Date of Award
Fall 12-15-2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Biology
College
College of Science
First Advisor
Doug Van Hoewyk
Abstract/Description
Plants that hyperaccumulate elements like selenium to potentially toxic levels may use proteasome complexes to reduce toxicity. The 26S proteasome complex may be a pathway that these plants take to rid themselves of selenium toxicity by destroying damaged proteins caused by selenium. A method to test this hypothesis is to use a hyperaccumulator of selenium Stanleya pinnata and nonhyperaccumulators Populous tremula and Arabdopsis thaliana to evaluate their proteasome abundance without and with selenium. To compare these species western blots were made to show the differences in proteasome abundance. Also to compare the amount of oxidized and an ubiquinated protein in samples without selenium versus with selenium a proteasome inhibitor MG132 was used in another set of samples. The results showed that selenium does upregulate the 26s proteasome complex in Stanleya Pinnata and Populous tremula but not in Arabdopsis thaliana.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Sabbagh, Melissa, "The Involvement of 26S Proteasome Complex in Selenium Toxicity" (2011). Honors Theses. 112.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/honors-theses/112