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Quantifying Life History Energetics Of An Oviparous Elasmobranch Subject To Future Warming Water, Carolyn R. Wheeler

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Marine ectothermic fishes – fishes that do not regulate internal body temperature independent from the water temperature – are some of the most vulnerable organisms to rapid and alarming increases in environmental temperature occurring due to climate change mediated-ocean warming. For tropical fish species that live near their thermal maxima, this warming could be of grave consequence to individuals, populations, and whole marine ecosystems. Certain key life stages such as embryos and reproducing adults may be particularly vulnerable to warming given the excess energetic costs of these life stages, which may disallow compensation for extreme changes in temperature. One taxonomic …

Characterizing The Function Of B Cells That Accumulate In The Inflamed Central Nervous System In Anti-Myelin Autoimmunity, Lika Chowdhury

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While the role of autoimmune T cells has been extensively studied in anti-myelin

autoimmunity, little is known about the function of B cells in multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). B cells form clusters with T cells in the meninges directly adjacent to demyelinating lesions. Previous studies have shown that disease progression is dependent on the depletion of specific populations of B cells, but it is not clear which contributes to pathology or how. The purpose of this thesis is to characterize the population of meningeal B cells to determine how they differ …

Niche Modeling Of Eight Crayfish Species In Texas, Nathan Schubert

Biology Theses

Freshwater species make up ~10% of all known species and occupy less than one percent of earth’s habitat, which is being degraded by human usage. Crayfish have a large impact on their aquatic or terrestrial environment and can serve as a health indicator of aquatic environments, as they generally require undegraded environments. In many habitats, crayfish make up more than half of the macroinvertebrate biomass, and play important ecological roles, as a food resource for both aquatic and terrestrial species, as predators of fish and invertebrates, and as bioprocessors of vegetation and detritus. The objective of this project was to …

Heat Stressed Exercise Elicits Shifts In Cooling Strategies Across Body Mass In Tropical Songbirds, Kristen Dee Oliver

Biology ETDs

In resting animals, water use positively correlates with metabolic rate, for example smaller animals using proportionally more water per gram of body mass. However, animals also must endure heat and exertion, and evaporative cooling requires additional water use that may not scale similarly with body size. How evaporative water loss allometrically scales with body mass during heat-stressed exercise is poorly resolved, particularly for birds, yet is critically important for understanding the consequences of climate warming on the fitness of bird populations. Here, we evaluated how air temperature (T_a) influenced evaporative water loss during exercise (EWL_exercise) across …

Manganese Chloride Effects Chondrogenesis Of Atdc5 Cells, Isabella Somera

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Manganese is an essential trace element found in humans, which aids in several processes including brain and nerve function, glucose metabolism, calcium absorption, and bone formation and homeostasis. Specifically, bone homeostasis utilizes osteoblasts and osteoclasts, cells which function to build and reabsorb bone respectively, as well as chondrocytes, cells which aid in endochondral ossification. Chondrocytes deposit extracellular matrix components, such as aggrecan, collagen, and proteoglycans, that provide the necessary scaffold for osteoblasts to synthesize and mineralize bone. Activation of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway influences the regulation of several cellular processes, such as skeletal development and bone homeostasis. In this study, …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Trace Element, Copper Chloride, On Chondrogenic Cell Line, Atdc5 Function, Alexandra Bambrick

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Copper chloride (CuCl₂) is an essential trace element found in humans, which helps to aid in brain and nerve function, glucose metabolism, calcium absorption, and bone formation. Bone formation utilizes a variety of cell types, including, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and chondrocytes. Chondrocytes deposit cartilage components like collagen and proteoglycans that provide the necessary scaffold for osteoblasts to synthesize and mineralize bone. Copper chloride is known to aid in osteogenesis, maintain bone metabolism, and regulate bone mineral density, but its role in chondrogenesis is still unclear (15).

