcriptional and translational feedback loops that cause both the transcript and protein encoded by the frequency gene (frq) to undergo the robust daily oscillations in abundance, which are essential for clock function. To understand better the mechanism generating rhythmic frq transcript, reporter constructs were used to show that the oscillation in frq message is transcriptionally regulated, and a single cis-acting element in the frq promoter, the Clock Box (C box), is both necessary and sufficient for this rhythmic transcription. Nuclear protein extracts used in binding assays revealed that a White Collar (WC)-1- …
Nucleotide Excision Repair- And Polymerase Eta-Mediated Error-Prone Removal Of Mitomycin C Interstrand Cross-Links, H. Zheng, X. Wang, A. J. Warren, R. J. Legerski, Rodney S. Nairn, Joshua W. Hamilton, Lei Li
Nucleotide Excision Repair- And Polymerase Eta-Mediated Error-Prone Removal Of Mitomycin C Interstrand Cross-Links, H. Zheng, X. Wang, A. J. Warren, R. J. Legerski, Rodney S. Nairn, Joshua W. Hamilton, Lei Li
Dartmouth Scholarship
Interstrand cross-links (ICLs) make up a unique class of DNA lesions in which both strands of the double helix are covalently joined, precluding strand opening during replication and transcription. The repair of DNA ICLs has become a focus of study since ICLs are recognized as the main cytotoxic lesion inflicted by an array of alkylating compounds used in cancer treatment. As is the case for double-strand breaks, a damage-free homologous copy is essential for the removal of ICLs in an error-free manner. However, recombination-independent mechanisms may exist to remove ICLs in an error-prone fashion. We have developed an in vivo …
Saru, A Sara Homolog, Is Repressed By Sart And Regulates Virulence Genes In Staphylococcus Aureus, Adhar C. Manna, Ambrose L. Cheung
Saru, A Sara Homolog, Is Repressed By Sart And Regulates Virulence Genes In Staphylococcus Aureus, Adhar C. Manna, Ambrose L. Cheung
Dartmouth Scholarship
In searching the Staphylococcus aureus genome, we previously identified sarT, a homolog of sarA, which encodes a repressor for alpha-hemolysin synthesis. Adjacent but transcribed divergently to sarT is sarU, which encodes a 247-residue polypeptide, almost twice the length of SarA. Sequence alignment disclosed that SarU, like SarS, which is another SarA homolog, could be envisioned as a molecule with two halves, with each half being homologous to SarA. SarU, as a member of the SarA family proteins, disclosed conservation of basic residues within the helix-turn-helix motif and within the beta hairpin loop, two putative DNA binding domains within this protein …
Sart, A Repressor Of Α-Hemolysin In Staphylococcus Aureus, Katherine A. Schmidt, Adhar C. Manna, Steven Gill, Ambrose L. Cheung
Sart, A Repressor Of Α-Hemolysin In Staphylococcus Aureus, Katherine A. Schmidt, Adhar C. Manna, Steven Gill, Ambrose L. Cheung
Dartmouth Scholarship
In searching the Staphylococcus aureus genome, we found several homologs to SarA. One of these genes, sarT, codes for a basic protein with 118 residues and a predicted molecular size of 16,096 Da. Northern blot analysis revealed that the expression of sarT was repressed by sarA and agr. An insertion sarT mutant generated in S. aureus RN6390 and 8325-4 backgrounds revealed minimal effect on the expression of sarR and sarA. The RNAIII level was notably increased in the sarT mutant, particularly in postexponential-phase cells, while the augmentative effect on RNAII was less. SarT repressed the expression of alpha-hemolysin, as determined …
Sars, A Sara Homolog Repressible By Agr, Is An Activator Of Protein A Synthesis In Staphylococcus Aureus, Ambrose L. Cheung, Katherine Schmidt, Brian Bateman, Adhar C. Manna
Sars, A Sara Homolog Repressible By Agr, Is An Activator Of Protein A Synthesis In Staphylococcus Aureus, Ambrose L. Cheung, Katherine Schmidt, Brian Bateman, Adhar C. Manna
Dartmouth Scholarship
The expression of protein A (spa) is repressed by global regulatory loci sarA and agr. Although SarA may directly bind to the spa promoter to downregulate spa expression, the mechanism by which agr represses spa expression is not clearly understood. In searching for SarA homologs in the partially released genome, we found a SarA homolog, encoding a 250-amino-acid protein designated SarS, upstream of the spa gene. The expression of sarS was almost undetectable in parental strain RN6390 but was highly expressed in agr and sarA mutants, strains normally expressing high level of protein A. Interestingly, protein A …
Circadian Clock-Specific Roles For The Light Response Protein White Collar-2, Michael A. Collett, Jay C. Dunlap, Jennifer J. Loros
Circadian Clock-Specific Roles For The Light Response Protein White Collar-2, Michael A. Collett, Jay C. Dunlap, Jennifer J. Loros
Dartmouth Scholarship
