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LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model

Includes bibliographical references

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Magagula, Loretta Q
Other Authors: Mhlanga, Musa
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Division of Immunology 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Magagula, Loretta Q
author2 Mhlanga, Musa
author_browse Magagula, Loretta Q
Mhlanga, Musa
author_facet Mhlanga, Musa
Magagula, Loretta Q
author_sort Magagula, Loretta Q
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19895
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:05.164Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Division of Immunology
publisherStr Division of Immunology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19895 LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model Magagula, Loretta Q Mhlanga, Musa Brombacher, Frank Immunology Includes bibliographical references A growing body of evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), the most abundant noncoding RNA (ncRNA) species of the pervasively transcribed mammalain genome, have functional roles in the gene regulation of an array of cellular processes. These observations have since discredited the long standing central dogma formulated by Franscis Crick in 1958, which states that genetic output is entirely conducted by protein. Recent studies collectively indicate that lncRNAs play important functional roles in the transcriptional regulation of a wide array of cellular processes. In the last year alone, a handful of studies have identified lncRNAs linc-Cox2, Lethe, PACER and THRIL as central players in host cell innate immune response against microbial infection. These discoveries and the vast numbers of uncharacterized lncRNAs identified by high-throughput nextgeneration transcriptome sequencing technologies, set a precedence for further investigation and characterization of lncRNAs in infection biology. Importantly, lncRNAs may serve as important diagnostic markers of infection as well as therapeutic targets. These aspect of lncRNAs field although extensively being explored in cancer research, have been neglected in infection biology, particularly in microbial infection. In this study, next-generation technologies were used to identify subtle vairations in transcriptional activity, with particular emphasis to lncRNA differential expression, and uncover their physiological relevance during Listeria monotocytogenes infection. To this end, an RNA-Seq dataset of Listeria-infected HeLa cells was subjected to several variations of data analysis lncRNA discovery pipelines. Potential lncRNA functioning was hypothesized using the Rinn & Chang "guilt by association" approach in which lncRNA functioning was hypothesized based on the known functions of tightly co-expressed protein coding mRNAs. "Guilty" lncRNAs were then knocked down in the HeLa cells using transcription activator-like nucleases (TALENs) to validate their candidacy as infection-regulating lncRNAs. Preliminary investigations conducted in this study have revealed potential Listeria infectionregulating lncRNA candidates. Furthermore, we explored the use of the physiologically relevant cellular model of iPSC-MDMs to validate identified lncRNA candidates. This work provides a framework for lncRNA discovery from RNA-Seq data by iterative and intergrative analysis. 2016-06-02T08:46:43Z 2016-06-02T08:46:43Z 2015 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Med) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19895 eng application/pdf Division of Immunology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Immunology
Magagula, Loretta Q
LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model
thesis_degree_str Master's
title LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model
title_full LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model
title_fullStr LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model
title_full_unstemmed LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model
title_short LncRNA discovery in the Listeria monocytogenes infection model
title_sort lncrna discovery in the listeria monocytogenes infection model
topic Immunology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19895
work_keys_str_mv AT magagulalorettaq lncrnadiscoveryinthelisteriamonocytogenesinfectionmodel