In this study, it is hypothesized that CuCl₂ treatments would enhance chondrogenic …

Roles Of Individual Protein In De Novo Polycomb Protein Recruitment, Piao Ye

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins are evolutionarily conserved epigenetic transcriptional regulators that maintain the transcriptional repression of silenced genes by maintaining heritable chromatin states. PcG proteins first discovered as repressors of Hox genes in Drosophila, later were shown to regulate a wide range of genes. In mammals, PcG proteins are involved in maintaining pluripotent state of stem cells and controlling cell differentiation. Misexpression of PcG protein leads to cancers like lymphoma and melanoma. PcG proteins maintain rather than initiate transcriptional repression, once PcG – mediated repression is established it can be maintained through an unlimited number of cycles. Most studies of …

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Pre-Assessment Of A Proposed Restoration In The Grand River, Grand Rapids, Mi, Usa, Matthew L. Bain

Masters Theses

River restoration is the dominant field of applied water resources management in the United States. Ecological improvement should be the goal of all river restorations, though many restoration projects fail to produce positive results due to limited scope or inadequate assessment methodologies. Pre-restoration, biotic data is essential for such projects as it can be paired with post-restoration data to gauge ecological outcomes. A major restoration effort is now underway in Michigan's longest river, the Grand River, where it flows through downtown Grand Rapids. The primary restoration measures will occur in-stream at local scale. We conducted a pre- restoration survey for …

Genetic Characterization Of Centromere-Mediated Uniparental Genome Elimination In Arabidopsis, Diana Spencer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The production of haploids through crossing was first discovered from instances of interspecies crosses in Nicotiana spp. in 1924. Since then, haploid induction crosses has been used to improve plant breeding programs and commercially utilized in a number of crop industries. The generation of doubled haploid instantaneously creates a pure homozygous line, therefore eliminating the need for several generations of inbreeding. There are several pathways to induce haploids in plants: of these methods, centromere-mediated genome elimination pathway engenders the highest haploid induction rate (HIR) with up to 45% in Arabidopsis compared to 15% through phospholipase-mediated haploid induction in maize. Centromere-mediated …

The Y-Chromosome's Role In Sexually Dimorphic Evolution And Mother's Curse Compensation, Tobias Nielsen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The Y-chromosome and mitochondria (containing mtDNA) appear entirely dissimilar, the former being a sex chromosome found in the nucleus and the latter an organelle with thousands of copies in the cytoplasm. However, both experience uniparental inheritance, with Y-chromosomes being patrilineal and mitochondria matrilineal. This leads to various other similarities including haploidy, high mutation rates, and limited or lack of genetic recombination. Moreover, the low number of protein-coding genes contained on both led to the belief that neither contributes significantly to the adaptive evolution of complex traits. However, recent studies show the Y-chromosome and mitochondria both influence roughly 10% of male …

Generation, Characterization, And Treatment Of Functional Zebrafish Models For Musculoskeletal Disorders, Julia Nicole Whittle

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Musculoskeletal disorders in humans present with a broad range of phenotypes that vary in severity, onset, and genetic cause. The musculoskeletal system is comprised of complex and diverse tissues that make up the majority of total body mass. Thus, mutations in many different genes with differing structure and function can produce phenotypically similar developmental and morphological defects in the muscle and skeleton. In addition, the muscular and skeletal systems develop non-autonomously, wherein development and function of each will affect development of the other. Thus, mutations in genes responsible for development of this complex system have the potential to influence morphogenesis …

Dysregulation Of Gene Expression In Non-Photosensitive Trichothiodystrophy, Brittany Townley

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The pre-mRNA life cycle requires intron processing; yet, how intron processing defects influence splicing and gene expression is unclear. Here, we find TTDN1, which is frequently mutated in non-photosensitive trichothiodystrophy (NP-TTD), functionally links intron lariat processing to the spliceosome. The conserved TTDN1 C-terminal region directly binds lariat debranching enzyme DBR1, while its N-terminal intrinsically disordered region (IDR) binds the intron binding complex (IBC). The IDR forms condensates in vitro and is needed for IBC interaction. TTDN1 loss causes significant intron lariat accumulation, as well as splicing and gene expression defects, mirroring phenotypes observed in NP-TTD patient cells. Ttdn1∆/∆ mice recapitulate …

