Project Director

Harris, Bradley J.

Department Examiner

Giles, David

Department

Dept. of Civil and Chemical Engineering

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Vibrio cholerae, a Gram-negative bacterium, is responsible for the acute intestinal infection known as cholera. This illness is due in part to V. cholerae’s ability to sense and adapt to changing environments as it is ingested into the human body from brackish environments. It was shown in recent studies that this bacteria has the ability to uptake exogenous fatty acids, resulting in changes to V. cholerae persistence and pathogenicity. The aim of this research is to determine the extent to which these additional exogenous UFAs influence the persistence and pathogenicity of V. cholerae throughout its transitional period from brackish environments to human host conditions. Our hypothesis is that environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, salinity) direct fatty acid-induced changes in V. cholerae’s capacity to spread disease by triggering changes in the bacterium’s virulence factors such as: biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and cholera toxin production. Initial work focused on identifying the environmental conditions that trigger fatty acid-induced changes in V. cholerae persistence and pathogenicity using a design of experiments approach. The final work of this project focused on literary analysis of effect of the exogenous fatty acids on V. cholerae’s genetic regulatory pathways.

Acknowledgments

Dr. Bradley Harris, Ph.D Dr. David Giles, Ph.D

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

5-2019

Subject

Vibrio cholerae; Microbial toxins -- Analysis

Keyword

Unsaturated fatty acids; Vibrio cholerae

Discipline

Environmental Sciences

Document Type

Theses

Extent

50 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

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

License

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

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