Project Director

Santiago, Manuel F.

Department Examiner

Meyer, Gail M.; Whitson, Stefanie R.

Department

Dept. of Chemistry

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Purple Urine Bag Syndrome, PUBS, is a unique condition that shows an interesting discoloration of the urine from women who have a chronic catheter. This study focused on the regulation of enzyme activities to determine the effects that may create an environment where PUBS is seen in patients with catheters. In this study, the reductive pyrimidine pathway was used to read out the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15692. This microorganism expresses a pathway that synthesizes indoxyl from tryptophan. The bacteria strains were grown using various carbon and nitrogen sources. Concentrations of acetonitrile at 2 mM and 10 mM, concentrations of tryptophan at 0.2 mM and 1 mM, and concentrations of ammonia at 0.2 mM and 1 mM were added to the bacterial growth media and assay mixtures. Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase was assayed and found that in Glucose Uracil minimal media, adding higher concentrations of acetonitrile resulted in a 2-fold decrease in specific activity, adding higher concentrations of tryptophan resulted in a 1-fold increase in specific activity, and adding higher concentrations of ammonia resulted in a 9-fold increase in specific activity. The study demonstrates that the enzyme could be regulated by acetonitrile, tryptophan and ammonia thus indicating a means to understand the urine discoloration.

Acknowledgments

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Grote Funds, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Chemistry, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Program, Jose Barbosa, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Committee Liaison

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2014

Subject

Biochemistry; Clinical biochemistry

Keyword

Purple urine bag syndrome; Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase; Pyrimidine; Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Discipline

Chemistry | Enzymes and Coenzymes

Document Type

Theses

Extent

149 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Download

Share

COinS