RSS 1.0Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Division of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Kansas City. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Recent Submissions
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Regulation of Antimicrobial Peptide Genes in Insects by the Toll Pathway and NF-kB Transcription Factors
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)Insects lack adaptive immunity and solely rely on innate immunity to combat pathogens. Innate immunity in dipteran and lepidopteran insects mainly depends on two canonical pathways, the Toll pathway that provides ... -
Hyper-Plastic Structural Evolution Of The PEX Domain - A Model Of Evolutionary Exaptation And Neofunctionalization At The Molecular Level
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)With the advent of sophisticated genetic, biophysical and in silico technology an enormous amount of information is being generated regarding the structural, biochemical and physiological aspects of proteins. Tertiary ... -
Role of Toll-Like Receptor 4 in Oxidant-induced Inflammatory Phenotypes in Macrophages
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017)A common mechanism by which redox stress may activate inflammatory responses to potentially initiate, propagate and maintain many diseases states has not been characterized. Accumulating evidence suggests that pattern ... -
An Investigation into the Effects of Alterations in Ribosomal Proteins S4 and S5 on Translational Accuracy, Ribosomal RNA Processing, and Ribosome Assembly
(University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016)Accurate translation of genetic message is an essential step in gene expression and is carried out by the ribosome. Ribosomal proteins S4 and S5 are critical for the decoding and the assembly processes on the ribosome. The ... -
Identification of a Novel Link between the Motor Proteins Dynein and Kinesin-1
(University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2016)The motor proteins dynein and kinesin are fascinating biological machines which, like vehicles in a city, move various cellular cargoes along cytoskeletal microtubules (MT). In filamentous fungi, these motors are important ... -
Structural Basis for the Formation of PTPRG•CNTN Complexes in Neural Tissues
(2016)Receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase gamma (PTPRG) is a cell surface receptor expressed primarily on neurons. It combines cytoplasmic tyrosine phosphatase domains and an extracellular region that includes a carbonic ... -
Independent Functions Of Clueless In Differential Integrin Secretion And Mitochondrial Quality Control In Drosophila Muscle
(2015)Drosophila Clueless (Clu) and its conserved orthologs are known for their role in the prevention of mitochondrial clustering. Here, we uncover its independent roles in the delivery of integrin subunits and the regulation ... -
Regulation of Gene Expression by Non-coding RNAs in Arabidopsis and Brachypodium
(2014)Expansion of high-throughput sequencing technology has increased our understanding in the importance of pervasive transcription and the resulting indispensable molecules, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). A significant effort has ... -
The Role of Host Translation Initiation Factors eIF4H and eIF4A and the Exon Junction Complex in the Control of mRNA turnover and Translation by the Virion Host Shut off Protein of Herpes Simplex Virus
(2013)During lytic infections, the HSV Vhs endonuclease (UL41) degrades many viral and cellular mRNAs. This endonuclease activity is dependent upon the ability of Vhs to bind the host translation initiation factors eIF4AI/II and ... -
The Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Prostaglandin E₂ in Myogenesis
(2013)Prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂), the most abundant prostaglandin (PG) in our body, has multiple biological functions related to physiological activities and the development of diseases. Emerging evidence has shown that PGE2 plays ... -
The function of Drosophila Integrin-Dim7-Elmo-Mbc→Rac signaling pathway in the muscle attachment formation and maintenance
(2013)The Engulfment and Cell Motility (Elmo)-(Myoblast city) Mbc→Rac signaling pathway is evolutionarily conserved from C. elegans to vertebrates and is essential for many developmental processes, including phagocytosis and ... -
The Middle Region is Required for Phosphorylation Regulation of Ceramide Transfer Protein
(2013)The trafficking of ceramide from endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where it is synthesized, to the Golgi for sphingomyelin synthesis is mediated by the ceramide transfer protein (CERT) in a nonvesicular fashion. CERT is a cytosolic ... -
Disconnecting a Role for DNA Repair in the Pathogenicity of the Human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans
(2014)C. neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen causing fatal meningitis and lung infections. Worldwide every year around 625,000 deaths occur due to Cryptococcosis. A basic understanding of Cryptococcus virulence ... -
Mating Type Specific Roles During The Sexual Cycle Of Phycomyces Blakesleeanus
(2014)Phycomyces blakesleeanus is a filamentous fungus that belongs in the order Mucorales. It can propagate through both sexual and asexual reproduction. The asexual structures of Phycomyces called sporangiophores have served ... -
Evaluation Of HIF Inhibitors For The Treatment of Ocular Neovascular Diseases
(2015-06-02)Hypoxia-inducible-factor (HIF)-mediated expression of pro-angiogenic genes under hypoxia is the fundamental cause of pathological neovascularization in ocular diseases and cancers. Thus, the inhibitors of the HIF pathway ... -
Analyzing the effects of Cis-elements and trans-factors on the stability of the Gal1 mRNP
(2014)The highly dynamic and nonrandom spatial organization of the eukaryotic nucleus plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression. For example, in S. cerevisiae, several conditionally expressed genes relocate ... -
Bayesian Change Point Analysis of Copy Number Variants Using Human Next Generation Sequencing Data
(2014)Read count analysis is the principal strategy implemented in detection of copy number variants using human next generation sequencing (NGS) data. Read count data from NGS has been demonstrated to follow non homogeneous ... -
Regulation of Antimicrobial Peptide Genes in the Tobacco Hornworm Manduca sexta
(2015-05-26)The innate immune system, also known as natural or non-specific immune system, is conserved from insects to humans. The insect innate immune system is composed of humoral and cellular components. Insect humoral responses ... -
Determining the differential roles of the dock family of GEFs in drosophila development
(2015-05-19)The evolutionarily conserved Dock proteins function as unconventional guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Upon binding to ELMO (Engulfment and cell motility) proteins, Dock-ELMO complexes activate the Rho family ... -
Modulation of neuronal ryanodine receptor-mediated calcium signaling by calsenilin
(2013)Calsenilin is calcium (Ca2+) ion Ca2+ binding protein found in the nucleus, plasma membrane, and endoplasmic reticulum of neuronal cells. Calsenilin was first found to interact with two proteins involved in early-onset ...