UNT Theses and Dissertations - 73 Matching Results

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Impaired virulence factor production in a dihydroorotate dehydrogenase mutant (pyrD) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Description: Previous research in our laboratory showed that when knockout mutations were created in the pyrB and pyrC genes of the pyrimidine pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, not only were the resultant mutants auxotrophic for pyrimidines but they were also impaired in virulence factor production. Such a correlation had not been previously reported for P. aeruginosa, a ubiquitous opportunistic pathogen in humans. In an earlier study it was reported that mutants blocked in one of the first three enzymes … more
Date: December 2005
Creator: Ralli, Pooja
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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In Situ Hybridization of 70 kD Heat Shock Protein mRNA in a Rat Model of Ethanol Self-Administration

Description: Sucrose fading was used to initiate self-administration of ethanol on an FR4 schedule in male Fischer 344 rats. Rats showed low response rates for ethanol alone. After administration of liquid diet containing ethanol, ethanol intake increased over levels prior to administration of the liquid diet. In situ hybridization compared mRNA for the inducible or constitutive 70 kD heat shock proteins in ethanol and nonethanol rats. Both inducible and constitutive mRNAs were found in nonethanol and ethan… more
Date: December 1994
Creator: Ott-Reeves, Ellen (Ellen Theresa)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Investigating the Ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pyrE Mutants to Grow and Produce Virulence Factors

Description: Pseudomonas aeruginosa are medically important bacteria that are notorious for causing nosocomial infections. To gain more knowledge into understanding how this organism operates, it was decided to explore the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway. Pyrimidine synthesis, being one half of the DNA structure, makes it a very important pathway to the organism’s survivability. With previous studies being done on various genes in the pathway, pyrE has not been studied to the fullest extent. To study the fu… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Niazy, Abdurahman
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Investigation of Strategies for Improving STR Typing of Degraded and Low Copy DNA from Human Skeletal Remains and Bloodstains

Description: Forensic STR analysis is limited by the quality and quantity of DNA. Significant damage or alteration to the molecular structure of DNA by depurination, crosslinking, base modification, and strand breakage can impact typing success. Two methods that could potentially improve STR typing of challenged samples were explored: an in vitro DNA repair assay (PreCR™ Repair Mix) and whole genome amplification. Results with the repair assay showed trends of improved performance of STR profiling of blea… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Ambers, Angie D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Isolation and analysis of cotton genomic clones encompassing a fatty acid desaturase (FAD2) gene

Description: Polyunsaturated fatty acids are major structural components of plant chloroplast and endoplasmic reticulum membranes. Two fatty acid desaturases (designated FAD2 and FAD3) desaturate 75% of the fatty acids in the endoplasmic reticulum. The w -6 fatty acid desaturase (FAD2) may be responsible for cold acclimation response, since polyunsaturated phospholipids are important in helping maintain plant viability at lowered temperatures. To study regulation of FAD2 gene expression in cotton, a FAD2 g… more
Date: May 2001
Creator: Kongcharoensuntorn, Wisatre
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Isolation and Characterization of the Operon Containing Aspartate Transcarbamoylase and Dihydroorotase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Description: The Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCase was cloned and sequenced to determine the correct size, subunit composition and architecture of this pivotal enzyme in pyrimidine biosynthesis. During the course of this work, it was determined that the ATCase of Pseudomonas was not 360,000 Da but rather present in a complex of 484,000 Da consisting of two different polypeptides (36,000 Da and 44,000 Da) with an architecture similar to that of E. coli ATCase, 2(C3):3(r2). However, there was no regulatory polype… more
Date: May 1993
Creator: Vickrey, John F. (John Fredrick), 1959-
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Isolation of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa Aspartate Transcarbamoylase Mutant and the Investigation of Its Growth Characteristics, Pyrimidine Biosynthetic Enzyme Activities, and Virulence Factor Production

Description: The pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway is an essential pathway for most organisms. Previous research on the pyrimidine pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAO1) has shown that a block in the third step of the pathway resulted in both a requirement for exogenous pyrimidines and decreased ability to produce virulence factors. In this work an organism with a mutation in the second step of the pathway, aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase), was created. Assays for pyrimidine intermediates, and virule… more
Date: December 2004
Creator: Hammerstein, Heidi Carol
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Linkage of a nitrilase-containing Nit1C gene cluster to cyanide utilization in Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIMB 11764.

Description: Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIMB 11764 (Pf11764) is uniquely able to grow on the poison cyanide as its sole nitrogen source. It does so by converting cyanide oxidatively to carbon dioxide and ammonia, the latter being assimilated into cellular molecules. This requires a complex enzymatic machinery that includes nitrilase and oxygenase enzymes the nature of which are not well understood. In the course of a proteomics analysis aimed at achieving a better understanding of the proteins that may be req… more
Date: May 2009
Creator: Ghosh, Pallab
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Map-based cloning of the NIP gene in model legume Medicago truncatula.

