Marine Biotech. Fellowship: Cloning the cbp Gene of Vibrio Alginolyticus: Application as a Probe in Marine Waters

铜是生物系统中最常见的金属之一，但 升高的铜离子水平对微生物有毒， 有机体 细胞已经发展出高度保守的机制， 采取不同的战略，减少过度消费的有害影响 细胞中的铜。 已知铜诱导产生 一种对铜有亲和力的细胞外蛋白， 海洋细菌溶藻弧菌 该项目考察了两个 假设：（1）铜结合蛋白诱导是一种特异性的 对金属水平升高的反应和（2）微生物金属- 结合蛋白对调节细胞内的 海洋中生物可利用的铜含量。 哈伍德医生会 克隆铜结合蛋白基因，该基因编码铜- 诱导的铜结合蛋白。 特异的寡核苷酸探针 铜结合蛋白将被开发和测试， 海洋微生物的自然种群，以确定 铜结合蛋白探针检测该基因的功效 天然沃茨中的序列和基因表达。

Copper is among the most common metals in biological systems, yet elevated copper ion levels are toxic to microorganisms and higher organisms. Cells have developed highly conserved mechanisms and divergent strategies to reduce the deleterious effects of excess copper in the cell. It is known that copper induces the production of an extracellular protein with affinity for copper in a common marine bacterium, Vibrio alginolyticus. This project examines two hypotheses: (1) copper-binding protein induction is a specific response to elevated metal levels and (2) the microbial metal- binding proteins contribute significantly to regulation of the levels of bio-available copper in the ocean. Dr. Harwood will clone the copper-binding protein gene, which encodes the copper- induced, copper-binding protein. An oligonucleotide probe specific to the copper-binding protein will be developed and tested with natural populations of marine microbes in order to determine the efficacy of copper-binding protein probes for detecting the gene sequene and gene expression in natural waters.