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Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.

Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.

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Isolation of Treponema pallidum from Wild Chimpanzees and Gorillas

Description
Treponemal disease in primates is caused by the spirochaete bacteria Treponema pallidum. Three subspecies of T. pallidum are currently recognized; pallidum, pertenue, and endemicum. In humans, these are generally associated with the diseases syphilis, yaws, and bejel, respectively. Syphilis is located worldwide and spreads through sexual contact, while yaws and…

Treponemal disease in primates is caused by the spirochaete bacteria Treponema pallidum. Three subspecies of T. pallidum are currently recognized; pallidum, pertenue, and endemicum. In humans, these are generally associated with the diseases syphilis, yaws, and bejel, respectively. Syphilis is located worldwide and spreads through sexual contact, while yaws and bejel are geographically limited and spread by skin-to-skin contact. Despite different clinical presentations, these subspecies are very similar genetically and are unable to be serologically distinguished. Reports of symptoms resembling treponemal disease in non-human primates (NHPs) date to the 1960s, though few studies have been executed to isolate and study T. pallidum from NHPs on a molecular level. Obtaining whole-genome sequences of T. pallidum from a variety of NHPs will help efforts to determine evolutionary relationships of strains within and between species. Currently, no whole-genome sequences of T. pallidum have been sequenced from chimpanzees or gorillas. In this thesis, I will determine if T. pallidum is detectable in fecal samples from NHP’s with visible signs of treponemal infection using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.
ContributorsChaffee, Elaine (Author) / Stone, Anne (Thesis director) / Winingear, Stevie (Committee member) / Sanz, Crickette (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2024-05