Life Sciences Commons^™

An Analysis Of The Effect Of Ss-Hydroxy-Ss-Methylbutyrate On The Flight Ability And Lifespan Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Alexandra Elizabeth Beattie

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As muscle function deteriorates with age, the discovery of new ways to enhance the quality of human life by stunting inevitable aging processes, such as sarcopenia, is a subject of great interest to aging populations, to health care professionals and to nutritional companies. β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) enhances muscle strength in humans and attenuates disease-induced and disuse-dependent atrophy in rodents. We investigated the feasibility of utilizing Drosophila as a model organism to study the biological effects of HMB in aging muscle. Using flight ability as an index of muscle function and monitoring the lifespan of flies, we found that normal food supplemented …

Local Mate Competition And The Sex Ratios Of Malaria Parasites, With A Focus On Plasmodium Mexicanum, Allison T. Neal

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Sex ratio theory is a focus in evolutionary biology that explores how natural selection shapes investment in males and females. It has provided some of the best quantitative evidence of evolution and could find utility in public health efforts through its application to malaria parasites. These parasites have distinct male and female forms that are produced following massive asexual replication, and they mate within the blood-feeding insects that transmit them between vertebrate hosts. A very similar population structure is assumed by local mate competition (LMC), a model from sex ratio theory that predicts female-biased sex ratios dependent on the degree …

Investigations Into Host-Specific Interactions And Local Adaptation In The Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, Jonathan Gonzalez

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Mycorrhizal fungi are soil-borne organisms that form symbiotic associations with the majority of land plants. These fungi gather and exchange mineral nutrients with plants for photosynthetically derived carbohydrates. Mycorrhizal fungi can also confer other benefits onto plants, e.g. defense against pathogens, improved water relations, tolerance to heavy metal toxicity and herbivory. The influence of mycorrhizal fungi on plant mineral nutrition and response to stress suggests that these organisms may have a role to play sustainable agriculture as well as in bioremediation and ecosystem restoration.

In contributing to this important research, I investigated host-specific interactions between mycorrhizal fungi and the sex …