Date of Award
Fall 2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Microbiology and Immunology
Abstract
Bacteria are complex social organisms that live within mixed communities where microorganisms compete for limited resources. We studied Contact-Dependent Growth Inhibition (CDI), a particular type of competition mediated by a type 5b, or two-partner, secretion system that is widely spread among Gram-negative bacteria. CdiB and CdiA make up the two-partner secretion system that mediates CDI. CdiB translocates CdiA to the cell surface, and CdiA delivers its C-terminal toxin domain to the target cell. The C-terminal toxin (Tox) domain of CdiA is highly diverse. We studied Tox domains of various Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. We found different strains that contain unique CdiA-Tox domains differ in their ability to impart growth inhibition in bacterial competition. We determined this was not related to differences in the transcript level of cdiA but rather to inherent differences in the potency of Tox domains. This work provides insight into the complexities of interbacterial competition.
Recommended Citation
Yang, Haotian, "Interrogating Antagonistic Differences Among Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Cdia Alleles" (2022). Master's Theses. 4443.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/4443
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2022 Haotian Yang