Description: Large amounts of industrial fertilizers are used to maximize crop yields. Unfortunately, they are not completely consumed by plants; consequently, this leads to soil pollution and negative effects on aquatic systems. An alternative to industrial fertilizers can be found in legume plants that provide a nitrogen source that is not harmful for the environment. Legume plants, through their symbiosis with soil bacteria called rhizobia, are able to reduce atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, a biologic… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Morris, Viktoriya
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Microsatellite-based genetic profiling for the management of wild and captive flamingo populations.

Description: Flamingo species generate tremendous interest whether they are small captive groups or wild populations numbering in the thousands. Genetic pedigrees are invaluable for maintaining maximum genetic diversity in captive, as well as wild, populations. However, presently there is a general lack of genetic data for flamingo populations. Microsatellites are loci composed of 2-6 base pair tandem repeats, scattered throughout higher eukaryotic genomes, often exhibiting high levels of polymorphism an… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: Kapil, Richa
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Molecular Basis of Plant Defense Against Aphids: Role of the Arabidopsis Thaliana PAD4 and MPL1 Genes

Description: Myzus persicae (Sülzer), commonly known as green peach aphid (GPA), utilizes its slender stylet to penetrate the plant tissues intercellularly and consume copious amounts of photoassimilates present in the phloem sap causing extensive damage to host plants. The compatible interaction between GPA and Arabidopsis thaliana enabled us to characterize plant response to aphid infestation. Upon GPA infestation, Arabidopsis PAD4 (PHYTOALEXIN DEFICIENT4) gene modulates premature leaf senescence, which i… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Louis, Joe
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Molecular cloning and analysis of the genes for cotton palmitoyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase (PATE) and Δ-12 fatty acid desaturase (FAD2-3) and construction of sense and anti-sense PATE plasmid vectors for altering oilseed composition of transgenic cotton plants.

Description: A cotton PATE cDNA clone has a 1.7-kb insert with an coding region for 410 amino acids, lacking codons for the three N-terminal amino acids. The predicted amino acid sequence of the PATE preprotein has a characteristic stromal-targeting domain and a 63% identity to the Arabidopsis FatB1 thioesterase sequence. A cotton genomic clone containing a 17.4-kb DNA segment was found to encompass a palmitoyl-ACP thioesterase (FatB1) gene. The gene spans 3.6 kb with six exons and five introns. The six… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Nampaisansuk, Mongkol
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Multiple Activities of Aspartate Transcarbamoylase in Burkholderia cepacia: Requirement for an Active Dihydroorotase for Assembly into the Dodecameric Holoenzyme

Description: The aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) was purified from Burkholderia cepacia 25416. In the course of purification, three different ATCase activities appeared namely dodecameric 550 kDa holoenzyme, and two trimeric ATCases of 140 kDa (consists of 47 kDa PyrB subunits) and 120 kDa (consists of 40 kDa PyrB subunits) each. The 120 kDa PyrB polypeptide arose by specific cleavage of the PyrB polypeptide between Ser74 and Val75 creating an active polypeptide short by 74 amino acids. Both the 40 and… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Kim, Hyunju
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Mutagenized HLA DNA Constructs: Tools for Validating Molecular HLA Typing Methodologies

Description: This study describes the development and validation of mutagenized cloned DNA constructs, which correspond to the polymorphic regions of the class II region of the HLA complex. The constructs were used to verify the allelic specificity of primers and probes in polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based HLA typing assays such as Sequence Specific Primers (SSP) and Sequence Specific Oligonucleotide Probes (SSOP). The constructs consisted of the entire polymorphic region of exon 2 of class II HLA allel… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: Schulte, Kathleen Q.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Mutation Rate Analysis of the Human Mitochondrial D-loop and its Implications for Forensic Identity Testing

Description: To further facilitate mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence analysis for human identity testing, a better understanding of its mutation rate is needed. Prior to the middle 1990's the mutation rate applied to a forensic or evolutionary analysis was determined by phylogenetic means, This method involved calculating genetic distances as determined by amino acid or DNA sequence variability within or between species. The mutation rate as determined by this method ranged from 0.025-0.26 nucleotide subst… more
Date: May 2000
Creator: Warren, Joseph E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A New LC Column for the Separation and the Quantitation of Nucleotides

