Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Biology

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Carlos Molina

Committee Member

Sandra D. Adams

Committee Member

Chunguang Du

Abstract

While inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) is known for many roles, including inhibition of anti-apoptosis transcription and regulation of hormone signaling in human / animals, little is known of the role of ICER when interacting with viral cAMP responsive elements (CREs). Prior to this study, CRE sites were found in a variety of human viruses, in locations relating to DNA binding, DNA replication, and latency. A gel shift assay confirmed that ICER can bind to viral CRE sequences, and a reporter gene assay demonstrated that the presence of ICER on a viral promoter upregulates viral expression.

In an attempt to further understand the effects of ICER on viral replication, an in vivo study was conducted, focused on infecting an inducible expression system and analyzing the changes of viral infectivity, using Herpes Simplex Virus-1 as a model virus. In addition, two variants of ICER (an HA tag on the carboxyl terminus and an HA tag on the amino terminus) were studied.

This study demonstrates that inducing ICER with an HA tag on the C-terminus limits the viral replication capacity in Vero cell cultures.

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