Canonical And Noncanonical Mechanisms Of Resistance To Arginine Starvation In Cancer, Leonard Christopher Rogers

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The enzyme argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1) catalyzes the condensation of citrulline and aspartate into argininosuccinate as part of the urea cycle and citrulline-nitric oxide cycle. This reaction is essential for mammals to synthesize the amino acid arginine, which is required for all cells. Nearly all human tissues express at least some ASS1, but they import most of their arginine from the extracellular space after it is produced and released by the kidneys. Most solid tumors lack a functional level of ASS1, including over 85% of sarcomas, which are cancers of connective tissues. Published evidence suggests that this provides a proliferation …

Using Proteomics To Discover New Connections In The Arabidopsis Circadian Clock, Maria Lynn Sorkin

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The plant circadian clock is an endogenous timekeeping mechanism that uses daylength and temperature cycles to synchronize internal physiology with the external environment. Much of our understanding of the clock in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana comes from genetic approaches. In this thesis, I use affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (APMS) to identify protein-protein interactions for core clock components on a proteomic scale. I developed and optimized a protocol to perform APMS on a core set of circadian clock proteins: CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 (CCA1), LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL (LHY), PSEUDORESPONSE REGULATOR 5 (PRR5), PRR7, PRR9, TIMING OF CAB 1 …

The Enemy Within: An Investigation Of The Intracellular Bacteria In Urinary Tract Infections, Jennie Elizabeth Hazen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common diseases that are associated with significant morbidities. Multiple studies have indicated that multiple species of uropathogenesis bacteria invade and persist within bladder epithelial cells as a necessary step of uropathogenesis. Interestingly, many of these species are not canonically associated with intracellular infections. Although the first study describing bacteria within the urothelium was published two decades ago, this critical step of uropathogenesis remains relatively understudied.

I established a murine model of community-acquired A. baumannii UTI, a previously unstudied manifestation of the disease. While immunocompetent mice resolved their infections quickly, immunocompromised mice displayed high bacterial burdens …

Inferring Adaptation In Social Microbes From Experimental Evolution Under Relaxed Selection, Tyler John Larsen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microbes exist against a backdrop of other organisms, and the interactions between microbes have major consequences on their traits, their evolution, and their impact on the world. Microbial interactions and the adaptations that enable them are extremely diverse – they can unlock abilities beyond the reach of individual cells or lead to a population’s destruction, they can be temporary or permanent, they can be between genetically identical cells or different species entirely. The first chapter of this dissertation reviews microbial interactions and the related concept of the evolution of conflict and cooperation.To be certain a trait is an adaptation at …

Effects Of Red Light Intensity On Cultivation And Oxygen Production In Arthrospira Platensis, Abigail Roberts

Honors Theses

Maintaining life sustaining resources during long-term space travel has encouraged scientists to turn their attention to the potential benefits of a cyanobacteria named Arthrospira platensis, commonly known as Spirulina algae. This experiment measures the oxygen production and cell population growth of two structurally different Spirulina cultures under two different levels of red light intensities, 8 µmol/m2/s (high); 3 µmol/m2/s (low). The cell population, oxygen produced, and oxygen produced per cell measurements were observed and recorded at three 24 hour intervals. It was found there was not a significant difference between high and low light intensities when considering the cell concentration …

Investigating Biometrics Of Perimyotis Subflavus In Traditional And Nontraditional Hibernacula In The Southeastern United States As It Relates To Susceptibility To White-Nose Syndrome., Makayla Ferrari

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Perimyotis subflavus, or tricolored bat, populations have declined significantly since the emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS) and has been proposed for listing as “endangered” under the United States Endangered Species Act. Traditionally, bats use caves as hibernacula, but as anthropogenic impacts have increased so has the use of manmade structures like culverts and bridges for roosting by several bat species. The internal environment of these anthropogenic structures is influenced by external temperature and humidity differently than caves and may influence P. subflavus winter activity, and thus susceptibility to WNS. One of the most significant differences in P. subflavus roosting behavior …

