Regulatory Genes of the Bacteroides Conjugative Transposon, CTnDOT

In order to examine which genes are responsible for excision, I first demonstrated that the excision genes orf2c, orf2d, orf3, and exc are part of an operon (the orf2c operon) and that this operon is regulated at the transcriptional level. I found that RteC is an DNA-binding activator of the orf2c operon and that RteA and RteB participate in excision by stimulating transcription of rteC. In order to determine whether CTnDOT regulatory genes can affect the expression of chromosomal genes in B. thetaiotaomicron , I used GeneChip and quantitative RT-PCR analyses. I showed that RteA and RteB are global regulators that induce the expression of various genes, in particular, tra genes in CTn, a cryptic CTn found in the chromosome. In addition, I characterized the repressor region, rteR, which regulates the expression of tra genes, using site-directed mutagenesis and Northern blot analysis. This region turned out to contain a small non-coding regulatory RNA that has been renamed as RteR. However, further work has to be done to examine its mechanism of action.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Microbiology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Moon, Kyung

Contributors dc:contributor

• Salyers, Abigail A.

• Biology, Molecular

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3242945

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/86688