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The cold shock response of Mycobacterium vaccae

Norgate, Kirstie Jane; (2003) The cold shock response of Mycobacterium vaccae. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

Bacteria respond to a sudden decrease in temperature with a response, which involves the induction of a specific set of proteins, the cold shock proteins (Csps). The major Csp, cold shock protein A (CspA), of the extensively studied Escherichia coli (E. coli), is highly homologous to the cold shock domain (CSD) of the eukaryotic Y-box proteins. This high degree of conservation indicates that the Csps may also have a role in autoimmunity as has been implicated for the conserved heat shock proteins. This thesis attempts to characterize the cold shock response of the non-pathogenic mycobacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae (M. vaccae), to identify its Csps, and to determine the presence of Csp antibodies in the sera of individuals with vascular disease. The response of M. vaccae to cold shock was invest tigated by monitoring changes in both growth and cellular protein composition. Cold shock resulted in a 90 to 100 fold increase in the generation time. The synthesis of at least 12 proteins was induced during the first 24h of cold shock; the major M. vaccae Csp was identified as a putative CspA homologue. The M. vaccae cspA gene was identified by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with high homology to the other mycobacterial cspA genes. Gene sequence analysis revealed that the mycobacteria and E. coli share a number of cspA expression control features. Notably, an unexpected decrease in cspA expression was noted on cold shock. Evaluation of antibody binding to cellular lysates from control and cold-shocked M. vaccae, using immunoblotting, revealed a potential predilection of binding to a putative Csp in the sera of individuals with vascular disease. In conclusion, this study has started to characterize the M. vaccae cold shock response and the humoral immune response to Csps, which indicates that immune responses to Csps may have a role in vascular disease development, potentially through an autoimmune pathway.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Qualification: Ph.D
Title: The cold shock response of Mycobacterium vaccae
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Additional information: Thesis digitised by ProQuest.
Keywords: Biological sciences; Cold shock protein
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10102519
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