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Determining The Effect Of Absorbents And Soybean Systems On Pfas Precursor Transformation, Tamia Wellington May 2023

Determining The Effect Of Absorbents And Soybean Systems On Pfas Precursor Transformation, Tamia Wellington

Biological Sciences

PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) refers to a class of chemicals that consist of long-chains of carbon bonded to fluorine. These are chemicals that have many industrial uses, from cosmetics to industrial fire-fighting foam. Since PFAS is so widely used and available, it has become increasingly present in water and soil, resulting in its uptake and bioaccumulation in plants. This study focused on the impacts of powdered activated carbon (PAC) and montmorillonite on the PFOS precursor N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamido acetic acid (N-EtFOSAA), in soil, and in plants grown in that soil. This study focused on spiking soil with PFAS chemicals, …


Determining The Functional Roles Of Short Open Reading Frames In Mycobacterium Smegmatis, Lauren Fox May 2023

Determining The Functional Roles Of Short Open Reading Frames In Mycobacterium Smegmatis, Lauren Fox

Biological Sciences

The study examines the roles of a subset of short open reading frames (sORFs) in M. smegmatis using targeted mutagenesis and the subsequent examination of phenotypes associated with sORF mutation or overexpression. sORFs are defined as stretches of nucleic acid encoding a protein with a maximum of 50 amino acids. Genome annotation pipelines overlook sORFs encoding small proteins (sproteins) and, thus, sproteins in bacteria have gone unnoticed, even those that are expressed at levels similar to larger, well-described proteins. As a result of recent advances in ribosome profiling and mass spectrometry, hundreds of previously unannotated sORFs have been identified, increasing …


Quantification Of Fibrosis And Infiltrates In The Salivary Gland, Nikhita Kumar May 2023

Quantification Of Fibrosis And Infiltrates In The Salivary Gland, Nikhita Kumar

Biological Sciences

Fibrosis is characterized by the excessive buildup of extracellular matrix components (ECM) in tissues and organs in response to injury, chronic inflammation, auto immune disorders, and genetic alterations. Non-obese diabetic mice (NOD) are a model for Sjögren’s Syndrome. We hypothesize that NOD mice, which start to develop Sjögren’s-like disease at approximately 12 weeks of age are suffering from hyposalivation at least in part due to fibrosis of the submandibular salivary glands (SMGs). Fibrosis refers to the over-production of extracellular matrix proteins in the connective tissue compartment. To test this hypothesis 16-week-old mice were treated with either the fibrosis inhibitor Nintedanib …


Improvement Of Depressive-Like Behaviors In Hemi-Parkinsonian Rats With Non-Invasive Peripheral Focused Ultrasound Modulation, Hudy Berger May 2023

Improvement Of Depressive-Like Behaviors In Hemi-Parkinsonian Rats With Non-Invasive Peripheral Focused Ultrasound Modulation, Hudy Berger

Biological Sciences

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease with marked loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). In PD, there are motor and non-motor symptoms. Depression, a non-motor symptom, is seen in 40% of the patients with PD which decreases their quality of life. For treatment-resistant depression, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to improve depression. Here, non-invasive focused ultrasound (FUS) is investigated as a therapeutic to improve depression-like behavior by targeting the celiac plexus since it is innervated by the vagus nerve. FUS was chosen due to its parallel mechanism to VNS. …


Investigating The Effects Of Vitamin K1 And K2 On The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line Sum159pt, Monica E. Alexander May 2023

Investigating The Effects Of Vitamin K1 And K2 On The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line Sum159pt, Monica E. Alexander

Biological Sciences

Vitamin K serves as a cofactor in the post-translational carboxylation of glutamate to γ-carboxyglutamate (GLA) by the enzyme gamma-glutamyl carboxylase (GGCX). Vitamin K epoxide reductases (VKOR) then oxidize the vitamin K to regenerate the compound’s reduced form. While most of the known γcarboxylated proteins function in coagulation and bone homeostasis, the presence of GGCX and VKOR in a wide variety of tissues suggests that the vitamin and its pathway has more extensive physiological roles. Our previous research has assessed the expression of the vitamin K pathway in triple negative breast cancer cells (TNBCs) and compared the effects of vitamin K1 …


