Analyzing the effects of secondary structure on bacterial persistence in selected E. coli genes of interest.
Open Access
- Author:
- Unwalla, Burges R
- Area of Honors:
- Chemical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Thomas Keith Wood, Thesis Supervisor
Darrell Velegol, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Chemical Engineering
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
E. Coli
Persistence
Biofilms - Abstract:
- From human teeth to small pebbles in a river bed, biofilms have been found to inhabit nearly every surface imaginable in today’s world. Biofilms can be thought of as highly intricate microbial communities in which various bacteria adhere to a solid and thrive under certain conditions. These complex systems undertake a dualistic nature. On the negative side, biofilms can lead to infections within the human body. Conversely, they possess many industrial advantages within wastewater treatment and oil spill cleanup. The overarching desire is to understand the genetic basis of biofilms in order to quell their negative effects and subsequently promote their beneficial characteristics. As a starting point, it is essential to understand bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems as they relate to individual cell physiology within the bacteria of interest, E. coli K12 MG1655. The newly discovered type V toxin-antitoxin system serves as the basis for this research as a protein antitoxin is seen to inhibit the toxin by cleaving its mRNA. Further interest lies within the toxin motility quorum sensing regulator (MqsR) as it inhibits protein synthesis through mRNA degradation at preferred guanine-cytosine-uracil (GCU) locations. Each of the 4501 genes of E. coli were analyzed and the corresponding number of GCU sites for each were documented. Those genes that exhibited either zero, one or two cleavage sites were given special attention as they may shed important light on the ability of MqsR to increase antibiotic persistence. These seemingly important genes were analyzed through the technique of persistence assays.