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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Study Of Population Diversity Of Toxoplasma Gondii, Debashree Majumdar
Study Of Population Diversity Of Toxoplasma Gondii, Debashree Majumdar
Masters Theses
Toxoplasma gondii, the causal agent of toxoplasmosis, is an important water and food borne protozoan parasite. T. gondii was previously shown to have a distinct clonal population structure composed of Type I, II and III lineages in North America and Europe. But more recent studies demonstrated high diversity in South America. In the present project we have conducted an intensive study of the population diversity of T. gondii and surveyed the extent of genetic variation among natural T. gondii isolates on a global scale in order to better understand the population dynamics and pathogenesis of this parasite. To this …
Cattle Access Affects Periphyton Community Structure In Tennessee Farm Ponds., Robert Gerald Middleton
Cattle Access Affects Periphyton Community Structure In Tennessee Farm Ponds., Robert Gerald Middleton
Masters Theses
Cattle farming is vital to the economy of the United States. Frequently, cattle are given access to ponds and streams for water. The relative impacts of cattle access in natural water sources on the periphyton community have been rarely investigated. Periphyton is the basis of the aquatic food web, and community composition can serve as a bioindicator of pollution. Thus, my objectives were to quantify the effects of cattle access in aquatic lentic systems on periphyton community structure and biovolume, identify taxa that were associated with cattle access, and identify abiotic mechanisms that might be driving assemblage changes. I conducted …
Characterizing Cell-Cell And Cell-Surface Interactions In The Rhizobacterium Azospirillum Brasilense, Calvin Shay Green
Characterizing Cell-Cell And Cell-Surface Interactions In The Rhizobacterium Azospirillum Brasilense, Calvin Shay Green
Masters Theses
Microaerophilic and chemotaxic diazotrophs, azospirilla are found in close association with certain cereals such as durum wheat and maize and are active in enriching these ecological niches with the macronutrient nitrogen as ammonia. Regarded as highly pleomorphic, Azospirillum spp. are highly motile, using either a single polar flagellum when grown in liquid environments or peritrichous lateral flagella in viscous environments. Additionally, azospirilla are able to adhere onto surfaces as a biological film or aggregate cell-to-cell as nonproliferating flocculi, and these two processes having been suggested as positively affecting the survival and dispersal of the bacteria in the soil. Even though …
Influenza-Specific B Cell Responses In Hla-Dr1 Transgenic Mice, Lifang Huan
Influenza-Specific B Cell Responses In Hla-Dr1 Transgenic Mice, Lifang Huan
Masters Theses
HLA-DR1 transgenic (DR1 Tg) mice provide a model for evaluating the breadth and specificity of CD4 T cell responses that may develop in humans following influenza infection or vaccination. Recent studies identified a tremendously broad HLA-DR1-restricted CD4 T cell responses in DR1 Tg mice infected intranasally with influenza A/New Caledonia/20/99 (NC). In this study, our goals were to characterize B cell responses after NC infection in DR1 Tg mice and establish the correlation between B cell responses and CD4 T cell responses in this system. Influenza-specific B cell responses following virus administration were analyzed in DR1 Tg mice and in …
Agricultural Soil Bacteria; A Study Of Collection, Cultivation, And Lysogeny, Katherine Elizabeth Sides
Agricultural Soil Bacteria; A Study Of Collection, Cultivation, And Lysogeny, Katherine Elizabeth Sides
Masters Theses
The aim of this research project was to test new collection and cultivation techniques that may increase the range of cultivable diversity of soil bacteria. Fortified BioSep beads were employed in situ to capture soil bacteria, and the success of the beads was analyzed using Phylochip microarray analysis. In the cultivation phase, three different media substrates and increased incubation period were evaluated for the ability to select novel or rare bacteria. Over 700 agricultural soil bacterial isolates were classified, including a rare Gemmatimonadetes sp., a rare Verrucomicrobia sp., several Acidobacteria sp., and many novel isolates. Land management, media, and incubation …