Hughes, William S.
(2015).
Cryptococcus neoformans phospholipase B and its influence on fungal cell morphology AND A study into proteins proposed to be involved in C-di-GMP signalling and predation from Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus - Bd1483, Bd1996, Bd2538 and Bd3100.
University of Birmingham.
M.Res.
Abstract
The two following projects reported were undertaken as part of the masters of research in molecular and cellular biology. The first project takes a look at the emerging fungal pathogen \(Cryptococcus\) \(neoformans\) and how one of its known virulence factors, phospholipase B, controls cell morphology. We investigated the knockout strain and their changes in cell size and nuclear content, after phagocytosis by murine macrophages, along with other stresses, to investigate whether phospholipase B may in involved in the regulation of titan cells. Results showed that during infection both nuclear content and whole cell size of the phospholipase B knockout \(C.\) \(neoformans\) strain increased over 18 hours, but further study will need to be undertaken to conclusively prove this observation. The second project changes kingdom and investigates bacterial cell signalling. \(Bdellovibrio\) \(bacteriovorus\) is a predatory bacterium, which is known to predate other Gram-negative bacteria. The molecular basis of how this bacterium goes from ‘bite’ to invasion has been shown to require Cyclic-diguanosine monophosphate signalling. In this study we have attempted purification and structural analysis of 4 proteins that are believed to be involved in the initial bite and downstream signalling within \(B.\) \(bacteriovorus\) and have documented the outcome within.
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