Description: A new column, Dionex AS4A, (polystyrenedivinylbenzene matrix) used for the separation of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides for the first time, and previously used for ion analysis was found superior to conventional silica columns because it separates ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. Resolution of dGTP was not possible with the Dionex column and CTP and GDP often co-eluted. Using conventional silica columns, monophosphates separated from diphosphates and diphosphates from triphos… more
Date: December 1987
Creator: Brock, Patricia C. (Patricia Charlene)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Novel Mechanism for Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Large Catabolic Plasmids Using Natural Transformation

Description: Natural transformation is the process by which cells take up DNA from the surrounding medium under physiological conditions, altering the genotype in a heritable fashion. This occurs without chemical or physical treatment of the cells. Certain Acinetobacter strains exhibit a strong tendency to incorporate homologous DNA into their chromosomes by natural transformation. Transformation in Acinetobacter exhibits several unique properties that indicate this system's superiority as a model for tra… more
Date: August 2001
Creator: Williamson, Phillip C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Novel Role of Trypsin in Zebrafish

Description: It has been shown previously in our laboratory that zebrafish produce trypsin from their gills when they are under stress, and this trypsin is involved in thrombocyte activation via PAR2 during gill bleeding. In this study, I investigated another role of the trypsin that is secreted from zebrafish. This investigation has demonstrated a novel role of trypsin in zebrafish. Not only did this investigation demonstrate the role of trypsin in zebrafish behavior, but also it showed that PAR2 might be … more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Alsrhani, Abdullah Falleh
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Nucleotide Sequence Determination, Subcloning, Expression and Characterization of the xy1LT Region of the Pseudomonas putida TOL Plasmid pDK1

Description: The complete nucleotide sequence of the region encoding the DHCDH function of the pDK1 lower operon was determined. DNA analysis has shown the presence of two open reading frames, one gene consisting of 777 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide of 27.85 kDa and another gene of 303 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide of 11.13 kDa. The results of enzymatic expression studies suggest that DHCDH activity is associated only with xy1L. However although the addition of xy1T cell-free extracts to xy1L cell… more
Date: December 1992
Creator: Baker, Ronald F. (Ronald Fredrick)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Origin and Role of Factor Viia

Description: Factor VII, the initiator of the extrinsic coagulation cascade, circulates in human plasma mainly in its zymogen form, Factor VII and in small amounts in its activated form, Factor VIIa. However, the mechanism of initial generation of Factor VIIa is not known despite intensive research using currently available model systems. Earlier findings suggested serine proteases Factor VII activating protease, and hepsin play a role in activating Factor VII, however, it has remained controversial. In thi… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Khandekar, Gauri
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Photoactivatable Quantum Dots in Super-Resolution Microscopy of Muscle

Description: Super-resolution 3D imaging was achieved using newly synthesized photoactivatable quantum dot (PAQ dot) probes. Quantum dots were modified with a novel quencher system to make them photoactivatable. The unique properties of these PAQ dots enable single-fluorophore localization in three dimensions using a confocal microscopy optical sectioning method. Myosin and tropomyosin of rabbit myofibrilar bundles were specifically labeled with the newly synthesized PAQ dot. A sufficient number of single q… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Akel, Amal
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Physical Characterization and Restriction Mapping of the Sal Plasmid From Pseudomonas Putida

Description: Physical and restriction mapping of the salicylate catabolic plasmid SAL from Pseudomonas putida strain PpG 2119 was carried out by standard multiple restriction analysis and by cross hybridization studies using radioactively labeled restriction fragment probes. The total numbers of fragments produced, their respective sizes, the arrangement of the restriction fragments on the plasmid and the map locations of the enzyme recognition sites for Hpal, Xhol, Dral and Smal are given.
Date: December 1987
Creator: Asghari, Abdolkarim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Physical Map between Marker 8O7 and 146O17 on the Medicago truncatula Linkage Group 1 that Contains the NIP Gene

Description: The Medicago truncatula NIP gene is located on M. truncatula Linkage Group 1. Informative recombinants showed crossovers that localize the NIP gene between markers 146O17 and 23C16D. Marker 164N9 co-segregates with the NIP gene, and the location of marker 164N9 is between markers 146O17 and 23C16D. Based upon data from the Medicago genome sequencing project, a subset of the model legume Medicago truncatula bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) were used to create a physical map on the DNA in … more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Lee, Yi-Ching
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Phytoestrogens in Two Dioecious Species: Isolation, Characterization and Role in Plant Reproduction

Description: A highly specific steroid regulated transcription system system in Saccharomyces cerevisae was used to screen for phytoestrogens indioecious plants. Yeast cells were co-transformed with a human estrogen receptor expression plasmid and a reporter plasmid containing the E. coli β-galactosidase gene.
Date: May 1996
Creator: Maier, Camelia G. A. (Camelia Gabriela-Anca)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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