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Effects Of Gamma Irradiation On The Biomechanical Properties Of Peroneus Tendons, Christopher M. Aguila, Gaëtan J.R. Delcroix, David N. Kaimrajh, Edward L. Milne, H. Thomas Temple, Loren L. Latta

Department of Biological Sciences

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Beta 1,3 Glucan In Stress Responses Of The Pencilfish (Nannostomus Trifasciatus) During Transport Within The Rio Negro Basin, Janessa S. Abreu, Richard P. Brinn, Levy C. Gomes, Dawn Michelle Mccomb, Bernardo Baldisserott, Sérgio F. Zaiden, Elisabeth C. Urbinati, Jaydione L. Marcon

Department of Biological Sciences

We investigated the use of beta 1,3 glucan as an imunostimulant during a transport experiment to determine the effects upon the stress response of the pencilfish (Nannostomus trifasciatus). Pencilfish were fed for seven days with different concentrations of beta 1,3 glucan: 0.0% (control); 0.01%; 0.1% and 0.5% of beta 1,3 glucan per kg of feed^-1. Fish were then transported for 24 hours by boat from Barcelos to Manaus. The highest dose of beta 1,3 glucan in the food increased Na⁺ influx after 12 hours of transport and 0.1 and 0.5% beta 1,3 glucan maintained the flux of …

Provision Of Ecosystem Services By Human-Made Structures In A Highly Impacted Estuary, Craig A. Layman, Zachary R. Jud, Stephanie K. Archer, David Riera

Department of Biological Sciences

Water filtration is one of the most important ecosystem services provided by sessile organisms in coastal ecosystems. As a consequence of increased coastal development, human-made shoreline structures (e.g., docks and bulkheads) are now common, providing extensive surface area for colonization by filter feeders. We estimate that in a highly urbanized sub-tropical estuary, water filtration capacity supported by filter feeding assemblages on dock pilings accounts for 11.7 million liters of water h⁻¹, or ~30% of the filtration provided by all natural oyster reef throughout the estuary. Assemblage composition, and thus filtration capacity, varied as a function of piling type, …

Deep Sequencing Analyses Expands The Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Ampr Regulon To Include Small Rna-Mediated Regulation Of Iron Acquisition, Heat Shock And Oxidative Stress Response, Deepak Balasubramania, Hansi Kumari, Melita Jaric, Mitch Fernandez, Keith H. Turner, Simon L. Dove, Giri Narasimhan, Stephen Lory, Kalai Mathee

Department of Biological Sciences

Pathogenicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a major cause of many acute and chronic human infections, is determined by tightly regulated expression of multiple virulence factors. Quorum sensing (QS) controls expression of many of these pathogenic determinants. Previous microarray studies have shown that the AmpC β-lactamase regulator AmpR, a member of the LysR family of transcription factors, also controls non-β-lactam resistance and multiple virulence mechanisms. Using RNA-Seq and complementary assays, this study further expands the AmpR regulon to include diverse processes such as oxidative stress, heat shock and iron uptake. Importantly, AmpR affects many of these phenotypes, in part, by regulating expression …

Allatotropin: An Ancestral Myotropic Neuropeptide Involved In Feeding, Maria Eugenia Alzugaray, Mariana Laura Adami, Luis Anibal Diambra, Salvado Hernandez-Martinez, Christina Damborenea, Fernando Gabriel Noriega, Jorge Rafael Ronderos

Department of Biological Sciences

Background

Cell-cell interactions are a basic principle for the organization of tissues and organs allowing them to perform integrated functions and to organize themselves spatially and temporally. Peptidic molecules secreted by neurons and epithelial cells play fundamental roles in cell-cell interactions, acting as local neuromodulators, neurohormones, as well as endocrine and paracrine messengers. Allatotropin (AT) is a neuropeptide originally described as a regulator of Juvenile Hormone synthesis, which plays multiple neural, endocrine and myoactive roles in insects and other organisms.

