Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a bacterium commonly found on the skin and associated with minor skin and soft tissue infections. It is possible for S. aureus to infect the bloodstream, which can lead to serious illness and possibly death. Endothelial cells line all blood vessels in the body and serve as the last defense against pathogens attempting to invade the bloodstream. We have found that S. aureus requires a cellular pathway, called the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, to be active in order to invade endothelial cells. PI3K has multiple isoforms and we hypothesize that one isoform, p1 l Oa, is specifically utilized for infection. We have gathered strong evidenceto suggest that p 1 l Oa plays a significant role in the infection process of S. aureus; however more experiments are needed to conclude that our hypothesis is supported. / Department of Biology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/188290 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Birdsong, Julie A. |
| Contributors | McDowell, Susan A. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vii, 37 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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