Title:
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CHARACTERIZATION OF SlMCA2, A NOVEL TYPE I METACASPASE IN SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH |
Author:
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Suvajac, Ema
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Department:
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Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology |
Program:
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Molecular and Cellular Biology |
Advisor:
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Greenwood, John |
Abstract:
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Programmed cell death (PCD) is an indispensible process in plant and animal systems that serves to eliminate cells and/or tissues and recycle nutrients from these tissues to the rest of the organism. In animals, PCD is referred to as apoptosis and is performed by caspases, a family of aspartate-specific cysteine proteinases that serve to perceive the cell death signal and execute the cell death phenotype. In 2000, Uren et al. discovered a new family of cysteine proteinases in plants called metacaspases – distant arginine/lysine-specific relatives of animal caspases – thought to be involved in plant PCD. The goal of this study was to correlate SlMCA2 expression with PCD in tomato. Polyclonal antibodies were obtained against the Type I metacaspase SlMCA2 in Solanum lycopersicum and used for Western blot analyses. BY-2 cell biolistics and in-situ hybridization were used to investigate where SlMCA2 protein and mRNA accumulate in various tissues. Results produced were replicated a minimum of three times and correlate SlMCA2 to PCD, but not initiation of PCD. |
URI:
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http://hdl.handle.net/10214/3197
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Date:
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2011-12 |
Terms of Use:
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