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Characterization Of The Biological Role Of A Putative Porphyromonas Gingivalis Rna-Binding Protein, Ramana Cvitkovic

Theses and Dissertations

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a gram-negative anaerobic bacterium, is a major etiological agent in the initiation and progression of severe forms of periodontal disease. Oral bacteria like P. gingivalis are subject to continually changing conditions as a consequence of host eating, oral hygiene patterns and subgingival temperatures. As such survival requires an adaptive response to environmental cues, but little is known about the mechanism by which P. gingivalis controls co- and post-transcriptional regulation of RNA levels and potentially protein expression. RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are evolutionarily conserved across species and are involved in such regulatory mechanisms. However, P. gingivalis currently has no identified …