To understand the role of white collar-2 in theNeurospora circadian clock, we examined alleles ofwc-2 thought to encode partially functional proteins. We found that wc-2 allele ER24 contained a conservative mutation in the zinc finger. This mutation results in reduced levels of circadian rhythm-critical clock gene products, frq mRNA and FRQ protein, and in a lengthened period of the circadian clock. In addition, this mutation altered a second canonical property of the clock, temperature compensation: as temperature increased, period length decreased substantially. This temperature compensation defect correlated with a temperature-dependent increase in overall FRQ protein levels, with the …
Characterization Of Sarr, A Modulator Of Sar Expression In Staphylococcus Aureus, Adhar Manna, Ambrose L. Cheung
Characterization Of Sarr, A Modulator Of Sar Expression In Staphylococcus Aureus, Adhar Manna, Ambrose L. Cheung
Dartmouth Scholarship
The expression of virulence determinants in Staphylococcus aureus is controlled by global regulatory loci (e.g., sar and agr). The sar locus is composed of three overlapping transcripts (sar P1, P3, and P2 transcripts from P1, P3, and P2 promoters, respectively), all encoding the 372-bp sarA gene. The level of SarA, the major regulatory protein, is partially controlled by the differential activation of sar promoters. We previously partially purified a ∼12 kDa protein with a DNA-specific column
Disruption Of The Cbfa2 Gene Causes Necrosis And Hemorrhaging In The Central Nervous System And Blocks Definitive Hematopoiesis., Qing Wang, Terryl Stacy, Michael M Binder, Miguel Marin-Padilla, Arlene H. Sharpe, Nancy A. Speck
Disruption Of The Cbfa2 Gene Causes Necrosis And Hemorrhaging In The Central Nervous System And Blocks Definitive Hematopoiesis., Qing Wang, Terryl Stacy, Michael M Binder, Miguel Marin-Padilla, Arlene H. Sharpe, Nancy A. Speck
Dartmouth Scholarship
The CBFA2 (AML1) gene encodes a DNA-binding subunit of the heterodimeric core-binding factor. The CBFA2 gene is disrupted by the (8;21), (3;21), and (12;21) chromosomal translocations associated with leukemias and myelodysplasias in humans. Mice lacking a CBF alpha 2 protein capable of binding DNA die between embryonic days 11.5 and 12.5 due to hemorrhaging in the central nervous system (CNS), at the nerve/CNS interfaces of cranial and spinal nerves, and in somitic/intersomitic regions along the presumptive spinal cord. Hemorrhaging is preceded by symmetric, bilateral necrosis in these regions. Definitive erythropoiesis and myelopoiesis do not occur in Cbfa2-deficient embryos, and disruption …
A Phorbol Ester Response Element Within The Human T-Cell Receptor Beta-Chain Enhancer., Haydn M. Prosser, David Wotton, Anne Gegonne, Jacques Ghysdael, Shuwen Wang, Nancy A. Speck, Michael J. Owen
A Phorbol Ester Response Element Within The Human T-Cell Receptor Beta-Chain Enhancer., Haydn M. Prosser, David Wotton, Anne Gegonne, Jacques Ghysdael, Shuwen Wang, Nancy A. Speck, Michael J. Owen
Dartmouth Scholarship
The activity of the T-cell receptor beta-chain gene enhancer is increased by activators of the protein kinase C pathway during T-cell activation. Analysis of mutant enhancer constructs identified two elements, beta E2 and beta E3, conferring phorbol ester inducibility. Multimerized beta E2 acted in isolation as a phorbol ester-responsive element. Both beta E2 and beta E3, which contain a consensus Ets-binding site, were shown to bind directly to the product of the c-ets-1 protooncogene. Both regions also bound a second factor, core-binding factor. Mutation of the beta E2 Ets site abolished the inducibility of the beta E2 multimer. beta E2 …
Characterization Of The Formate (For) Locus, Which Encodes The Cytosolic Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase Of Neurospora Crassa., C. Robertson Mcclung, Cynthia R. Davis, Karen M. Page, Sylvia A. Denome
Characterization Of The Formate (For) Locus, Which Encodes The Cytosolic Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase Of Neurospora Crassa., C. Robertson Mcclung, Cynthia R. Davis, Karen M. Page, Sylvia A. Denome
Dartmouth Scholarship
Serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) occupies a central position in one-carbon (C1) metabolism, catalyzing the reaction of serine and tetrahydrofolate to yield glycine and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate. Methylenetetrahydrofolate serves as a donor of C1 units for the synthesis of numerous compounds, including purines, thymidylate, lipids, and methionine. We provide evidence that the formate (for) locus of Neurospora crassa encodes cytosolic SHMT. The for+ gene was localized to a 2.8-kb BglII fragment by complementation (restoration to formate-independent growth) of a strain carrying a recessive for allele, which confers a growth requirement for formate. The for+ gene encodes a polypeptide of 479 amino acids which shows …
Molecular Cloning And Sequence Analysis Of The Plasmodium Falciparum Dihydrofolate Reductase-Thymidylate Synthase Gene., David J. Bzik, Wu-Bo Li, Toshihiro Horii, Joseph Inselburg
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 …