Advisory Committee Chair
Terje Dokland
Advisory Committee Members
Gail E Christie
Peter E Prevelige
Jamil S Saad
Janet Yother
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2012
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Heersink School of Medicine
Abstract
Bacteriophage can mediate the transfer of unrelated mobile genetic elements (MGE) from a carrier bacterial cell to the susceptible population around it. This transfer results in the spread of virulence or other accessory genes encoded on the MGE. During viral particle assembly, the MGE can discourage the formation of viable bacteriophage progeny by limiting the size of the particles to those large enough to encapsidate the MGE, but too small to fit the complete bacteriophage genome which is three times larger. Here, I present models for size determination by an external scaffolding protein which is independent of and dominant over the native bacteriophage scaffold, and for size determination by a pair of internal scaffolding proteins which function in combination with each other and with the native bacteriophage scaffold. Finally, I show distinct patterns of size determination in closely related paradigms.
Recommended Citation
Dearborn, Altaira Davida, "Scaffold-mediated size determination of bacteriophage capsids by mobile genetic elements" (2012). All ETDs from UAB. 1494.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/1494
