Organisms Commons^™

What We Do Not Know About Fungal Cell Adhesion Molecules, Peter N. Lipke

Publications and Research

There has been extensive research on structure and function of fungal cell adhesion molecules, but the most of the work has been about adhesins in Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These yeasts are members of a single ascomycete order, and adhesion molecules from the six other fungal phyla are only sparsely described in the literature. In these other phyla, most of the research is at the cellular level, rather than at the molecular level, so there has been little characterization of the adhesion molecules themselves. A catalog of known adhesins shows some common features: high Ser/Thr content, tandem repeats, N- …

Deletion Of Endo-Β-1,4-Xylanase Vmxyl1 Impacts The Virulence Of Valsa Mali In Apple Tree, Chunlei Yu, Ting Li, Xiangpeng Shi, Muhammad Saleem, Baohua Li, Wenxing Liang, Caixia Wang

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Valsa mali, a parasitic fungus, is a destructive pathogen of apple tree that causes heavy economic losses in China. The pathogen secretes various cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) that degrade plant cell-wall components, and thus facilitate its entry into host cells. Therefore, functional analysis of the genes encoding CWDEs is necessary to understand virulence of V. mali toward apple tree. Here, we identified and cloned an endo-β-1,4-xylanase gene, VmXyl1 in V. mali. The full-length cDNA of VmXyl1 is 1626 bp containing 5′- and 3′-non-coding regions, as well an open reading frame of 1320 bp that encodes a protein with …

The State Of The Translational Chaperone Icd-1 During Apoptosis In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Kyle Cicalese

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a signal transduction cascade that mitigates low levels of misfolded protein stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in an effort to save the affected cell, while prolonged and/or acute ER stress leads to UPR-initiated apoptosis (programmed cell death). One putative step driving apoptosis is the cleavage of chaperones, proteins tasked to help misfolded proteins refold, by caspases, proteases essential to the execution of apoptosis. We are studying the nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC), a heterodimeric chaperone complex essential for viability, to determine if its beta subunit is cleaved by caspases during apoptosis to prevent the …

Behavioral Audiometry Testing In Drosophila Melanogaster, Amanda Cascio

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The genetic make up of Drosophila melanogaster aligns closely enough to humans for them to function as models for the study of hearing loss and disorders (Albert & Göpfert, 2015; Duyk et al., 1997). The purpose of this project was to design a computer automated program capable of quickly assessing the hearing of flies based on their suppression of courtship behaviors in the presence of an audible stimulus. We were unable to document the male courtship song due to low frequency noise present in our sound attenuating booth. We continued the experiment using a spectrum of fly noise unassociated with …

A Time Course Study Of Rotavirus-Infected Intestinal Cells Treated With Stilbenoids And The Regulation Of Apoptosis, Rebecca D. Parr, Caleb M. Witcher, Rebekah Napier-Jameson, Hannah L. Wilson, Stormey Wisdom, Macie N. Mattila, Essence B. Strange, Josephine Taylor, Beatrice Clack, Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, Judith M. Ball

Faculty Publications

This is a time course study of virus –host interactions that are modified with the addition of two small natural products. They appear to effect virus replication and the host response to the infection.

Can Alcaligenes Be A New Treatment For Staphylococcus Species?, Devin Narwani

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Members of the Staphylococcus genus are known to cause serious human infections in the clinical environment. Many species of this genus are typically found among the normal flora of the skin, nasal cavities, and the linings of the throat; however, the bacterium becomes an opportunistic infection when there is a break in the physical barriers or when a contaminated medical device is implanted in the human body. As more resistant strains are beginning to appear it is becoming drastically harder to treat patients infected with this bacterium. One such strain is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is a major …

The Inhibitory Effects Of A Novel Gel On Staphylococcus Aureus Biofilms, Lindsey Vance

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Antibiotic resistance is an ever-growing topic of concern within the medical field causing researchers to examine the mechanisms of resistance to develop new antimicrobials. Bacteria’s ability to form biofilms is one mechanism which aids in antimicrobial resistance. Staphylococcus aureus is of special interest as it is one of the most frequent biofilm-forming bacteria found on medical devices causing infections and posing dangerous threats in a clinical setting. A recently developed antimicrobial gel has been shown to have profound effects on treating bacterial infections and wound healing. This research is centered upon examining the antimicrobial effects of this gel on the …

Ictv Virus Taxonomy Profile: Hypoviridae, Nobuhiro Suzuki, Said A. Ghabrial, Kook-Hyung Kim, Michael Pearson, Shin-Yi L. Marzano, Hajime Yaegashi, Jiatao Xie, Lihua Guo, Hideki Kondo, Igor Koloniuk, Bradley I. Hillman, Ictv Report Consortium

