Life Sciences Commons^™

Population Genetics And Epigenetics Of Two Salt Marsh Plant Species Along An Environmental Gradient, Christy M. Foust

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a given genotype to exhibit different phenotypes in response to environmental variables, which can impact population level processes. Plasticity of ecologically-relevant traits is important to an organism’s environmental response; however, the underlying mechanisms of plasticity are largely unknown. Ecological epigenetics may offer mechanisms (e.g. DNA methylation) underlying phenotypic plasticity. Epigenetics can be defined as the underlying molecular mechanisms that allow one genotype to exhibit different phenotypes. Differential DNA methylation is one epigenetic mechanism that has been correlated with a number of ecologically-relevant traits; including, differential herbivory in Viola cazorlensis, spinescence in Ilex aquifolium …

Basal Salivary Oxytocin And Skin To Skin Contact Among Lactating Mothers Of Premature Infants, Jessica Marie Gordon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation research explored mechanisms of human milk (HM) expulsion by describing the effects of skin to skin contact (SSC) on maternal basal oxytocin (OT) secretion among 20 premature mothers with hospitalized premature infants. This one-group, repeated measures design consisted of: 1) daily SSC with covariant data via self-report diary and 2) maternal salivary OT with and without SSC at 4 time points were collected over a 7 day time frame. Results indicate that mean levels of basal OT increase over time (M 234 pg/ml, SD 108 pg/ml time point 1; M 257 pg/ml, SD 125 pg/ml time point 3). …

A Forward Genetic Screen Identifies Factors Associated With Fever Pathogenesis In Plasmodium Falciparum, Phaedra J. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious diseases that spread from person-to-person and continent-to-continent are a cause for concern for any health entity. One such disease is malaria, a mosquito-borne infection instigated by the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Hundreds of millions of people are affected annually and it is responsible for nearly 1 million deaths. It is the most fatal species causing malaria and proliferates in human red blood cells with a life cycle occurring every 48 hours. At this time, the parasite’s late stage form or schizont bursts from the erythrocyte releasing immune-inducing particles and infective forms (merozoites) into the bloodstream. The merozoites go …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Increased Tidal Inundation, Competition, And Facilitation On Salt Marsh Systems, Jennifer A. Hyder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The low-lying topographic nature of salt marshes makes plants in these communities particularly vulnerable to increased salinity and inundation exposure associated with sea level rise. Both increased salinity and inundation have been cited as major causes of reduced plant performance and survival in marsh and areas fringing marsh. In addition to limitations imposed by physical stress, interspecific interactions have also been shown to mediate the performance and survival of salt marsh and salt marsh fringing species. The Stress Gradient Hypothesis (SGH) postulates that species interactions shift from competitive to facilitative as stress levels increase and predicts that (a) the frequency …

A Functional Chlorophyll Biosynthesis Pathway Identified In The Kleptoplastic Sea Slug, Elysia Chlorotica, Julie A. Schwartz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The sacoglossan sea slug, Elysia chlorotica, feeds upon and sequesters plastids from the heterokont alga, Vaucheria litorea, and maintains the metabolically active organelles for up to nine months under starvation conditions while utilizing the photosynthate to survive and reproduce. The photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll a (Chla), is found in all oxygenic photosynthetic organisms and is responsible for capturing photons of light and converting them into chemical energy. Chlorophyll and its associated proteins involved in the light capturing process are subject to photo oxidative damage and must be continually replaced for ongoing photosynthesis to continue; however, genes encoding these proteins are present …

Status Of A Translocated Florida Sand Skink Population After Six Years: Establishing And Evaluating Criteria For Success, Adam Ryan Emerick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The translocation of organisms is becoming a frequently used tool in conservation biology. There are, however, a disproportionate number of unsuccessful attempts translocating populations of herpetofauna. Logistical and temporal limits of monitoring, combined with ambiguous metrics concerning "success," have led to few advances regarding reptile translocations. Successfully established and persistent populations are those in which both the founding population and subsequent generations show consistent or positive levels of survival and reproduction. A small population of the threatened Florida Sand Skink (Plestiodon reynoldsi) was translocated in 2007. Data collected from 2007 to 2009 confirmed survival and reproduction among the founding individuals, …

The Effects Of Supplemented Metabolites On Lifespan And Stress Response Pathways In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Clare B. Edwards

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how metabolites contribute to anaplerosis, antioxidant effects, and hormetic pathways during aging is fundamental to creating supplements and dietary habits that may decrease age-associated disease and decline, thus improving the quality of life in old age. In order to uncover metabolic pathways that delay aging, the effects of large sets of metabolites associated with mitochondrial function on lifespan were investigated.

Malate, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolite, increased lifespan and thermotolerance in C. elegans. Addition of fumarate and succinate also extended lifespan and all three metabolites activated nuclear translocation of the cytoprotective DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor and protected from paraquat-induced …

The Role Of Brct-Containing Proteins Brca1 And Paxip1 In Cancer, Ankita Jhuraney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modular domains of proteins are important in cellular signaling processes. Eukaryotic cells are constantly undergoing DNA damage due to exogenous and endogenous sources of damage. The DNA damage response (DDR) involves a complex network of signaling events mediated by modular domains such as the BRCT (BRCA1 C-terminal) domains. Therefore, proteins containing BRCT domains are important for DNA damage detection and signaling. In this dissertation, we focus on two BRCT-containing proteins BRCA1 and PAXIP1. BRCA1 is a gene that is known to be associated with increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Germline variants of BRCA1 are assessed to determine …

Comparison Of Gastropod Assemblages From Natural And Phosphate Mine Lakes Of Central Florida, William A. Mailand