Progress Towards Peptide And Protein Synthesis Involving Thiol Moieties, Ryan Lo Chen May 2023

Progress Towards Peptide And Protein Synthesis Involving Thiol Moieties, Ryan Lo Chen

Biological Sciences

Polypeptides and proteins play crucial roles in biological systems, including enzymatic activity regulation, molecule transport, and cell and tissue structural support. Amino acids are the building blocks of peptides and proteins, and peptides can act as hormones, neurotransmitters, and enzymes. Proteins are made up of one or more polypeptide chains and have diverse functions such as catalyzing chemical reactions, transporting molecules, and providing structural support. Protein preparation can be done biologically by expression systems or isolation and purification from natural sources. While these methods have their advantages, they also have their shortcomings. Chemical synthesis is an alternative method that allows …


Characterization Of Protein-Protein Interactions In Quorum-Sensing Receptors From Gram Negative Bacteria, Jessica Schuh May 2023

Characterization Of Protein-Protein Interactions In Quorum-Sensing Receptors From Gram Negative Bacteria, Jessica Schuh

Biological Sciences

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium capable of causing disease in immunocompromised individuals and individuals with underlying lung disorders. It controls the expression of a subset of its genes through quorum sensing, which is a cell-cell communication system involved in mediating the transition from individual to group behaviors. Group behaviors are cellular processes undertaken by the cell that are beneficial to the collective, such as biofilm formation – a key component of pathogenesis in the human lung. They rely on the production, accumulation, detection, and response to signal molecules called autoinducers. There are two acyl-homoserine lactone autoinducer quorum sensing systems in …


A Review Of The Forensic Applications For The Analysis Of Biological Fluids Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Raghavi Patel Apr 2023

A Review Of The Forensic Applications For The Analysis Of Biological Fluids Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Raghavi Patel

Biological Sciences

The use of science to compile information to assist in solving crimes is known as forensic science. Numerous bodily fluids, such as blood, semen, saliva, and vaginal fluid, are frequently discovered at crime scenes. This makes it crucial for forensic scientists to use analytical methods to examine these fluids to learn more about the crime, including the offender, victim, time since deposition, and other details. Although there are many techniques, the focus of this paper is fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a rapid, inexpensive, and non-destructive technique used for forensic examination (Weber & Lednev, 2022). Fluorescence spectroscopy can be used …


Biomass Estimation Of Marine Biofilms On Plastic Surfaces, Kian Banihashemi, Fernando Javier Gil Jun 2022

Biomass Estimation Of Marine Biofilms On Plastic Surfaces, Kian Banihashemi, Fernando Javier Gil

Biological Sciences

Plastics have become a major source of marine pollution, which threatens food safety and quality, human health, and marine ecosystems. Due to the drastic negative effects of plastics in a marine environment, alternative biodegradable plastics are being generated that are more eco-friendly and have less environmental impact. Though some of these plastics are known to biodegrade, the process of degradation for bioplastics has not been heavily studied in a marine environment. This pilot project sought to both quantify the process of biodegradation and compare across different methods for effectiveness of biomass estimation, which serves as an indicator of biodegradation. Plastics …


Assessing Black Rat Population Abundance And Persistence At The Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, Mars Lu, Julia Kristina Perez Jun 2022

Assessing Black Rat Population Abundance And Persistence At The Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, Mars Lu, Julia Kristina Perez

Biological Sciences

The black rat, Rattus rattus, is considered one of the most destructive and widespread invasive species around the world, with the ability to damage crops, kill native species, and spread disease. The Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA) is home to numerous at-risk species such as the Western Snowy plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) and California Least Tern (Sternula antillarum browni). Black rats have been detected at the ODSVRA in studies conducted in 2015 and 2018, and may be a potential threat to nesting seabirds like the plover and the tern. In addition, they may …


Potentially Cis-Acting Super-Enhancer Long Noncoding Rnas As Biomarkers In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Progression, Kavipriya Kovai Palanivel May 2022

Potentially Cis-Acting Super-Enhancer Long Noncoding Rnas As Biomarkers In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Progression, Kavipriya Kovai Palanivel

