Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2019 Humoral Immune Responses to Select Bacterial Pathogens in the American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis Bailey Marie Alston Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Recommended Citation Alston, Bailey Marie, "Humoral Immune Responses to Select Bacterial Pathogens in the American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis" (2019). All Theses. 3135. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3135 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. HUMORAL IMMUNE RESPONSES TO SELECT BACTERIAL PATHOGENS IN THE AMERICAN ALLIGATOR, Alligator mississippiensis A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science Environmental Toxicology by Bailey M. Alston May 2019 Accepted by: Dr. Charles D. Rice, committee chair Dr. Thomas R. Rainwater Dr. Thomas E. Schwedler i Abstract The American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, is widely distributed and abundant throughout the southeastern United States. Despite their abundance, these reptiles have not been examined for their role in environmental pathogen distribution, as a sentinel for the presence of various p athogens, or other humoral immune responses in individuals from different habitats. This study investigates the humoral immune responses of alligators to select bacterial pathogens. Immunoglobulin Y (IgY), an immunoglobulin molecule found in amphibians, birds and reptiles, similar to IgG in higher vertebrates. IgY was purified from pooled alligator serum collected in coastal South Carolina.