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

The Hypoviridae, comprising one genus, Hypovirus, is a family of capsidless viruses with positive-sense, ssRNA genomes of 9.1–12.7 kb that possess either a single large ORF or two ORFs. The ORFs appear to be translated from genomic RNA by non-canonical mechanisms, i.e. internal ribosome entry site-mediated and stop/restart translation. Hypoviruses have been detected in ascomycetous or basidiomycetous filamentous fungi, and are considered to be replicated in host Golgi-derived, lipid vesicles that contain their dsRNA as a replicative form. Some hypoviruses induce hypovirulence to host fungi, while others do not. This is a summary of the current ICTV report …

Nutritional Virulence Of Legionella Pneumophila., Ashley M. Best

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Legionella pneumophila is an environment organism that parasitizes a wide range of protozoa. Growth within the environmental host primes L. pneumophila for infection of human alveolar macrophages when contaminated aerosols are inhaled. Intracellular replication within either host requires the establishment a replicative niche, known as the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). Biogenesis of the LCV depends on the type IVb translocation system, the Dot/Icm, to translocation >320 effectors into the host cytosol. Effectors are responsible for preventing lysosome fusion to the LCV, recruitment of ER-derived vesicles to the LCV, and modulation of a plethora of host processes to promote the intracellular …

Investigation Into The Role Of Platelet Derived Growth Factor (Pdgf) In Type I Collagen Glomerulopathy, Isaac C. Springer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Progressive accumulation of collagen and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins within renal glomeruli have implications for or result in renal fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis, with both events culminating in renal failure. To model this accumulation the Col1a2-deficient mouse model was used. The Col1a2-deficientmouse model is characterized by a mutation in the a2(I) chain, preventing incorporation into the type I collagen molecule. As a result, an α1(I) collagen chain incorporates into the collagen triple helix forming homotrimeric type I collagen, as opposed to heterotrimeric type I collagen. This change is due to the secondary wound healing response in response to ECM accumulation, …

Infections Not Fought: Antibiotic Resistance In Underserved Communities, Derek Lillestolen

Senior Honors Theses

In 1928, the profound effects of penicillin were discovered and antibiotic treatments became extremely popular. Broad-spectrum antibiotics, like tetracyclines, have been since branded as cure-all prescriptions and used profusely in the Western World and abroad. Due to ignorance of specific biochemical mechanisms and the misuse of antibiotics these drugs inadvertently allowed the rise in prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains of certain bacteria as the century progressed. Now, the specific genetic causes and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance are being understood, but the fight against antimicrobial resistance is far from over. In the United States, thousands of fatalities are caused annually by …

Ketogenic Diet Enhances Neurovascular Function With Altered Gut Microbiome In Young Healthy Mice, David Ma, Amy C. Wang, Ishita Parikh, Stefan J. Green, Jared D. Hoffman, George Chlipala, M. Paul Murphy, Brent S. Sokola, Björn Bauer, Anika M. S. Hartz, Ai-Ling Lin

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Neurovascular integrity, including cerebral blood flow (CBF) and blood-brain barrier (BBB) function, plays a major role in determining cognitive capability. Recent studies suggest that neurovascular integrity could be regulated by the gut microbiome. The purpose of the study was to identify if ketogenic diet (KD) intervention would alter gut microbiome and enhance neurovascular functions, and thus reduce risk for neurodegeneration in young healthy mice (12–14 weeks old). Here we show that with 16 weeks of KD, mice had significant increases in CBF and P-glycoprotein transports on BBB to facilitate clearance of amyloid-beta, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These neurovascular …

Use Of Urine Antigen Testing For Blastomyces In An Integrated Health System, Dennis J. Baumgardner

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Blastomycosis, an endemic fungal infection, mimics many other diseases. We explored the use of Blastomyces urine antigen (BuAg), reportedly the most sensitive noninvasive test, in clinical practice and compared it to other noninvasive tests.

Methods: A total of 836 BuAg tests performed on unique patients (first test only) at one large integrated health system from June 2013 to May 2016 were retrospectively reviewed to examine test characteristics and demographic features. Of these, 100 cases from 2015, a year containing a large local blastomycosis outbreak, were randomly selected for detailed analysis.

