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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry
Rna World And The Development Of Rna Protocells, Benjamin C. Mayfield
Rna World And The Development Of Rna Protocells, Benjamin C. Mayfield
PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas
Origins of life research, also known as pre-biotic chemistry or astrobiology, aims to unravel the mystery of the first cell’s origin on Earth. This interdisciplinary field encompasses biology, chemistry, and physics, with the primary goal of understanding the conditions necessary for life to emerge from abiotic environments. The RNA world hypothesis suggests that early life initially used RNA instead of DNA to store genomic information and for enzymatic functions. Protocells, membrane-bound entities with metabolic processes and self-replication capabilities, likely preceded the emergence of true cells. The challenges associated with RNA world is currently an active field of research. Advancements in …
Synthesis Of Rna Nucleotides Under Probable Prebiotic Conditions, Ryan Stimson
Synthesis Of Rna Nucleotides Under Probable Prebiotic Conditions, Ryan Stimson
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
RNA being composed of multiple covalently linked nucleotides is thought to have been a precursor to life circa 4.3-3.8 billion years ago. Non-enzymatically formed adenosine monophosphate (AMP), more specifically, is a vitally important subtopic of the self-assembly of the first RNA sequence. The goal of this study was to synthesize AMP non-enzymatically under benign conditions that are likely to have existed on early Earth. In this experiment, 3’,5’-cAMP was successfully formed using wet-dry cycles at 80°C paired with the minerals zeolite beta, hydroxyapatite, and aerosil 300 in the presence of adenosine, urea, and pyrophosphate. A nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer was …
Chemical Damage To Mrna And Its Impact On Ribosome Quality-Control And Stress-Response Pathways In Eukaryotic Cells, Liewei Yan
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Ribosome often faces defective adducts that disrupt its movement along the mRNA template. These adducts are primarily caused by chemical damage to mRNA and are highly detrimental to the decoding process on the ribosome. Hence, unless dealt with, chemical damage to RNA has been hypothesized to lead to the production of toxic protein products. Even more detrimental is the ability of damaged mRNA to drastically affect ribosome homeostasis through stalling. This in turn would lead to greatly diminished translation capacity of cells. Therefore, the inability of cells to recognize and resolve translational-stalling events is detrimental to proteostasis and could even …
Termination-Independent Role Of Rat1 In Cotranscriptional Splicing In Budding Yeast, Zuzer Hakimuddin Dhoondia
Termination-Independent Role Of Rat1 In Cotranscriptional Splicing In Budding Yeast, Zuzer Hakimuddin Dhoondia
Wayne State University Dissertations
Rat1 is a 5′→3′ exoribonuclease in budding yeast belonging to the XRN-family of nucleases. It is a highly conserved protein with homologs being present in fission yeast, flies, worms, mice and humans. Rat1 and its homolog in metazoan have been shown to function in multiple facets of RNA metabolism. In this study, we report a novel role of Rat1 in splicing of pre-mRNA in budding yeast. In the absence of the functional Rat1 in the nucleus, an increase in the level of unspliced transcripts was observed in yeast cells. Strand-specific TRO analysis revealed that the accumulation of unspliced transcripts upon …
Development Of Small Molecule Antibiotics Against A Conserved Rna Gene Regulatory Element In Gram-Positive Bacteria, Ville Yrjö Petteri Väre
Development Of Small Molecule Antibiotics Against A Conserved Rna Gene Regulatory Element In Gram-Positive Bacteria, Ville Yrjö Petteri Väre
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Bacterial infections and the rise of antibiotic resistance, especially multidrug resistant strains, have generated a clear need for discovery of novel therapeutics. Most antibiotics in use today are derivatives of previous antibiotics to which resistance mechanisms already exist, and traditionally they have a single target: either a protein or rRNA. Gram-positive bacteria regulate the expression of several essential genes or operons using a mechanism called the T-box. The T-box is a structurally conserved riboswitch-like gene regulator in the 5’-untranslated region (UTR) of numerous essential genes of Gram-positive bacteria. T-boxes are stabilized by cognate, unacylated tRNA ligands, allowing the formation of …
