| dc.description.abstract | The goal of this project is to determine how physiological levels of polyphosphate affect cellular metabolism in the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum. Understanding the effects of polyphosphate on a molecular level is important, as its activity in Dictyostelium pathways is likely analogous to its activity in human macrophages, and thus polyphosphate shows great promise as a target for human therapeutics in a variety of diseases. In order to quantify the interactions of polyphosphate with Dictyostelium metabolism, I examined its effect on pseudopod formation, mitochondrial size and mass, ATP levels, cellular oxygen consumption, intracellular glucose content, and expression of the genes Plc, Pten, Grld, IplA, and PiaA. The results demonstrate that polyphosphate impedes pseudopod formation in wild type AX2 Dictyostelium cells. Additionally, polyphosphate increases mitochondrial size and mass in Dictyostelium cells and influences the expression of all genes examined. Polyphosphate seemed to induce a small increase in intracellular ATP levels, but the results were not significant. No significant impact on glucose content and oxygen consumption were observed. Ultimately, polyphosphate may interact with Dictyostelium metabolism through affecting mitochondrial processes and gene expression. | en |
