Date of Graduation

12-2013

Document Type

Thesis (MS)

Program Affiliation

Biomedical Sciences

Degree Name

Masters of Science (MS)

Advisor/Committee Chair

Dr. Magnus Hook

Committee Member

Dr. Steven Norris

Committee Member

Dr. Theresa Koehler

Committee Member

Dr. Yi Xu

Committee Member

Dr. Scott Evans

Committee Member

Dr. Gabriela Bowden

Committee Member

Dr. Vannakambadi Ganesh

Abstract

Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a Gram-positive bacterium significant because of its ability to cause costly and difficult to treat veterinary infections worldwide. It exhibits several similarities to Staphylococcus aureus, however, very little is known about its surface adhesins. Surface adhesins in S. aureus are significant contributors to pathogenesis. S. pseudintermedius encodes the surface protein SpsD, which contains characteristics of the microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules family and confers attachment of the heterologous host Lactococcus lactis to fibronectin. This work has identified a centrally-located fibronectin binding domain in SpsD which binds the 30 kDa N-terminal domain of fibronectin with high affinity. The data indicate that a tandem β-zipper mechanism of binding may be taking place, and warrants further study into SpsD’s role in overall colonization of the host.

Keywords

Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, SpsD, Fibronectin

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