Biological Sciences

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined by the lack of estrogen receptors (ER), the lack of progesterone receptors (PR), and normal human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) protein levels in breast tumors. Therefore, TNBC is an aggressive type of breast cancer due to limited treatment options for patients. Determining genes that regulate the progression of tumors to TNBC may help develop new therapeutic techniques. Many super-enhancer long noncoding RNAs (SElncRNAs) are found to be differentially expressed in cancer cells. Super-enhancer activity heavily influences target gene transcription and is often augmented through cis-acting SE-lncRNA activity. Therefore, we hypothesize cis-acting SE-lncRNAs …


Optophysiology Of D. Melanogaster Neuromuscular Synapses Using Gcamp, Kavindra Dasrat May 2022

Optophysiology Of D. Melanogaster Neuromuscular Synapses Using Gcamp, Kavindra Dasrat

Biological Sciences

An activity-dependent increase in postsynaptic currents produced by a single vesicle of neurotransmitter is an important mechanism for synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system (CNS) and possibly involved in learning and memory. We have found a similar form of postsynaptic potentiation at the D. Melanogaster neuromuscular junction (NMJ) where a brief increase in impulse activity results in an increase in the amplitude of spontaneous miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs), resulting in miniature excitatory postsynaptic potentials (mEPSPs). To visualize sites of postsynaptic potentiation along the synaptic terminal, we have used a Ca2+ indicator, GCaMP to observe postsynaptic Ca2+ signals. Since …


Toward Long Non-Coding Rna Detection Using Dna Nanoswitches, Ché-Doni Platt May 2022

Toward Long Non-Coding Rna Detection Using Dna Nanoswitches, Ché-Doni Platt

Biological Sciences

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts that are over 200 nucleotides and do not encode proteins. LncRNAs are involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes ranging from cell proliferation, apoptosis, and nutrient sensing to cell differentiation. Further, lncRNAs have been reported to play an important role in a wide range of pathophysiological processes and are linked to diseases such as cancer. Thus, lncRNAs are becoming increasingly important as biomarkers to study biological and disease processes. In our work, we develop a DNA nanoswitch-based assay for detecting long RNAs. The DNA nanoswitch is a reconfigurable device that undergoes a conformational …


Emerging Roles Of Intragenic Enhancers In Gene Expression Of Gadd45a, Ekaterina Sazon May 2022

Emerging Roles Of Intragenic Enhancers In Gene Expression Of Gadd45a, Ekaterina Sazon

Biological Sciences

Non-coding regulatory elements in the eukaryotic genomic DNA, like enhancers and promoters, control gene expression. Transcription factors recognize and bind to DNA sequences within these regulatory regions and affect said regulatory elements. The extent and specific circumstances regarding transcription factors are long-standing questions in the field. In this thesis, we wanted to investigate how transcription factors work in a particular case of enhancers, known as intragenic enhancers. We designed reporter gene assays that looked at the well-studied model transcription factor p53’s regulation on its target gene GADD45A in basal and stress conditions. We determined that GADD45A is a p53-dependent gene, …


Using The Centrifuge Force Microscope As A Single-Molecule Technique For Studying Base-Stacking Interactions, Kevin Thomas May 2022

Using The Centrifuge Force Microscope As A Single-Molecule Technique For Studying Base-Stacking Interactions, Kevin Thomas

Biological Sciences

A wide range of single-molecule techniques has streamlined the process of applying and studying the effects of force on individual molecules. The centrifuge force microscope (CFM) is one such technique that allows for high-throughput single-molecule pulling experiments. It is relatively inexpensive and user-friendly, making it a suitable tool to study the effects of force on various biomolecular interactions. A benchtop centrifuge can be used to apply centrifugal force to molecular constructs that are tethered between a glass slide and a microsphere. Molecular events like bond dissociation result in the removal of the microsphere from the surface, which is observed by …


Circadian Modulation Of Astrocyte Morphology And Synaptic Transmission, Saad Ahmad May 2022

Circadian Modulation Of Astrocyte Morphology And Synaptic Transmission, Saad Ahmad

