This work is part of a retrospective collection of 179 electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) from the VCU Libraries pilot ETD system that were designated as available only to VCU users. Please contact us at if you have questions or if you are the author of one of these and would like to release it for online public access.
Non-VCU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.
Defense Date
2005
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/96FS-9V30
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Microbiology & Immunology
First Advisor
Dr. Richard T. Marconi
Abstract
The Lyme disease spirochete, B. burgdorferi is atypical in that a large portion of its genome is in the form of plasmids. Many of the plasmid-carried genes form extensive paralogous gene families and encode outer-surface proteins. In this report we have assessed the humoral immune response to proteins belonging to the paralogous protein family, family 163. We have cloned and expressed BBP39, BBO40, BBQ47 and BBN39 and used these recombinant proteins to monitor the temporal nature of the antibody response to these antigens during experimental infection of mice. The immunodominant regions of each protein have also been assessed through immunoblot analyses of a series of truncations of each protein. These analyses have led to the delineation of the targets of the antibody response during infection and of the specificity of the antibody response to family 163 proteins. In addition, we quantified the expression of each gene using real time RT-PCR.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
June 2008
VCU Only:
Off Campus Download
Comments
Part of Retrospective ETD Collection, restricted to VCU only.