Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biological Sciences

Committee Chair

Luis R. Cruz-Vera

Committee Member

Eric Mendenhall

Committee Member

Luciano Matzkin

Subject(s)

Escherichia coli, Gene expression, Ribosomes

Abstract

In bacterial cells, ribosomes synthesize proteins by translating messenger RNAs. Newly synthesized proteins travel out of translating ribosomes through a channel named peptide exit tunnel. Nucleotides of the 23S ribosomal RNA and amino acids residues of several ribosomal proteins are in the peptide exit tunnel. Regulatory nascent peptides interact with the components of the peptide exit tunnel affecting their own synthesis. These nascent peptides interact with a narrow region of the peptide exit tunnel, which is mostly comprised of amino acid residues of the L4 r-protein. The results of this study show that the L4 ribosomal protein is important in controlling the expression of the tnaCAB tryptophanase operon in Escherichia coli.

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