Detection Of Local Steroidogenic Enzyme Gene Expression In Brown Anoles, Ada Spahija
Detection Of Local Steroidogenic Enzyme Gene Expression In Brown Anoles, Ada Spahija
Honors Program Theses
The endocrine system in vertebrates responds to stress by releasing steroid hormones, mainly glucocorticoids (GC), which increase blood glucose levels to supply key organs and muscles with energy needed for survival. Steroid hormones are synthesized via an enzymatic pathway that converts cholesterol into either GCs, androgens, or estrogens in a step-wise manner. The adrenal cortex is known to produce GCs, but evidence suggests that individual organs can also produce steroid hormones de novo in response to stress. This study aims to quantify gene expression of four steroidogenic enzymes, encoded by CYP19A1, CYP17A1, StAR, and HSD17ß3 genes, via qRT-PCR to determine …
Split Deoxyribozyme Probe For Efficient Detection Of Highly Structured Rna Targets, Sheila Raquel Solarez
Split Deoxyribozyme Probe For Efficient Detection Of Highly Structured Rna Targets, Sheila Raquel Solarez
Honors Undergraduate Theses
Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are known for their role as adaptors during translation of the genetic information and as regulators for gene expression; uncharged tRNAs regulate global gene expression in response to changes in amino acid pools in the cell. Aminoacylated tRNAs play a role in non-ribosomal peptide bond formation, post-translational protein labeling, modification of phospholipids in the cell membrane, and antibiotic biosynthesis. [1] tRNAs have a highly stable structure that can present a challenge for their detection using conventional techniques. [2] To enable signal amplification and lower detection limits, a split probe - split deoxyribozyme (sDz or BiDz) probe, which …
The Role Of Rnai In Downregulation Of Physcomitrella Patens Defense Genes And The Preliminary Steps Of Peg Mediated Transformation Of Mosses, Adam Beswick
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection
When attacked by a pathogen, the moss Physcomitrella patens will undergo both a hypersensitive response (HR) as well as a systematic acquired resistance (SAR) response. The SAR response turns on genes that ready the plant for future pathogen attacks. The hormone jasmonic acid (JA) is one of the products of SAR response in P. patens. In this study interference RNA (RNAi) was used to decrease gene expression of the allene oxide cyclase (ACe) gene, a key gene in the production pathway of JA. Using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), RNAi was found to significantly lower ACC gene levels …
Rna Aptamer Mediated Manipulation Of The 70 Kilodalton Heat Shock Protein Chaperone Machinery, Deepak Thirunavukarasu
Rna Aptamer Mediated Manipulation Of The 70 Kilodalton Heat Shock Protein Chaperone Machinery, Deepak Thirunavukarasu
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
Protein quality control involves refolding of damaged proteins and facilitating degradation of irreparable proteins. Understanding the protein quality control mechanism is critical, since defects in it has been implicated in a number of age-related diseases like neurodegenerative diseases and also in cancer. A vast network of molecular chaperones and proteolytic systems collaborate to maintain protein quality control. The 70 kilodalton Heat shock protein (Hsp70) is a highly conserved and ubiquitous chaperone, which interacts with a variety of protein substrates including newly synthesized polypeptides, unfolded, partially misfolded and native proteins to maintain protein quality control. Hsp70 chaperone function is coupled to …
Design And Application Of Composite Rna Aptamers, Shengchun Wang
Design And Application Of Composite Rna Aptamers, Shengchun Wang
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
aptamers are being developed as an essential tool in many fields of biological research. Their utility is not limited to being protein inhibitors; a lot of novel functions can be realized. However, in vivo application of RNA aptamers still faces many challenges. The aim of this dissertation is to design and apply composite aptamers in multiple expression and delivery systems to address some critical issues, such as correct folding, high level production, degradation by nucleases, excessive consumption of cellular resource and potential toxic effect.