Project Director

Kim, Jisook

Department Examiner

Albu, Titus; Lee, John

Department

Dept. of Chemistry

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Quinones are molecules that are commonly found in the environment, as cofactors for proteins or an electron carrier in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. However, quinones also can come from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as their metabolites, harming cellular integrity. In this study, we investigated protein modification of lysozyme in the presence of substituted benzoquinones and naphthoquinones. To simulate physiological conditions, all reactions used phosphate buffer (50.0 mM). While the majority of the experiments were performed at 37 C and pH 7.0, there were also temperature dependence (27 C and 42 C) and pH dependence (6.0 and 8.0) reactions included. SDS-PAGE was used to visualize protein modification of samples that were incubated with the quinones at specific time intervals. SDS-PAGE showed that the substituted benzoquinones and naphthoquinones caused protein modification at different levels of efficiency. Results also showed that the increase of pH and temperature caused an increase in modification as well. These results give a better understanding of toxic effects of PAH-quinones that are found in the environment.

Acknowledgments

UTC Chemistry Department, Dr. Jisook Kim, Dr. Titus Albu, Dr. John P. Lee, Grote Chemistry Fund, Provost Student Research Award

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

5-2018

Subject

Environmental chemistry; Quinone

Keyword

Biochemistry; Chemistry; Proteins; Quinones; SDS

Discipline

Chemistry

Document Type

Theses

Extent

117 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

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

License

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

Date Available

4-11-2018

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