Life Sciences Commons^™

Methylation-Specific Differentiation Of Vaginal Epithelial Cells For Forensic Tissue Typing By Bisulfite Conversion And Pyrosequencing, Elise Pood

Master's Theses

The identification of bodily fluids and tissues is often applied to criminal investigations to clarify events that may or may not have taken place. Current forensic techniques can identify blood, saliva, seminal fluid, and spermatozoa, but there is a clear absence of reliable testing to identify vaginal epithelial tissue. Though there are serological tests available for this purpose, tissue-specific methylation markers have recently been investigated as a candidate for the identification of blood, saliva, and spermatozoa.

In this study, tissue-specific methylation markers were analyzed to identify a set of markers for the differentiation of vaginal fluid from blood, saliva, and …

The Confluence Of Philosophy And Biology: An Excavation Of Philosophical Issues In Molecular And Developmental Biology, Patrick Johnson Mendie, Emmanuel Bassey Eyo (Ph.D)

Journal of Health Ethics

Philosophical evaluations have played an influential role in the growth and development of molecular and developmental biology to ensure that every individual is born healthy, born wanted and has the privilege to fulfil his or her potentials for a life free from disease and disability. This is why it becomes necessary for biologists to carefully understand human genes, evolution, cells and general human anatomy to fulfil this project. During this process, they are faced with challenges where they also lack the foundation on how to solve them. This challenge gave birth to a philosophical excavation of molecular and developmental biology. …

Enhancing Pcr Amplification Of Dna From Recalcitrant Plant Specimens Using A Trelahose-Based Additive, Tharangamala Samarakoon, Shiao Y. Wang, Mac H. Alford

Faculty Publications

Premise of the study: PCR amplification of DNA extracted from plants is sometimes difficult due to the presence of inhibitory compounds. An effective method to overcome the inhibitory effect of compounds that contaminate DNA from difficult plant specimens is needed.

Methods and Results: The effectiveness of a PCR additive reagent containing trehalose, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and polysorbate‐20 (Tween‐20) (TBT‐PAR) was tested. PCR of DNA extracted from fresh, silica‐dried, and herbarium leaf material of species of Achariaceae, Asteraceae, Lacistemataceae, and Samydaceae that failed using standard techniques were successful with the addition of TBT‐PAR.

Conclusions: The addition of TBT‐PAR during routine …

Bridging Functional Genomics And Toxicogenomics Through Dna Microarrays In A Fish Model, Shuzhao Li

Dissertations

In a case study of finding gene expression signatures for environmental stressors in Cyprinodon variegatus, this dissertation examines several important issues of applying DNA microarray technology to fish toxicogenomics. The most relevant disciplines, fish toxicogenomics and computational systems biology are reviewed in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 reviews major aspects of DNA microarray technology.

On DNA microarrays, even for probes that target the same transcript, large variations are seen in the probe signals. These variations are partly dependent and partly independent on probe sequences. Chapter 3 estimates the sequence independent variation by combining experimental and computational approaches. Chapter 4 and …

Reverse Recruitment: Activation Of Yeast Genes At The Nuclear Periphery, Terry Marvin Haley

Dissertations

The regulation of genes at the nuclear periphery is an evolutionarily conserved phenomenon in eukaryotes. The reverse-recruitment model of transcriptional activation postulates that genes are activated by moving to and contacting transcription machinery located at subnuclear structures. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae it has been reported that this platform for gene regulation may reside at the nuclear periphery. To test this hypothesis, I utilized a GFP-gene tagging technique, which uses LacI-GFP to visualize a tandem array of its DNA-binding sequence, to monitor localization ofSUC2 and GALL I found that both genes preferentially localized to the nuclear periphery when transcriptionally active. By developing …