Digital Commons Network^™

Quantifying Structure And Variation In Complex Phylogenetic Data, Genevieve Geraldine Mount

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Identifying the source and structure of variation in nature is crucial to understanding fundamental aspects of evolution. Despite a recent plethora of genetic and morphological data, many interesting questions about the relationships between different groups remain unresolved. My dissertation evaluates three approaches for identifying and quantifying the variation within phylogenetic datasets. Characterizing variation within datasets and across analytical methods gives insight into biologically interesting characters, unusual evolutionary processes, and areas for model improvement.

Network-based community detection approaches offer a powerful tool to describe variation in phylogenetic signal across the genome (i.e., gene tree variation). In Chapter 2, I investigate the …

Evolution Of Green Blood In New Guinea Lizards: Phylogenomics, Biogeography, And Comparative Genomics, Zachary Rodriguez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Non-model organisms with evolutionary novelties and complex distributions can provide valuable insight into the mechanisms underlying biological diversity. Green blood is one of the most unusual vertebrate physiologies and has repeatedly evolved in lizards from the megadiverse island of New Guinea. An unusually high concentration of the toxic green bile pigment biliverdin causes the green coloration of these lizards' blood, muscles, and bones. This dissertation uncovered the complex history of this novel trait (Chapter 2), identified protein-coding sequences that underlie green blood in lizards (Chapter 3), and explored evolutionary processes that drive genetic diversity in high-elevation lizards. To accurately trace …

Identification Of Novel Host Genes Required For Antiviral Immunity And Viral Genome Replication In C. Elegans, Fei Meng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

RNA interference (RNAi) is a wide-spread gene silencing mechanism that control diverse biological functions and triggered by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) processed from the viral genome or its replication intermediates. Mechanistic studies of antiviral RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans has led to the identification of several critical factors involved in the process. As a result, whether antiviral RNAi requires additional novel genes remains to be an open question.

Viruses are intracellular parasites that rely on host products for reproduction. Disrupting their interaction with host factors can significantly compromise their replication and keep them under control. Thus, identification of host genes …

Regulation Of Mpcs And Kat8 During Adipogenesis And Nutritional Regulation, Jasmine Burrell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Obesity is a global epidemic characterized by an expansion of adipose tissue. Adipose tissue, composed of adipocytes and a stromal vascular fraction, is an endocrine organ that regulates whole body homeostasis. Obesity leads to the dysregulation of adipocytes and is often associated with increased susceptibility to metabolic diseases such as Type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Understanding the mechanisms by which adipocyte function and development are regulated is crucial. Mitochondrial pyruvate carriers (MPCs) are transmembrane proteins that transport pyruvate from the cytosol into the mitochondrial matrix to generate acetyl CoA. Although MPCs have been studied extensively, their roles in adipocytes are …

Exploring The Role Of Ccp1 And Ccp2 In The Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii Carbon Dioxide Concentrating Mechanism, Lillian Laplace

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Drosophila Melanogaster Sleep Models Using An Optogenetic Engineered Caspase And Channelrhodopsins, Corey Cooper

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Ribosomal Rna Synthesis After Induced Nucleolar Stress In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kyle Maher

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Novel Information About The Kinetic Effects Of Equine Shoe Modifications And Kinematic Effects Of Human Digital Devices For Improved Performance In Both Species, Pengju Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Equine shoes are frequently modified to enhance traction for horses that travel on paved surfaces for work, pleasure, or entertainment. Little is known about other common shoe modifications used to enhance traction like calks, tungsten carbide granules, or plastic composition. This information is vital to shoe design to protect the safety and welfare of all service, working, and leisure horses. The objective of the first part of this thesis was to quantify the effect of shoes with and without traction adaptions on kinetic measures in non-lame, light breed horses at a trot. Kinetic data was collected with a force platform …

The Roles Of Host Species, Geographic Scale And Environmental Stressors In Shaping The Composition Of Coral Microbiomes, Alicia Marie Riegel Parker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reef-building corals are long-lived and may take many centuries to adapt, making them especially susceptible to climate change. However, corals host microbial symbionts that can change quickly, potentially speeding acclimation. My dissertation aimed to determine the degree of coevolution and flexibility between corals and their microbiomes among hosts, across space, and in response to stress.

Microbial communities are usually surveyed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene, however the PCR primers used also amplify coral DNA, thereby limiting prokaryotic read coverage. To mitigate this contamination, I designed a peptide nucleic acid clamp that increased the recovery of bacterial reads by 2-11x …

Fish Community Composition And Structure Near A Freshwater River Diversion In Southeastern Louisiana, Rachel L. Snider

LSU Master's Theses

Gulf of Mexico estuaries, particularly in Louisiana, are among the world’s most productive, with landings of commercially- and recreationally-important species exceeding all other contiguous US states. Coastal wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate because they have been impounded from Mississippi River water and sediment. Although controversial, one proposed solution is to re-route the Mississippi River through diversions and siphons to supply the freshwater and sediments necessary to rebuild vanishing wetlands, particularly in Barataria Bay and Breton Sound, LA. This strategy is one approach outlined in the Louisiana Coastal Master Plan. This project aimed to describe the composition and structure …

