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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

A Biochemical Approach To Characterize A Divergent Trypanosoma Brucei Mitochondrial Dna Polymerase, Polib, Stephanie B. Delzell Nov 2023

A Biochemical Approach To Characterize A Divergent Trypanosoma Brucei Mitochondrial Dna Polymerase, Polib, Stephanie B. Delzell

Doctoral Dissertations

Trypanosoma brucei is a single-celled parasitic protist that causes African sleeping sickness in people and nagana in cattle in sub-Saharan Africa. T. brucei and related trypanosomatid parasites contain an unusual catenated mitochondrial genome known as kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) composed of dozens of 23 kb maxicircles and thousands of 1 kb minicircles. The kDNA structure and replication mechanism are divergent from other eukaryotes and essential for parasite survival. POLIB is one of three Family A DNA polymerases that are independently essential to maintain the kDNA network, and has been implicated in minicircle replication. However, the division of labor among the paralogs, …


Mechanisms Of Cigarette Smoke-Induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Striated Muscle And Aorta, Stephen T. Decker Apr 2023

Mechanisms Of Cigarette Smoke-Induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Striated Muscle And Aorta, Stephen T. Decker

Doctoral Dissertations

Cigarette Smoke is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, accounting for over 480,000 annual deaths. Of these deaths, the most common cause of mortality in chronic smokers is cardiometabolic diseases. Likewise, a significant portion of smokers experience some form of cardiac, vascular, or metabolic dysfunction throughout their lifetime. More specifically, smoking is shown to induce mitochondrial dysfunction in these tissues, causing an increase in oxidative damage and poor overall health. However, despite the advances in the health outcomes related to cigarette smoke exposure, the mechanisms underlying mitochondrial dysfunction in striated muscle and the vasculature remain …