Biological Sciences

The circadian rhythm affects behavior and physiology in many animal species. Our previous work in mice showed that within the hippocampus, a subordinate circadian oscillator, astrocytes change their proximity to excitatory synapses. Here we obtain 3D reconstructions of biocytin-filled hippocampal astrocytes processed with protein retention expansion microscopy and imaged using two-photon laser scanning microscopy. Our findings identify the subtle changes in astrocyte morphologies that encode information about time-of-day in hippocampal astrocytes. These findings shed light on fundamental mechanisms that allow the function of hippocampal circuits to adapt to different times of the day. This will help us understand how structural …


The Role Of Angiocrine Factors In The Progression Of Salivary Disease, Owen Zon May 2022

The Role Of Angiocrine Factors In The Progression Of Salivary Disease, Owen Zon

Biological Sciences

In our blood vessels, cells called endothelial cells line the inside of veins and arteries. Due to the discovery that endothelial cells actually organogenesis during embryogenesis, our interest in these cells has increased to a new understanding of their functions in tissue repair and regeneration. These cells are no longer only considered passive modes of transport for bodily fluids and nutrients, but, with new research in the fibrosis of liver cells, are also considered to be key players in the repair of damaged organs and tissue. These cells release signals known as angiocrine factors that act in damaged areas of …


Investigating The Roles Of Rna Modification And Associated Enzymes On Stress Response And Connections To Human Diseases, Carrson Widen May 2022

Investigating The Roles Of Rna Modification And Associated Enzymes On Stress Response And Connections To Human Diseases, Carrson Widen

Biological Sciences

Transfer RNAs decode messenger RNA using anticodon – codon interactions to deliver specific amino acids to a growing peptide chain. Enzyme-catalyzed modifications on specific nucleotides on tRNAs increase their stability and help mediate the speed and fidelity of translation, giving these modifications regulatory potential. RNA modifications are catalyzed by writer enzymes, and I predicted that writers are important in the cellular responses to stress. I have evaluated the following E. coli modification enzyme mutants: miaA, mnmE, dtd, tmcA, lysU, yeaK, and iscS, from the corresponding Keio E. coli gene deletion library. Writer mutants were exposed to hydrogen peroxide to induce …


Light Level Intensity Alters Anxiety, But Not Memory, During Open-Field And Novel Object Location Tasks In Male Rats, Angelina Tassone Dec 2021

Light Level Intensity Alters Anxiety, But Not Memory, During Open-Field And Novel Object Location Tasks In Male Rats, Angelina Tassone

Biological Sciences

Appropriate design and control of testing conditions during assessment of animal behavior is critical to maximize generalizability, replicability, and translational relevance. Some sensory stimuli are often controlled: for instance, during rodent behavioral testing, efforts are commonly made to reduce or eliminate olfactory and auditory distractions. However, less attention is paid to the ambient light level intensity (lux), which may vary even between rooms in the same facility. We sought to explore whether behavior is influenced by the standard illumination intensity in one of our behavioral testing rooms. To this end, we measured anxiety-like behaviors, exploration, and spatial memory performance in …


Sex Differences In The Co-Expression Of Estrogen Receptor Alpha With Corticotropin Releasing Factor, Deborah Ariyibi Dec 2021

Sex Differences In The Co-Expression Of Estrogen Receptor Alpha With Corticotropin Releasing Factor, Deborah Ariyibi

Biological Sciences

Women are far more likely to develop anxiety and depression than men. It is believed that the dysregulation of the HPA axis by the binding of corticotropin -releasing factor (CRF) to the corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 (CRFR1) contributes to the likelihood of these stress- related disorders. Estrogens acting through Estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) have been shown to increase anxiety production upon activating the HPA axis. In this current study, we explored whether CRF-expressing neurons in various regions of the brain express ERa. The levels of ERa were counted in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), the medial preoptic …


How Salivary Glands Recover From Fibrotic Injury, Gabriella Majka Dec 2021

How Salivary Glands Recover From Fibrotic Injury, Gabriella Majka

Biological Sciences

Extracellular matrix deposition is required for repair after injury, but if left unresolved can result in fibrosis. Fibrosis is an excess deposition of extracellular matrix proteins following injury or aging that leads to eventual organ dysfunction. One surgical model that we have used to study mechanisms of fibrosis is the salivary gland ductal ligation model. During the process of ligation, a clip is placed on the main ducts of the submandibular (SMG) and sublingual gland (SLG) which leads from the salivary glands to the mouth. This causes the gland to atrophy, or waste away, resulting in decreased acinar cell differentiation …


