Item Details

title

SRV REGULATION OF STREPTOCOCCAL BIOFILM DISPERSAL AND ITS IMPACT ON VIRULENCE

author

Connolly, Kristie Lee

abstract

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a Gram-positive human pathogen that commonly causes mild skin infections. However, GAS also causes severe infections including necrotizing fasciitis. The mechanism for triggering the switch between mild and severe disease has yet to be discovered. Several groups have shown that regulation of protease production may play a role in the transition from localized to systemic infection. GAS has evolved the ability to colonize a variety of distinct host sites, and one possible mechanism for colonization is through the formation of a biofilm. A biofilm is a structured, sessile microbial community encased in an extracellular matrix and may provide protection from the immune response and antibiotic therapy. We and others have shown that GAS is able to form biofilms in vitro and in vivo, however, the regulation and role of these structures during an infection remains unclear.

subject

Biofilms

Group A Streptococcus

Pathogenesis

SpeB

Srv

contributor

Reid, Sean D (committee chair)

Swords, William E (committee member)

Seeds, Michael (committee member)

Hiltbold-Schwartz, Elizabeth (committee member)

Kock, Nancy (committee member)

date

2012-01-18T09:35:35Z (accessioned)

2014-01-18T09:30:11Z (available)

2011 (issued)

degree

Microbiology & Immunology (discipline)

embargo

2014-01-18 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/36443 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Dissertation