Developing And Utilizing Novel Biofluid N-Glycan Profiling Methods For The Classification Of Suspicious Mammogram Findings, Calvin Blaschke

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Biofluids are a great source of biomarkers because they reflect the immune and metabolic status of cells throughout the body and can be collected non-invasively. Changes in the levels and compositions of N-glycans released from serum and plasma glycoproteins have been assessed in many diseases across many large clinical sample cohorts. Assays used for N-glycan profiling in these fluids currently require multiple lengthy processing steps, thus diminishing their potential for use as standard clinical diagnostic assays. In response to this need for rapid, simple, and high-throughput biofluid analysis, a novel slide-based biofluid profiling platform was developed for the detection of …

Fine-Scale Site Selection Of Strand-Feeding Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) And Their Prey, Deborah Kleinclaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Strand-feeding is a unique, cooperative foraging strategy used by some common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at low tide in South Carolina and Georgia salt marshes, where a group of dolphins charges schools of fish, thrusting them onto the bank with their bow wave and then capturing prey items onshore. Strand-feeding dolphins are estuarine residents and frequent predictable stranding sites, suggesting an intimate knowledge of the area. Dolphin behavior prior to stranding suggests they do not herd the fish before charging, but instead prey on fish already shoaling near the bank. The use of active acoustics from strand-feeders in order to …

Abundance And Growth Of Juvenile Atlantic Sturgeon In The Edisto River, Sc, Molly Katherine Takacs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Information on abundance and body growth are important for understanding the status and health of populations, and this information can be used to guide and monitor conservation and recovery efforts for species of conservation concern. The Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) is an anadromous fish native to the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. Due to overfishing and habitat degradation, population levels declined, and Atlantic Sturgeon were placed on the Endangered Species list in 2012. Although there is substantial research on adult Atlantic Sturgeon, knowledge about their early life history is lacking. The objective of this study were …

Differential Expression Of Photosynthetic Genes In Cryptophyte Algae (Hemiselmis Cryptochromatica Ccmp 1181), Chastity D. Aguilar

Biology Theses

Cryptophytes are a group of freshwater algae that have acquired photosynthesis through secondary endosymbiosis with a red alga and an unknown eukaryote heterotroph. Cryptophytes possess photosynthetic pigment-protein structures called phycobiliproteins (PBPs). Cryptophyte phycobiliproteins are composed of α and β-protein subunits and four chromophores (bilins). There are nine classes of cryptophyte PBPs that absorb different wavelengths of light based on the type of bilins covalently bound to the protein subunits. Three cryptophyte PBPs are phycoerythrins that give the algae a red appearance and six are phycocyanins that give the algae a blue to green appearance. Hemiselmis cryptochromatica (CCMP 1181) is a …

The Emerging Value Of The Viroid Model In Understanding Plant Responses To Foreign Rnas, Junfei Ma

Theses and Dissertations

RNAs play essential roles in various biological processes. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that RNA subcellular localization and intercellular trafficking govern their functions in coordinating plant growth at the organismal level. Beyond that, plants constantly encounter foreign RNAs (i.e., RNAs from pathogens including viruses and viroids). The subcellular localizations of RNAs are crucial for their function. While numerous types of RNAs (i.e., mRNAs, small RNAs, rRNAs, tRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs) have been found to traffic in a non-cell-autonomous fashion within plants, the underlying regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Viroids are single-stranded circular noncoding RNAs, which entirely rely …

Evaluation Of Novel Litter Amendments For Use In The Commercial Broiler Industry, Jorge A. Urrutia

Theses and Dissertations

Poultry litter amendments (LA) are commonly used to maintain good litter quality; the most common ones; are acidifiers. However, concern over the lifespan of LA acidifiers (d) and corrosive nature revealed a need for alternative LA. Products of interest include biochar (BC), superabsorbent polymers (SAPs), and alum mud (AM). Experiment 1 was a screening study (n=17 treatments, no birds) conducted to determine the optimal application rate/method of BC, SAPs, and AM vs.commercial LA and a control. Most SAPs treatments measured metrics may be similar (i.e., bacteria, water activity) or better (pH) vs. commercial LA (PLT). High inclusions of novel LA …

