Circadian rhythms are intrinsic biological rhythms that have a period close to 24 hours. Prokaryotic cyanobacteria are the simplest organisms that show robust circadian rhythms, and are the only organisms that have a circadian rhythm reconstituted in vitro in test tubes in the presence of ATP. This thesis is focused on studying the mechanism of the core circadian clockwork in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. In this dissertation, I explore the mechanism of the circadian rhythm in cyanobacteria with both in vitro and in vivo studies. I elucidate the essential pattern of dynamic protein- protein interactions among three identified core clock Kai proteins, and define the relationship between the traditional TTFL (transcription translation feedback loop) model and the PTO (post translational oscillator) model within this strain. In addition, a KaiC monomer exchange phenomenon is studied to further investigate the robustness of the rhythm.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-12212010-120143 |
| Date | 21 December 2010 |
| Creators | Qin, Ximing |
| Contributors | Brandt Eichman, Hassane Mchaourab, Carl H. Johnson, Douglas G. McMahon, Daniel Kaplan |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-12212010-120143/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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