Occupancy Modeling Of Western Monarch Thanksgiving Counts: Negative Impacts Of Incomplete Resurveys And Uneven Sampling Efforts, Keegan M. Mclean May 2021

Occupancy Modeling Of Western Monarch Thanksgiving Counts: Negative Impacts Of Incomplete Resurveys And Uneven Sampling Efforts, Keegan M. Mclean

Biological Sciences

Western monarch butterflies (sp. Danaus plexippus) are undergoing a severe decline that rivals those occurring among insects across the globe. Despite the estimation of population abundance, growth rates, and extinction probabilities, no analyses have investigated spatiotemporal patterns of decline in the western monarch population. I performed occupancy modeling of Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count (WMTC) data. The data was constrained spatially and temporally, with sites grouped into occupancy bins by latitude and year. Occupancy probabilities (psi) were estimated for each intersection of a latitude and time bin and detection probabilities (p) were estimated for each time bin. Psi increased slightly …


Comparative Effects Of Chemical And Physical Sunscreen On Fertilization Of Purple Sea Urchins (Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus), Marilla Lippert, Maurice Codespoti Goodman, Nikki Adams Feb 2021

Comparative Effects Of Chemical And Physical Sunscreen On Fertilization Of Purple Sea Urchins (Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus), Marilla Lippert, Maurice Codespoti Goodman, Nikki Adams

Biological Sciences

Organic compound-based “chemical” sunscreens dominate the commercial sunscreen market, but recent research has revealed the ingredients of these products are detrimental to the health of marine organisms. This revelation has led to increased popularity of mineral-based “physical” sunscreens, primarily containing zinc-oxide (ZnO), as environmentally safe alternatives. While they are marketed as environmentally safe, these claims are largely untested, and it is important to consider potential effects of ZnO-based sunscreens on the development of marine organisms. Though Zn is a necessary micronutrient in the ocean, excess Zn is released into marine environments from anthropogenic sources has negative effects on marine life. …


Body Composition Of Female Collegiate Track And Field Athletes, Adelaide Cooke May 2020

Body Composition Of Female Collegiate Track And Field Athletes, Adelaide Cooke

Biological Sciences

The aim of this study is to see if there is a correlation between an athlete's body compostion and the demands of their different track and field events. Track and field is arugably the most diverse when it comes to body types in a single sport, with distance runners tending to be leaner and smaller and throwers more muscular and larger. However, most data collected is not female specfic. Thirty-one female track and field athletes were asked to take part in a series of physical measurements, which included recording their height, weight, percent body fat, and muscle mass. They were …


Glutamine Antagonist 6-Diazo-5-Oxo-L-Norleucine, A Hyaluronan Synthesis Inhibitor, Slows Triple Negative Breast Cancer Growth, Le Gia Cat Pham May 2020

Glutamine Antagonist 6-Diazo-5-Oxo-L-Norleucine, A Hyaluronan Synthesis Inhibitor, Slows Triple Negative Breast Cancer Growth, Le Gia Cat Pham

Biological Sciences

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) are the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with few treatment options and poor outcomes. TNBCs are characterized by elevations in hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) enzyme expression, hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) expression and hyaluronan (HA) production. Glutamine is an important substrate for HA production via the HBP. 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON) is a well-known glutamine antagonist with validated antitumoral efficacy. This project examined the effects of DON on HA production and energy metabolism in TNBC cells. We examined the effect of DON treatment on Hs578T cells, which represent the mesenchymal stem-like subtype of TNBC. We specifically analyzed the …


Direct Evidence Of Missing Mepsps Using Ca2-Sensor Imaging, Petar Gajic May 2020

Direct Evidence Of Missing Mepsps Using Ca2-Sensor Imaging, Petar Gajic

Biological Sciences

Following an action potential in the presynaptic neuron there is evoked release of neurotransmitter into the synapse which activates ionotropic transmembrane receptors on the postsynaptic membrane that cause depolarizations in voltage that get recorded as excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs). In the absence of an action potential there is spontaneous release of neurotransmitter that postsynaptically gets recorded as miniature excitatory postsynaptic potentials (mEPSPs). According to the quantal hypothesis, postulated by Bernard Katz, the mEPSPs are allor- none changes in potential caused by a single quantum of neurotransmitter, which when added up create EPSPs. Following studies have found that these two modes …