Policy Implications Of Managing Biodiversity And Natural Resources Across International Boundaries, Dillon Brown

Dissertations

Fisheries Management under the best of scenarios is a complex action. It requires thoughtful consideration of resources that tend to be out of sight, widely distributed, highly variable both spatially and temporally, and present dramatic variation in life history and ecology. No one management approach has been developed which can effectively incorporate all these variables. Add to this the issue of transnational boundary movements of these resources, and one discovers that this complex issue needs to be addressed by multiple entities, agencies, and nations to have any chance of success.

This research set out to discover ways in which fisheries …

Standardization Of A Latent Blood Visualizer Based Upon Dna Degradation, Kailey M. Van 'T Hoff

Honors Projects

Latent blood visualizers have been used in forensic science since 1937 beginning with Luminol. These visualizers through different types of reactions react with trace amounts of blood that cannot be seen with the naked human eye. These different reactions produce color that can then be seen by examiners. The four types of latent blood visualizers that were compared is luminol, leuco crystal violet, fluorescein, and bluestar. Luminol and bluestar use chemiluminescence, fluorescein uses florescent, and leuco crystal violet uses oxidation to react with iron in hemoglobin. At crime scenes when blood is detected which includes with the blood visualizers the …

Caribbean Reef-Building Coral-Symbiodiniaceae Network: Identifying Symbioses Critical For System Stability In A Changing Climate, Shaman Patel

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Increasing global ocean temperatures and frequency of marine heatwaves pose dire consequences for coral reefs. High temperatures often lead to disruptions in coral symbiosis resulting in coral bleaching, increasing the mortality of corals. However, corals can potentially avoid bleaching peril by associating with thermally tolerant symbionts. Here we provide a tool for understanding symbiosis network stability of Caribbean reef-building corals. We created a network of Caribbean hermatypic corals and their associated Symbiodiniaceae phylotypes. A bleaching model was applied to this network to test for resilience and robustness (R50) to thermal stress. It was also layered with trait data for coral …

Autopsy V. Virtopsy: A New Approach For Postmortem Forensic Examination, Nicole Elaine Lawson

Honors Projects

Virtopsy as a potential new standard in forensic science investigation in the place of a conventional autopsy. In recent years there have been new advancements across the forensic field and in the scientific world as a whole. These advancements have changed many approaches bringing new capabilities and new challenges and pushback. This report takes a specific interest in the evolution of forensic autopsy. With improvements such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography scan (CT), X-Rays, and other approaches a new term and technique have been coined Virtopsy. As this new potential approach has come to light the resistance against …

Effects Of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Injections On Tissue Function And Morphology In Goldfish (Carassius Auratus), Bryan Joel Patterson

Graduate Theses

Fish gills are sensitive to a variety of environmental factors because they regulate the exchange of oxygen and ions between the fish and the external environment. This study examined the effects of polyacrylic acid (PAA) coated titanium dioxide nanoparticle injections (TiO₂ NPs) on goldfish (Carassius auratus) over 14 days. Following the experimental period, we examined gill histological samples and looked for signs of an inflammatory response through blood glucose levels and relevant gene expression. TiO₂ injected fish developed a more robust ILCM (interlamellar cell mass) compared to the non-injected controls, which remained elevated over 14 days post injection. …

Investigations Into Prg-2 And Its Involvement In Developing Gallus Gallus Retinal Neurons, Jeffrey Parham

Graduate Theses

I am interested in the development of the nervous system, especially since during development nerves grow and extend, but in adults, they do not regenerate if damaged. We are specifically interested in the molecules that guide nerves to the correct target during their development. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive molecule that has been shown to play a role in neural development. LPA, through repeated studies, has been shown to stop neurons from growing by causing a physical change in a neuron’s growth cone (a structure used for navigation and growth). Recently, a novel set of genes, called PRGs, have …