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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Evolution Of Pneumococcal Serogroup 6, Preston Eugene Bratcher
Evolution Of Pneumococcal Serogroup 6, Preston Eugene Bratcher
All ETDs from UAB
Serogroup 6 of Streptococcus pneumoniae has been known to contain three serotypes, named 6A, 6B and 6C, with highly homologous capsule gene loci. The 6A and 6B capsule gene loci consistently differ from each other by only one nucleotide in the wciP gene. The 6A capsule gene locus has a galactosyltransferase (wciNα), which has been replaced with a glucosyltransferase (wciNß) in the 6C capsule gene locus. We considered that a new serotype, 6D, would be possible if the glucosyltransferase found in 6C strains was combined with the wciP gene from a 6B strain. We demonstrate that this gene combination yields …
Evolution And Genetic Diversity In Streptococcus Pneumoniae, Diana Lee Dupraw
Evolution And Genetic Diversity In Streptococcus Pneumoniae, Diana Lee Dupraw
All ETDs from UAB
The relative contributions of point mutations and intergenomic recombination via lateral gene transfer (LGT) determine the population structure and evolutionary style for a given bacterial species. Streptococcus pneumoniae has a weakly clonal population structure; adaptive clonal complexes can be detected; however, these can also be rapidly lost due to the high rate of recombination. To characterize the diversity of pneumococcal isolates in clonal complex, and to elucidate possible mechanisms for the long-term stability of such complexes, 35 serotype 6B strains belonging to a previously identified clonal complex, CC14, were assayed by Comparative Genome Hybridization (CGH) and Multi Locus Sequence Typing …
Poxvirus Evolution: The Role Of Horizontal Gene Transfer, Mary Rebecca Odom
Poxvirus Evolution: The Role Of Horizontal Gene Transfer, Mary Rebecca Odom
All ETDs from UAB
We have investigated the set of all poxvirus proteins for information about the origins of protein coding genes of the Poxviridae family of viruses. A global assessment of all poxvirus proteins for levels of similarity to proteins of other organisms, including eukaryotes, viruses, and prokaryotes, has suggested trends and relationships informative about poxvirus evolution and poxvirus interactions with hosts. Our research has focused on the poxvirus proteins subset this assessment identified as likely to have evolutionary histories involving horizontal gene transfer (HGT). We have used phylogenetic reconstructions to individually determine the sources of more than 70 horizontally transferred genes present …