Presentation Title: Investigating Virulence Factor Duplications in Mycobacterium marinum Discipline: Biology School: University of Hawaii at Manoa Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Abstract: Investigating Virulence Factor Duplications in Mycobacterium marinum Kekaihalai J. Avilez, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Pathogenic mycobacteria pose a serious burden to global health. One-third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacteria tuberculosis (M. tb), the causative agent of Tuberculosis (TB). Over 9 million people become sick each year and an average of 2 million people die each year from TB. We understand very little about how mycobacteria cause disease at the molecular level. CFP-10 is a major mycobacterial virulence factor, which is secreted by the ESX-1 secretion system. Interestingly, Mycobacterium marinum, an established model for M. tuberculosis, has two identical copies of the gene that encodes for CFP-10 (esxB). We previously found that M. marinum secretes both CFP-10 proteins. However, the duplicate copy (CFP-10_1) is secreted in the absence of the ESX-1 secretion machine. We seek to better understand the secretion of both CFP-10's from M. marinum. M. tb uses the ESX-1 secretion system to export its CFP-10 protein, which differs from M. marinum by three amino acids. Using this difference, we introduced the TB CFP-10 into M. marinum lacking CFP-10, creating a strain that has two distinct, detectable copies of CFP-10. The goal is to verify if the duplicate CFP-10 is secreted from M. marinum in an ESX-1 independent manner. We will develop a CFP-10 diploid strain that will allow us to distinguish between the CFP-10 proteins that M. marinum produces and exports.
Presenter: Kekaihalai J. Avilez Tribe: Native Hawaiian Primary Email: avilez@hawaii.edu Biography Kekai is a Native Hawaiian from Pauoa, Oahu, Hawaii, and a senior at the University of Hawaii at Manoa majoring in Molecular Cell Biology and Hawaiian Language. His interests lie in the areas of biomedical sciences and medicine, hula, hawaiian chant, music and lei making.
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