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Title: Regulation and expression of Lcr plasmid-mediated peptides in pesticinogenic Yersinia pestis

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6281241

It is shown in this thesis that cells of Lcr/sup +/, Pst/sup -/ Y. pestis KIM are able to express Yops at levels comparable to that of Lcr/sup +/ Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Pulse-chase radiolabeling with /sup 35/S-methionine was used to demonstrate that Lcr/sup +/, Pst/sup +/ Y. pestis synthesized at least 11 distinct peptides during the low calcium response and that seven of the labeled peptides were rapidly degraded. These seven peptides were stably expressed in Lcr/sup +/, Pst/sup -/ Y. pestis and were of identical molecular weights as the Yops expressed by that strain. Radiolabeled fragments of low molecular weight accumulated in the extracellular medium of Pst/sup +/ cultures and were assumed to be stable degradation fragments derived from Yops. It was also shown that the set of stable peptides, including V antigen, were made during restriction by both Pst/sup +/ and Pst/sup -/ Y. pestis KIM and were located primarily within the cytoplasm. Those radiolabeled peptides which underwent proteolytic degradation in Pst/sup +/ Y. pestis were localized to the outer membrane and extracellular medium in the Pst/sup -/ strain. It is concluded that the failure of Lcr/sup +/, Pst/sup +/ Y. pestis to express Yops is the result of post-translational degradation and is not a block in the synthesis of Yops.

Research Organization:
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing (USA)
OSTI ID:
6281241
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English