Honors Program Theses

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Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Nalin Goonesekere

Abstract

Fusarium verticillioides is an important fungal pathogen of com. Many pathogens have virulent genes which are genes that increase infectivity of the pathogen. After a bioinformatics study, it was determined that genes Fv _ 00027 and Fv _ NPS6 are potential virulent genes in F. verticillioides. To determine if either gene ·contributes to the virulence of the fungus, deletion mutants of F. verticillioides were created lacking either Fv _ 00027 or Fv _ NPS6 genes. These deletion mutants were utilized in an optimized com assay to determine the effect of infectivity on com. To test these deletion mutants, com seeds infected with F. verticillioides were grown on germination paper and harvested. The assay included both negative (no fungus) and positive (wild type F. verticillioides) controls. The seedling weights and shoot weights were collected for each treatment and a computer program was used for the statistical analysis.

Year of Submission

2012

Department

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Comments

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Date Original

5-2012

Object Description

1 PDF file (iv, 71 pages)

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