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Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.

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Other Authors: Cowan, Don A.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2019
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Cowan, Don A.
author_browse Cowan, Don A.
author_facet Cowan, Don A.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/72683
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:38:38.583Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
publishDateSort 2019
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/72683 Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA Cowan, Don A. u27435254@tuks.co.za Tsekoa, Tsepo Rashamuse, Konanani Adriaenssens, Evelien M. Segobola, Mashikoane Pinky Jane UCTD Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. The market value of molecular biology enzymes is growing rapidly, due to increasing applications in the Biotechnology industry. Such nucleic acid manipulating enzymes include polymerases, ligases, nucleases, phosphatases, methylases and topoisomerases. In this study, we analysed soils from the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve that is situated in area of high plant endemism within the Cape Floral Region. These soils are characterised by an acidic pH and are typically oligotrophic and yet support a unique vegetation type termed fynbos (‘fine bush’). We carried out high throughput nucleic acid sequence analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene library and a fosmid library prepared from a soil suspension that was size-selected (0.22 m) to enrich for viruses. Sequence data were assembled and analysed using the following bioinformatics (CLC genomics workbench, MetaVir, VIROME, MG-RAST, RAST and QIIME). Based on analysis of the 16S rRNA gene marker, there was a high level of bacterial diversity that was dominated by 5 bacterial taxonomic groups; namely: Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes and Bacteroidetes. The analysis of viral diversity using sequence data from PolB, PolB2, terL and T7gp17 gene markers revealed many bacteriophages with several members of the order Caudovirales; such as Siphoviridae, Podoviridae and Myoviridae. A combination of sequence- and functional- based screening approaches was used to screen for open reading frames (ORFs) encoding nucleic acid manipulating enzymes. A total of nine (9) ORFs (sequence identify < 60) were identified and belonged to the following enzyme classes: three ligases (RNALig2, RNALig3 and DNAlig), three DNA polymerases (PolB, PolA1 and PolA2), and three Nucleases (Restriction endonuclease (RE), Homing endonuclease (HNHc) and Endonuclease 7 (E7)). Various attempts were made to recombinantly express the identified ORFs, including the use of different expression vectors (pET20b(+), pET28a(+), pET30b(+) and pMAL-C5X) and host strains (E. coli BL21 DE3, BL21 DE3 pLysS, and BL21 AI cells) as well as trying various cultivation and induction conditions. A successful expression strategy was achieved only with DNAlig gene fused to a maltose-binding affinity tag using the pMAL-C5X expression vector. The purified recombinant DNALig protein was subsequently purified and assayed for activity. The purified DNALig protein showed an ATP-dependent DNA ligation activity and could actively ligate both restricted blunt-ended and sticky-ended restricted DNA molecule. Through the use of high-throughput next generation nucleic acid sequencingcoupled with sequence- and function- based screening methods, this study was able to highlight the value of analysing the soil metavirome for the discovery of novel nucleic acid manipulating enzymes for biotechnology research and development. Biochemistry PhD Unrestricted 2019-12-13T08:07:31Z 2019-12-13T08:07:31Z 2019/09/05 2019 Thesis Segobola, MPJ 2019, Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72683> S2019 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72683 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA
title Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA
title_full Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA
title_fullStr Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA
title_full_unstemmed Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA
title_short Identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic DNA
title_sort identification and characterisation of nucleic acid manipulating enzymes from metaviromic dna
topic UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72683