Results: Demographics for the BuAg-tested population: mean age 54.9 …

Regional Trends In Early-Monsoon Rainfall Over Vietnam And Ccsm4 Attribution, Rong Li, S.-Y. Simon Wang, Robert R. Gillies, Brendan Buckley, Jin-Ho Yoon, Changrae Cho

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The analysis of precipitation trends for Vietnam revealed that early-monsoon precipitation has increased over the past three decades but to varying degrees over the northern, central and southern portions of the country. Upon investigation, it was found that the change in early-monsoon precipitation is associated with changes in the low-level cyclonic airflow over the South China Sea and Indochina that is embedded in the large-scale atmospheric circulation associated with a “La Niña-like” anomalous sea surface temperature pattern with warming in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans and cooling in the eastern Pacific. The Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) …

Role Of Protein Charge Density On Hepatitis B Virus Capsid Formation, Xinyu Sun, Dong Li, Zhaoshuai Wang, Panchao Yin, Rundong Hu, Rundong Hu, Hui Li, Qiao Liu, Yunyi Gao, Baiping Ren, Jie Zheng, Yinan Wei, Tianbo Liu

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The role of electrostatic interactions in the viral capsid assembly process was studied by comparing the assembly process of a truncated hepatitis B virus capsid protein Cp149 with its mutant protein D2N/D4N, which has the same conformational structure but four fewer charges per dimer. The capsid protein self-assembly was investigated under a wide range of protein surface charge densities by changing the protein concentration, buffer pH, and solution ionic strength. Lowering the protein charge density favored the capsid formation. However, lowering charge beyond a certain point resulted in capsid aggregation and precipitation. Interestingly, both the wild-type and D2N/D4N mutant displayed …

Transmembrane Domains Of Highly Pathogenic Viral Fusion Proteins Exhibit Trimeric Association In Vitro, Stacy R. Webb, Stacy E. Smith, Michael G. Fried, Rebecca Ellis Dutch

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Enveloped viruses require viral fusion proteins to promote fusion of the viral envelope with a target cell membrane. To drive fusion, these proteins undergo large conformational changes that must occur at the right place and at the right time. Understanding the elements which control the stability of the prefusion state and the initiation of conformational changes is key to understanding the function of these important proteins. The construction of mutations in the fusion protein transmembrane domains (TMDs) or the replacement of these domains with lipid anchors has implicated the TMD in the fusion process. However, the structural and molecular details …

In Vivo Structures Of The Helicobacter Pylori Cag Type Iv Secretion System, Yi-Wei Chang, Carrie L. Shaffer, Lee A. Rettberg, Debnath Ghosal, Grant J. Jensen

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The type IV secretion system (T4SS) is a versatile nanomachine that translocates diverse effector molecules between microbes and into eukaryotic cells. Here, using electron cryotomography, we reveal the molecular architecture of the Helicobacter pylori cag T4SS. Although most components are unique to H. pylori, the cag T4SS exhibits remarkable architectural similarity to other T4SSs. Our images revealed that, when H. pylori encounters host cells, the bacterium elaborates membranous tubes perforated by lateral ports. Sub-tomogram averaging of the cag T4SS machinery revealed periplasmic densities associated with the outer membrane, a central stalk, and peripheral wing-like densities. Additionally, we resolved pilus-like …

Paclitaxel Enhances Oncolytic Potential Of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 In Cancer Cells, Misagh Naderi

LSU Master's Theses

Taxanes are spindle poisons that bind to and stabilize microtubules resulting in mitotic arrest. Herpes simplex Typ-1 (HSV-1) virions utilize the microtubular network for intracellular transport during both virus entry and virus egress from infected cells. It has been reported previously that taxanes may synergize with oncolytic herpes simplex viruses in the treatment of experimental prostate and breast tumors in mice. Other reports have indicated that taxanes may inhibit viral replication in infected cells. In this study the previously characterized Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (OSVP), which was constructed in Kousoulas lab was used in conjugation with paclitaxel (taxol) …

Pantoea Agglomerans Bacteremia: A Rare Case Of Spontaneous Human Infection By A Plant Pathogen In An Immunocompromised Host., Utsab R. Panta, James A. Joslyn, Rupal D. Shah

Appalachian Student Research Forum

Introduction:

Pantoea agglomerans is a Gram negative ubiquitous bacteria commonly isolated from plant surfaces, seeds, fruits and animal/human feces usually introduced to human by ingestion of infected fruits/vegetables, thorn pricks and gastrointestinal translocation in lack of stomach acidity. However, the pathogen can also cause opportunistic human infection especially when the immune system is impaired. The aim of this case report is to investigate clinical features in a patient with P. agglomerans bacteremia and bring attention the opportunistic infection by this rare bacteria.

Case presentation:

We present a case of 57 year old caucasian lady with past medical history …

Characterization Of The Interaction Between R. Conorii And Human Host Vitronectin In Rickettsial Pathogenesis, Abigail Inez Fish

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia are inoculated into the mammalian host during hematophagous arthropod feeding. Once in the bloodstream and during dissemination, the survival of these pathogens is dependent upon their ability to evade innate host defenses until a proper cellular target is reached. The establishment of a successful infection also relies on the ability of the bacteria to attach and invade target cells, as failure to do so results in destruction of the bacterium. Rickettsia conorii expresses an outer membrane protein, Adr1, which binds the multifunctional human glycoprotein, vitronectin, to promote resistance to complement mediated killing. Homologs of Adr1 are …