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigations were made examining the relationships between gastropod species richness and abundance across 20 phosphate and 20 natural lakes in Central Florida. In additional to lake category, age of phosphate lakes was used to determine if phosphate lakes ever approximate natural lakes. Additional physical, chemical, and biological parameters, including chlorophyll a, Ca, secchi, phosphorous, conductance, fish predation, and recreational lake use were investigated in order to determine if they affected gastropods with lake age. Comparisons were also made between gastropod species richness and average abundance and two groups of dominant vegetation categories: Panicum, a structurally complex macrophyte, and Typha …

Population Dynamics Of The Little Gulper Shark (Centrophorus Uyato) And Community Analyses Of Elasmobranch Species In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Jacquelin Joye Hipes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In chapter 1 I describe the population dynamics of an understudied species of gulper shark, Centrophorus uyato (common name, the Little Gulper), found in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Sharks in the family Centrophoridae are mid-sized, demersal fish, with seven species identified in North American waters. These deepwater species can be difficult to study due to the extreme depths at which they occur. During four longlining cruises from 2012-2014, 593 sharks were landed, predominantly in the Mississippi Canyon off the Louisiana coast. Mean depth of capture was 290 m. Supplementing these data are catch records for C. uyato from a …

Efficacy And Resistance Potential Of Jpc-3210 In Plasmodium Falciparum, Siobhan Marie Flaherty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Combating drug resistant malaria has been historically challenging, and remains so today. Recent reports from Southeast Asia show that Plasmodium falciparum is developing resistance to even our best defenses; artemisinin-based therapies. This development threatens to become a significant challenge in controlling malaria infections worldwide, making research into developing and characterizing new antimalarial drugs increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to characterize the resistance potential of novel antimalarial compound JPC-3210 in vitro using P. falciparum clones. JPC-3210 is a new long acting drug with potential to be used in combination with fast-acting drugs like artemisinins to cure drug resistant …

Impacts Of Agrochemical Pollution On Aquatic Communities And Human Disease, Neal T. Halstead

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global human population is expected to exceed 9 billion individuals by 2050, putting greater strain on the natural resources needed to sustain such a population. To feed this many people, some expect agricultural production will have to double and agrochemical use will have to increase anywhere from two- to five-fold relative to the turn of the century. Although industrial agriculture has provided many benefits to society, it has caused declines in biodiversity, both directly (e.g., through conversion of habitat) and indirectly (e.g., through contamination of adjacent natural habitats). Agricultural activity has also been linked to increased prevalence and intensity …

Functional Analysis Of The Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Locus At 9p22.2 Reveals A Transcription Regulatory Network Mediated By Bnc2 In Ovarian Cells, Melissa Buckley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

GWAS have identified several chromosomal loci associated with ovarian cancer risk. However, the mechanism underlying these associations remains elusive. We identify candidate functional Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) at the 9p22.2 ovarian cancer susceptibility locus, several of which map to transcriptional regulatory elements active in ovarian cells identified by FAIRE-seq (Formaldehyde assisted isolation of regulatory elements followed by sequencing) and ChIP-seq (Chromatin Immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing) in relevant cell types. Reporter and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) determined the extent to which candidate SNPs had allele specific effects. Chromosome conformation capture (3C) reveals a physical association between Basonuclin 2 (BNC2) and …

High-Throughput Screening Of Age-Related Changes In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Neil Copes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project was developed to identify novel methods for high-throughput culturing and screening of C. elegans to investigate age-related metabolic changes and to survey the proteomic and metabolomic factors associated with age-related changes. To accomplish these goals we developed a novel way to grow C. elegans in liquid culture in 96-well microplates for several weeks without suffering significant fluid loss due to evaporation and without needing to shake or unseal the plates for aeration. We also developed methods for assaying the total volume of live C. elegans in microplate cultures using a fluorescence microplate reader and for performing RNAi experiments …

Maternal Stress, Breastmilk Igf-1, And Offspring Growth Among Breastfeeding Mothers-Infant Pairs In The Tampa Bay Area, Lauren Michelle Gottfredson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Maternal stress during utero has been shown to have negative health consequences on the offspring, including low birth weight and increased risk of adult disease. Variation in breastmilk may act as an environmental cue of maternal stress and continue to program the infant during early life. This research aimed to explore the role of breastmilk on developmental programming of the infant. Specifically, to examine how breastmilk may act as a medium for the exposure of stress between the mother and the offspring, and see if variation in insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) a potential mechanism for the relationship.

Methods: …

Mmv Malaria Box Activity Screening In Dormant Plasmodium Falciparum Phenotypes, Sandra Galusic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The causative agent of malignant tertian malaria, Plasmodium falciparum undergoes an arrested growth phenotype of its erythrocytic stage when under drug-stress. Recent artemisinin treatment failures seem to be indicative of such induction followed by recrudescence rather than actual therapeutic failure. Likewise, P. vivax hypnozoites are the prototypic dormants and the latent infections for which they are responsible prove most difficult to treat. Dihydroartemisinin, an artemisinin-derivative, can be used to exploit this mechanism by inducing a dormant state in ring-stage P. falciparum parasites and in turn, their recovery may be used as a screening period for compounds that inhibit or foster …

Structure-Function Analysis Of The Dna Damage Repair Complex Str In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Jessica Ashley Kennedy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The RecQ family of helicases has been termed the “Caretakers of the Genome,” and rightfully so. These proteins are highly conserved from bacteria to humans and have been implicated in functions from homologous recombinatorial repair to damage checkpoint response to telomere maintenance and more. Mutant genes of three of the human RecQ helicases lead to syndromes characterized by a high incidence of cancer, premature aging and early death. Despite their implications in several biological functions and importance to the integrity of the human genome and suppression of cancer, many aspects of the RecQ family structure and function remain unknown. To …