Sensing Ribonuclease H Activity With Dna Nanoswitches, Ruju Trivedi May 2020

Sensing Ribonuclease H Activity With Dna Nanoswitches, Ruju Trivedi

Biological Sciences

Ribonuclease H (RNase H) is a damage-repair protein and ribonuclease that specifically catalyzes the hydrolysis of RNA in an RNA/DNA duplex and breaks down RNA/DNA junctions. It plays an important role in a variety of biological processes including DNA replication, DNA repair, and transcription. It is also pivotal in anti-HIV drug development and the analysis of cellular processes and has been shown to be a potential therapeutic target for various neoplastic diseases. This thesis discusses a unique assay based on DNA nanoswitches to detect RNase H levels and activity. The assay is based on conformational changes of DNA nanoswitches in …


Optical Activation Of Gaba Release From D2-Medium Spiny Neurons, Nurat Affinnih Apr 2020

Optical Activation Of Gaba Release From D2-Medium Spiny Neurons, Nurat Affinnih

Biological Sciences

Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) make up more than 95% of the cells in the striatum and therefore represent the main structures for specific information processing in the striatum. MSNs can be separated into two sub-populations based on the type of dopamine receptor they express and their target region. Roughly one-half of all MSNs express D1 dopamine receptors and send information to the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and are called D1-MSNs. D1-MSNs are responsible for promoting movement execution. The other sub-population of MSNs expresses D2 dopamine receptors and for this reason, they are called D2-MSNs. D2-MSNs send information to the …


Heavy Metal Dissolution Mechanisms From Electrical Industrial Sludge, Viraj Gunarathne, Anushka Upamali Rajapaksha, Meththika Vithanage, Nadeesh Adassooriya, Asitha Cooray, Sudantha Liyanage, Bandunee Athapattu, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Avanthi Deshani Igalavithana, Deyi Hou, Daniel S. Alessi, Yong Sik Ok Dec 2019

Heavy Metal Dissolution Mechanisms From Electrical Industrial Sludge, Viraj Gunarathne, Anushka Upamali Rajapaksha, Meththika Vithanage, Nadeesh Adassooriya, Asitha Cooray, Sudantha Liyanage, Bandunee Athapattu, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Avanthi Deshani Igalavithana, Deyi Hou, Daniel S. Alessi, Yong Sik Ok

Biological Sciences

In this paper, we investigate the release of heavy metals from sludge produced from an electrical industry using both organic and inorganic acids. Single and sequential extractions were conducted to assess heavy metals in different phases of the sludge. Metal release from sludge was investigated in the presence of three inorganic acids (nitric, sulfuric, and phosphoric) and three organic acids (acetic, malic, and citric) at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 mol L−1. Sequential extraction indicated the presence of Cu primarily in the carbonate fraction, Pb in the residual fraction, and Ni in the FeMn oxide fraction. The cumulative release …


Heavy Metal-Induced Oxidative Stress On Seed Germination And Seedling Development: A Critical Review, Mihiri Seneviratne, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Muhammad Rizwan, H. M. S. P. Madawala, Yong Sik Ok, Meththika Vithanage Aug 2019

Heavy Metal-Induced Oxidative Stress On Seed Germination And Seedling Development: A Critical Review, Mihiri Seneviratne, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Muhammad Rizwan, H. M. S. P. Madawala, Yong Sik Ok, Meththika Vithanage

Biological Sciences

Heavy metal contamination in soils can influence plants and animals, often leading to toxicosis. Heavy metals can impact various biochemical processes in plants, including enzyme and antioxidant production, protein mobilization and photosynthesis. Hydrolyzing enzymes play a major role in seed germination. Enzymes such as acid phosphatases, proteases and α-amylases are known to facilitate both seed germination and seedling growth via mobilizing nutrients in the endosperm. In the presence of heavy metals, starch is immobilized and nutrient sources become limited. Moreover, a reduction in proteolytic enzyme activity and an increase in protein and amino acid content can be observed under heavy …