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Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Immunology and Infectious Disease
Tgf-B Signaling Mechanisms In Caenorhabditis Elegans Response To Bacterial Pathogens, Emma J. Ciccarelli
Tgf-B Signaling Mechanisms In Caenorhabditis Elegans Response To Bacterial Pathogens, Emma J. Ciccarelli
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
When exposed to infection, the nematode C. elegans mounts an innate immune response through secretion of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Different signaling pathways in the worm regulate release of these AMPs. One highly conserved pathway is the C. elegans BMP like pathway – regulated by the ligand DBL-1. The DBL-1 pathway is noted for its significant role in development but has also been shown to regulate many post-developmental processes within the worm, including the immune response. We are interested in determining how DBL-1 signaling can mediate a response specific to immunity, separate from its other functions in the worm. Through survival …
Innate Antibodies, Murine Models, And Evolution: A Study Of Trypanosome Lytic Factor Functions And Their Translational Applications, Joseph P. Verdi
Innate Antibodies, Murine Models, And Evolution: A Study Of Trypanosome Lytic Factor Functions And Their Translational Applications, Joseph P. Verdi
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Trypanosome lytic factors (TLFs) are primate-specific antimicrobial protein complexes that lyse African trypanosome parasites by delivering the channel-forming toxin APOL1 to the invading microorganisms. Human serum contains two TLFs that are delivered to the parasite by separate mechanisms, only one of which has been characterized. TLF1 is endocytosed by a receptor that is typically blocked by other serum factors in vivo, suggesting that TLF2 is the more relevant lytic factor in the context of trypanosome immunity. TLF2 is non-covalently associated with polyclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, which we report here to be involved in the uptake mechanism. The TLF2-IgMs …
Dynamically-Expressed Prion-Like Proteins Form A Cuticle In The Pharynx Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Julia B. George-Raizen, Keith R. Shockley, Nicholas F. Trojanowski, Annesia L. Lamb, David M. Raizen
Dynamically-Expressed Prion-Like Proteins Form A Cuticle In The Pharynx Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Julia B. George-Raizen, Keith R. Shockley, Nicholas F. Trojanowski, Annesia L. Lamb, David M. Raizen
Publications and Research
In molting animals, a cuticular extracellular matrix forms the first barrier to infection and other environmental insults. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans there are two types of cuticle: a wellstudied collagenous cuticle lines the body, and a poorly-understood chitinous cuticle lines the pharynx. In the posterior end of the pharynx is the grinder, a tooth-like cuticular specialization that crushes food prior to transport to the intestine for digestion. We here show that the grinder increases in size only during the molt. To gain molecular insight into the structure of the grinder and pharyngeal cuticle, we performed a microarray analysis to …