The mechanisms of substrate recognition by regulatory proteases are not well understood. Presently, two opposing models have arisen to describe E. coil Lon's ability to discriminate between substrates: one suggests the N-terminus involvement while the second suggests the C-terminus involvement. In this project, the role of the C-terminal domain as...
Members of the family Chlamydiae cause a wide range of diseases. Chlamydia trachomatis and C. pneumoniae are most commonly associated with human disease. C. psittaci and C. pecorum are largely animal pathogens, although C. psittaci can cause pneumonia in the elderly and immunocompromised. A vaccine against these pathogens is desirable,...
Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is a genetic disorder caused by the inactivation of the
merlin tumor suppressor gene. NF2 patients develop bilateral vestibular schwannomas
(VS) and other nervous system tumors with no effective drug treatment option. In
pathological conditions, including NF2, production of the oxidant peroxynitrite leads to
protein tyrosine...
The ability to move towards favorable environmental conditions, called chemotaxis, is common among motile bacteria. In particular aerotaxis has been extensively studied in Escherichia coli. Three putative aer gene homologs were identified in the V. cholerae genome designated VCAer-1 (VC0512) VCAer-2 (VCA0658), and VCAer-3 (VCA0988). Deletion analyses indicated that only...
The immune systems of various teleost fish have been studied in some detail for
the past several decades. One aspect of fish immunity, that of endogenously produced
modulating factors, has recently received a great deal of attention. Understanding the
functions and roles of endogenous factors that regulate fish immunity is...
The lagoons spanning Alaska’s Beaufort Sea coast provide a unique habitat for arctic wildlife. These lagoons and the food webs they support face extreme seasonality with nine months of ice cover followed by a spring thaw that pulses a large amount of freshwater and nutrients into the lagoons. Bacteria link...
The transcription process of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), a rhabdovirus of salmonid fish, was studied both in vivo and in vitro. Polyadenylated RNA from IHNV infected-salmon cells was resolved electrophoretically into five bands, one of which was found to contain two mRNA species. The molecular weights and intracellular molar...
Studies were directed toward the formulation of a selective
Aeromonas medium that would permit the isolation of Aeromonas
species in the presence of other common bacterial flora. The final
composition of this medium, PBG Agar, in grams per liter, is:
Bacto-peptone, 10; Bacto-beef extract, 10; glycogen, 4; NaCl, 5;
sodium...
Waterborne fecal contamination poses serious risks to human health and can disrupt aquatic ecosystems. Molecular marker methods are widely used to identify and, in some cases, quantify the sources of contamination and guide management decisions regarding water resource protection. However, methods to detect some likely sources of fecal contamination such...