First Advisor

Jonathan Pruneda

Date of Award

Spring 6-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Chemistry and University Honors

Department

Chemistry

Language

English

Subjects

Pathogenic microorganisms -- Research, Molecular probes, Small ubiquitin-related modifiers

DOI

10.15760/honors.1385

Abstract

Research on pathogen intervention and ubiquitin modification has increased over the last few years but a lot is still unknown about ubiquitin-like modifiers (Ubl) and how or if they are modified by pathogens in the same way as Ubiquitin. In this work, two different studies conducted over the course of 2 years are highlighted. The first study focused on purifying and synthesizing four activity based probes in order to study enzymatic activity in the Ubl-modification systems. These probes were reacted with virulence factors isolated from different bacteria and it was concluded that there were unexpected bands formed between some of the probes and the bacterial proteins. In the second study, a SUMOreal assay was developed to investigate if bacteria regulate host SUMO signaling. Past pathogen research has shown that pathogens have ways of hijacking ubiquitin systems with their unique ligases, eliminating unwanted cellular proteins, and creating systems where they are able to control the environment for their own benefit. Both these studies helped with better understanding the roles of these modifiers in bacterial infection in order to ultimately understand crucial mechanisms of disease and aid in the elucidation of fundamental cellular biology.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40287

Available for download on Saturday, May 24, 2025

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