Browsing Faculty of Natural Science by Author "Dept. of Biotechnology"
Now showing items 21-40 of 55
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The identification of novel regulatory elements in the promoters of heat shock response genes
Ncube, Sifelani (University of the Western Cape, 2010)The main objective of this study was to investigate promoter sequences of putative HSR genes for the presence of unique regulatory elements and modules that might be involved in the regulation of HSR. In order to achieve ... -
The implementation of sub-typing techniques to determine the diversity of L. monocytogenes strains adapted to the food processing environment and their association with human listeriosis cases
Rip, Diane (University of the Western Cape, 2011)Listeria monocytogenes has been established as a food-borne pathogen since the early 1980s and has become a big concern for the food industry and Public Health authorities (Doyle 2001; Oliveira et al. 2003; Capita et al. ... -
The Internal Validation and Casework Application of MiniSTR Systems
Kleyn, Eugene Lyle (University of the Western Cape, 2008)The objective of the study was to conduct an internal validation on miniSTR systems and apply it to cases received from the South African Missing Persons Task Team (SAMPTT). This was prompted by the fact that miniSTR systems ... -
Investigation into the role of DWNN in cell death
Seameco, Tumelo (University of the Western Cape, 2004)Many genes are activated to influence the self-destruction programme of the cell. This programme entails synchronised instigation and implementation of numerous subprograms. The arrival of gene targeting aided in the ... -
Investigation of South African estuarine microbial species and genome diversity
Kaambo, Eveline (University of the Western Cape, 2006)A study of the microbial diversity in sediments of the Great Berg River estuary is carried out using modern molecular phylogenetic methods. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of (pollution by) the effluents ... -
Isolation and characterisation of esterases from thermophilic Actinomyces
Oldale, Megan (University of the Western Cape, 2010)Alternative sources of fuel are required worldwide, and bio-ethanol is the leading candidate. Lignocellulosic biomass, a waste component of the agricultural industry, is a promising renewable source. Due to its complex ... -
Isolation, expression, purification and characterisation of a novel acetyl xylan esterase from streptomyces species ORS10
Gao, Yu (University of the Western Cape, 2012)Lignocellulosic biomass represents an important renewable resource for biofuels production. Lignocellulosic biomass is comprised of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Lignocellulosics are highly recalcitrant to enzymatic ... -
Iterative helical real-space reconstruction of histone octamer tubular crystals and implications for the 30 nm chromatin fiber
Frouws, Timothy Duncan (University of the Western Cape, 2006)This thesis investigated the helical structure of core histone octamers to discover interacting surfaces and their relevance to the compaction of nucleosome arrays into the chromating fiber. -
Metagenomic approaches to gene discovery
Meyer, Quinton Christian (University of the Western Cape, 2006)The classical approach to gene discovery has been to culture micro-organisms demonstrating a specific enzyme activity and then to recover the gene of interest through shotgun cloning. The realization that these standard ... -
The microbial composition of a natural methanogenic consortium
Mashaphu, Nthabiseng (University of the Western Cape, 2005)Wetlands account for approximately 20% of annual global methane emissions. Many wetlands receive inputs of organic matter, nutrients, metals and various toxic compounds from adjacent agricultural and industrial areas. The ... -
Microbial diversity and gene mining in Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils
Smith, Jacques J. (University of the Western Cape, 2006)Soil communities are regarded as among the most complex and diverse assemblages of microorganisms with estimated bacterial numbers in the order of 109-1 cells.g. Studies on extreme soils however, have reported lower cell ... -
Microbial diversity of Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soil
Moodley, Kamini (University of the Western Cape, 2004)Antarctica provides some of the most extreme environments on earth. Low temperatures, low water availability and nutrient deficiency are contributing factors to the limited colonisation of Antarctic biotopes, particularly ... -
Microbial quality and safety of ostrich meat
Cloete, Anya (University of the Western Cape, 2010)The aim of this study was to determine the quality of slaughtered ostrich meat and to evaluate the ostrich slaughter process, to determine whether ostrich meat are contaminated by the in-house slaughtering practices and ... -
Microbiology of fly ash-acid mine drainage co-disposal processes
Kuhn, Eloise M. R. (University of the Western Cape, 2005)The waste products acid mine drainage formed during coal mining and fly ash from coal burning power generation, pose substantial environmental and economic problems for South Africa. Eskom has developed a remediation system ... -
Mining a Chinese hyperthermophilic metagenome
Du Plessis, Morne Graham (University of the Western Cape, 2007)Metagenomic sequencing of environmental samples provide direct access to genomic information of organisms within the respective environments. This sequence information represents a significant resource for the identification ... -
Molecular Characterisation of the Brassinosteroid, Phytosulfokine and cGMP-dependent Responses in Arabidopsis thaliana
Kwezi, Lusisizwe (University of the Western Cape, 2010)In this thesis, we have firstly cloned and expressed the domains that harbours the putative catalytic GC domain in these receptor molecules and demonstrate that these molecules can convert GTP to cGMP in vitro. Secondly, ... -
Molecular detection and characterisation of RNA viruses of honeybees
Topley, Elize Lindsay (University of the Western Cape, 2009)Propagation methods for honeybee viruses have not changed since these viruses were discovered. There are no suitable cell lines or cell culture techniques available for honeybee viruses. Honeybee viruses have to be manually ... -
Molecular detection and genetic manipulation of the Black Queen Cell Virus
Benjeddou, Mongi (University of the Western Cape, 2002)The South African isolate of the Black Queen-Cell Virus (BQCV), a honeybee virus, was previously found to have an 8550 nucleotide genome excluding the poly(A) tail. Its genome contained two ORFs, a 5'-proximal ORF encoding ... -
Molecular detection and study of Campylobacter and related microorganisms
Hoosain, Nisreen (University of the Western Cape, 2010)Species of Campylobacter, Arcobacter and Helicobacter have been associated with various diseases in humans and animals; and chickens have been identified as a reservoir of these microorganisms. Two published techniques and ... -
Phylogenetic diversity of nifH genes in Marion Island soil
Rapley, Joanne (University of the Western Cape, 2006)The microbial life of sub-Antarctic islands plays a key role in the islands ecosystem, with microbial activities providing the majority of nutrients available for primary production. Knowledge of microbial diversity is ...