Date of Graduation
5-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Advisor/Mentor
Thallapuranam, Suresh
Committee Member/Reader
Dong, Bin
Committee Member/Second Reader
Alrubaye, Adnan
Committee Member/Third Reader
Churchill, Hugh
Abstract
Fibroblast growth factors are a family of cell signaling proteins that have the ability to bind to heparin and are involved in a wide range of physiological functions, such as angiogenesis, cell differentiation, cell proliferation, cell morphogenesis, and wound healing. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 19 is a signaling protein belonging to this large family of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs). FGF19 has a pronounced effect on various biological processes, including cell proliferation, cholesterol and lipid catabolism, and glucose homeostasis. As such, FGF19 is known to play an integral role in regulating many metabolic diseases, which piques the interest of the science community. In this study, we have gained a better understanding of the characteristics regarding the secondary and tertiary structures of FGF19 as well as the thermal stability of FGF19 so as to achieve a better understanding of the mitogenic activities and metabolic activities as they have vast implications on glucose uptake activity. We did this by ascertaining the optimal parameters to over-express the FGF19 protein using E. coli and, subsequently, using nickel-Sepharose column chromatography for purification of the protein. That was then followed by a series of characterization studies to include secondary structure study of FGF19 using circular dichroism, which showed that FGF19 had no alterations in its secondary structure of primarily alpha helices, and the tertiary structure study using fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that the tertiary structure was also intact upon purification. The thermal stability of FGF19 was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, which indicated a higher melting point for FGF19, which confers relatively low thermal stability. Future studies will further investigate the effects of FGF19 on the oxygen consumption rate of cells and on the glucose uptake activity in cells.
Keywords
Fibroblast Growth Factors, protein characterization, thermal stability
Citation
Kalaiselvan, R. (2023). Expression, Characterization, and Investigation of the Thermal Stability of Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) 19. Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/chbcuht/43