Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Mycobacterium spp belongs to family Mycobacteriaceae, which includes pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis & Mycobacterium leprae) and nonpathogens (Mycobacterium phlei). Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the leading cause of death by infections reported in many developing countries. Mycobacterium marinum is a model organism for M. tuberculosis and it causes same cellular pathology in fish. The rnpA gene which encodes RNase P protein has been found to be present downstream of the rpmH gene which encodes ribosomal protein L34 in general in bacteria. These genes are essential for survival of bacteria. rpmH and rnpA were shown to be part of same operon and L34 shows excess expression over RNase P protein in Escherichia coli. The purpose of this experiment was to observe the expression levels of rpmH, rnpA and rnpB in M. marinum and E. coli on the transcriptional and translational level. Transcription analyses in both bacteria showed that rpmH is produced in excess over rnpA with down regulation in stationary phase relative to exponential phase but rnpB showed up regulation in M. marinum and down regulation in E. coli in stationary phase relative to exponential phase. Only the rnpA gene was cloned successfully while rpmH and rnpB failed to be cloned.