Plankton Dynamics In An Urban, Subtropical Lake Prior To Lake Restoration, Jennifer C. Pulsifer

LSU Master's Theses

This research assessed plankton dynamics in two urban, subtropical lakes (University Lake and City Park Lake) shortly before a proposed and approved lake restoration project. Plankton dynamics were determined in University Lake by the dilution method to attempt to quantify growth rates of phytoplankton and grazing rates of zooplankton. Landry and Hassett’s (1982) dilution method has been widely used in marine systems to estimate rates of growth and grazing. In many marine systems, nutrients must be added to prevent nutrient limitation. However, it is assumed, due to the hypereutrophic conditions, that nutrients would not be a limitation in University Lake. …

Insights Into Desiccation Tolerance: Properties Of Late Embryogenesis Abundant Proteins From Embryos Of Artemia Franciscana, Blase Matthew Leblanc

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

LEA proteins are a family of intrinsically disordered proteins that are expressed in various life stages of anhydrobiotic organisms and have been strongly associated with survival during water stress. The brine shrimp Artemia franciscana is the only known anhydrobiotic animal that expresses LEA proteins from Groups 1, 3, and 6. Here, I report that AfrLEA6, a novel Group 6 LEA protein, is most highly expressed in embryos during diapause and decreases throughout pre-emergence development. Notably, there is an acute drop in expression upon termination of the diapause state and the titer of AfrLEA6 during diapause is 10-fold lower than values …

The Nucleic Acid Binding Activity Of Human Mitochondrial Matrix Protein Miner2, Munira Khaled

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Assembly Of The Photosystem Ii Reaction Center, Annaliesa Renee Fanguy

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Dna Methylation Analysis Of Ecr3 Of Oxytocin Receptor Gene, Amanda Husein

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Skeletal Muscle Specific Cpt1b Knock Out On Genetically Obese Ay Mice, Allison Stone

LSU Master's Theses

Fatty acid oxidation inhibition is one approach to reducing blood glucose levels in type II diabetes. Skeletal muscle specific Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 1b knockout mice (Cpt1b^m-/-) cannot transport long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria to be oxidized in order to produce energy. Cpt1b^m-/- mice have debilitated fat oxidation, less fat mass and improved glucose utilization compared to control C57BL/6 mice fed a 25% fat diet.

We hypothesized that CPT1b inhibition could reduce fat mass and lower blood glucose levels in a genetic mouse model of obesity and diabetes. To test this, we bred Cpt1b^m-/- mice to A …

Applications Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles For Conducting Mesocarnivore And Breeding Waterfowl Surveys In Southern Manitoba, Jacob Bushaw

LSU Master's Theses

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming an increasingly important tool for wildlife surveys and equipping UAVs with thermal imaging cameras could make these surveys even more effective. In my thesis I examined the feasibility of using a UAV equipped with a thermal imaging camera to conduct mesocarnivore surveys, search for duck nests built over water, and conduct duck brood surveys in southern Manitoba.

For my first objective, I conducted nighttime mesocarnivore surveys with the UAV and thermal camera. I used a modified point-count survey from six waypoints and surveyed 29.5 ha in each replicate. I conducted a total of 200 …

Quantitative Phenotypic Analysis Of A Functional Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor From Klebsormidium Flaccidum In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Jaeyeon Kweon

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Intergenerational Effects Of Crude Oil Exposure On The Morphology And Fitness Of Gulf Killifish (Fundulus Grandis), Lauren Little

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Head Trauma On Survivorship And Climbing Ability Of Wild-Type And Svip- Overexpressing Drosophila Melanogaster, Sarah Myers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Nanodisc And Liposome Interactions With 15-Lipoxygenase-2, Ye Rim Noh

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Understanding How Human Lipoxygenases Bind Molecular Oxygen And Arachidonic Acid Substrate, Austin Paul Primeaux

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Apical Constriction By Protein Trafficking Components In Drosophila Salivary Gland Invagination, Ryan Agsunod

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of The Albumin Protein Family In Reptiles, Emilie Broussard

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Verification Of Two Custom Antibodies For Clip-Seq Discovery Of Novel Non-Canonical Substrates Of An Ancient Trna Maturating Enzyme, Claire Fisher

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Diversity Of The Eastern Oyster Microbiome Across Tissue, Secretion, Space, And Time In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Megan E. Guidry

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Exploring Possible Lifespan-Extending Effects Of Botanical Extracts, Hayden Guidry

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Shifts Between Maternal Care And Infanticide Behaviors In Female Mouthbrooding Astatotilapia Burtoni Are Associated With Activation Of Galanin Neurons, Erandi Madushani Herath

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Neuron Morphology And Behavioral Correlates Of Attaining Dominant And Subordinate Status, Ian Hill

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Correlation Between Leaf Morphology And Environmental Niche In The Eucentropogonid Subclade Of Species-Rich Neotropical Bellflowers (Campanulaceae), Ayah Ibrahim

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.