Methods

A combination of immunohistochemistry using AT-antibodies and AT-Qdot nanocrystal conjugates was used to identify immunoreactive nerve cells containing the …

The Sesquiterpene Lactone Dehydroleucodine Triggers Senescence And Apoptosis In Association With Accumulation Of Dna Damage Markers, Valeria V. Constantino, Sabrina F. Mansilla, Juliana Speroni, Celina Amaya, Darío Cuello-Carrión, Daniel R. Ciocca, Manual A. Barbieri, Horacio A. Priestap, Vanessa Gottifredi, Luis A. Lopez

Department of Biological Sciences

Sesquiterpene lactones (SLs) are plant-derived compounds that display anti-cancer effects. Some SLs derivatives have a marked killing effect on cancer cells and have therefore reached clinical trials. Little is known regarding the mechanism of action of SLs. We studied the responses of human cancer cells exposed to various concentrations of dehydroleucodine (DhL), a SL of the guaianolide group isolated and purified from Artemisia douglasiana (Besser), a medicinal herb that is commonly used in Argentina. We demonstrate for the first time that treatment of cancer cells with DhL, promotes the accumulation of DNA damage markers such as phosphorylation of ATM and …

Mutation At The Human D1s80 Minisatellite Locus, Kuppareddi Balamurugan, Martin L. Tracey, Uwe Heine, George C. Maha, George T. Duncan

Department of Biological Sciences

Little is known about the general biology of minisatellites. The purpose of this study is to examine repeat mutations from the D1S80 minisatellite locus by sequence analysis to elucidate the mutational process at this locus. This is a highly polymorphic minisatellite locus, located in the subtelomeric region of chromosome 1. We have analyzed 90,000 human germline transmission events and found seven (7) mutations at this locus. The D1S80 alleles of the parentage trio, the child, mother, and the alleged father were sequenced and the origin of the mutation was determined. Using American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) guidelines, we found …

Tyrosine Phosphorylation-Mediated Signaling Pathways In Dictyostelium, Tong Sun, Leung Kim

Department of Biological Sciences

While studies on metazoan cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and cytokine signaling laid the foundation of the current paradigms of tyrosine kinase signaling, similar studies using lower eukaryotes have provided invaluable insight for the understanding of mammalian pathways, such as Wnt and STAT pathways. Dictyostelium is one of the leading lower eukaryotic model systems where stress-induced cellular responses, Wnt-like pathways, and STAT-mediated pathways are well investigated. TheseDictyostelium pathways will be reviewed together with their mammalian counterparts to facilitate the comparative understanding of these variant and noncanonical pathways.

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Β-Lactamase Induction Requires Two Permeases, Ampg And Ampp, Kok-Fai Kong, Alian Aguila, Kalai Mathee, Lisa Schnepper

Department of Biological Sciences

Background

In Enterobacteriaceae, β-lactam antibiotic resistance involves murein recycling intermediates. Murein recycling is a complex process with discrete steps taking place in the periplasm and the cytoplasm. The AmpG permease is critical to this process as it transports N-acetylglucosamine anhydrous N-acetylmuramyl peptides across the inner membrane. In Pseudomonadaceae, this intrinsic mechanism remains to be elucidated. Since the mechanism involves two cellular compartments, the characterization of transporters is crucial to establish the link.

Results

Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 has two ampG paralogs, PA4218 (ampP) and PA4393 (ampG). Topology analysis using β-galactosidase and alkaline phosphatase fusions indicates ampP and …

Combination Of 16s Rrna Variable Regions Provides A Detailed Analysis Of Bacterial Community Dynamics In The Lungs Of Cystic Fibrosis Patients, Melissa S. Doud, Michael Light, Gisela Gonzalez, Giri Narasimhan, Kalai Mathee

Department of Biological Sciences

Chronic bronchopulmonary bacterial infections remain the most common cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Recent community sequencing work has now shown that the bacterial community in the CF lung is polymicrobial. Identifying bacteria in the CF lung through sequencing can be costly and is not practical for many laboratories. Molecular techniques such as terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism or amplicon length heterogeneity-polymerase chain reaction (LH-PCR) can provide many laboratories with the ability to study CF bacterial communities without costly sequencing. The aim of this study was to determine if the use of LH-PCR with multiple …

A K2a-Positive Klebsiella Pneumoniae Causes Liver And Brain Abscess In A Saint Kitt’S Man, Melissa S. Doud, Reni Grimes-Zeppegno, Enrique Molina, Nancimae Miller, Danajeyan Balachandar, Lisa Schneper, Robert Poppiti, Kalai Mathee

Department of Biological Sciences

Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated in community-acquired pneumonia is increasingly found in primary pyogenic liver abscesses. The presence of magA in K. pneumoniae has been implicated in hypermucoviscosity and virulence of liver abscess isolates. The K2 serotype has also been strongly associated with hypervirulence. We report the isolation of non-magA, K2 K. pneumoniae strain from a liver abscess of a Saint Kitt’s man who survived the invasive syndrome.