Author

Carla Ciccone

Defense Date

11-10-2003

Graduation Date

Fall 2003

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

thesis

Degree Name

MS

Department

Biological Sciences

Committee Chair

Joseph R. McCormick

Committee Member

Edward Weisberg

Committee Member

John S. Doctor

Committee Member

Nancy Trun

Keywords

cell division, S. coelicolor

Abstract

Streptomyces coelicolor, a gram-positive bacterium containing division genes that are dispensable for growth and viability. ftsZ encodes the earliest acting cell division protein in prokaryotes. In S. coelicolor a mutation at codon 275 in ftsZ (ftsZ25), changes an alanine to a valine causing a block in division. Using a homology model of the crystal structure of FtsZ, I hypothesized that changing another amino acid having direct interaction with amino acid 275 might restore function. The structure-directed mutation changed a leucine to a valine at codon 259. The double mutation did not restore division to the organism; this change alone also affected cell division in a negative way. Alternatively, I used two random mutagenesis approaches. One, a chemical mutagen, hydroxylamine yielded no significant results in preliminary experiments. The second way was through the use of a mutator strain form which I isolated two suppressors of ftsZ25 that partially restore division.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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