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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Cause Of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial Or Cosmic?, Edward J. Steele, Shirwan Al-Mufti, Kenneth A. Augustyn, Rohana Chandrajith, John P. Coghlan, S. G. Coulson, Et. Al. Aug 2018

Cause Of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial Or Cosmic?, Edward J. Steele, Shirwan Al-Mufti, Kenneth A. Augustyn, Rohana Chandrajith, John P. Coghlan, S. G. Coulson, Et. Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

We review the salient evidence consistent with or predicted by the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe (H-W) thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology. Much of this physical and biological evidence is multifactorial. One particular focus are the recent studies which date the emergence of the complex retroviruses of vertebrate lines at or just before the Cambrian Explosion of ∼500 Ma. Such viruses are known to be plausibly associated with major evolutionary genomic processes. We believe this coincidence is not fortuitous but is consistent with a key prediction of H-W theory whereby major extinction-diversification evolutionary boundaries coincide with virus-bearing cometary-bolide bombardment events. A second focus is …


Tgmi: An Efficient Algorithm For Identifying Pathway Regulators Through Evaluation Of Triple-Gene Mutual Interaction, Chathura J. Gunasekara, Kui Zhang, Wenping Deng, Laura E. Brown, Hairong Wei Jun 2018

Tgmi: An Efficient Algorithm For Identifying Pathway Regulators Through Evaluation Of Triple-Gene Mutual Interaction, Chathura J. Gunasekara, Kui Zhang, Wenping Deng, Laura E. Brown, Hairong Wei

Michigan Tech Publications

Despite their important roles, the regulators for most metabolic pathways and biological processes remain elusive. Presently, the methods for identifying metabolic pathway and biological process regulators are intensively sought after. We developed a novel algorithm called triple-gene mutual interaction (TGMI) for identifying these regulators using high-throughput gene expression data. It first calculated the regulatory interactions among triple gene blocks (two pathway genes and one transcription factor (TF)), using conditional mutual information, and then identifies significantly interacted triple genes using a newly identified novel mutual interaction measure (MIM), which was substantiated to reflect strengths of regulatory interactions within each triple gene …


“Musical Exercise” For People With Visual Impairments: A Preliminary Study With The Blindfolded, Ridwan Ahmed Khan, Myounghoon Jeon, Tejin Yoon Jun 2018

“Musical Exercise” For People With Visual Impairments: A Preliminary Study With The Blindfolded, Ridwan Ahmed Khan, Myounghoon Jeon, Tejin Yoon

Michigan Tech Publications

Performing independent physical exercise is critical to maintain one's good health, but it is specifically hard for people with visual impairments. To address this problem, we have developed a Musical Exercise platform for people with visual impairments so that they can perform exercise in a good form consistently. We designed six different conditions, including blindfolded or visual without audio conditions, and blindfolded or visual with two different types of audio feedback (continuous vs. discrete) conditions. Eighteen sighted participants participated in the experiment, by doing two exercises - squat and wall sit with all six conditions. The results show that Musical …


Growth Performance, Organ-Level Ionic Relations And Organic Osmoregulation Of Elaeagnus Angustifolia In Response To Salt Stress, Zhengxiang Liu, Jiangfeng Zhu, Xiuyan Yang, Haiwen Wu, Qi Wei, Hairong Wei, Huaxin Zhang Jan 2018

Growth Performance, Organ-Level Ionic Relations And Organic Osmoregulation Of Elaeagnus Angustifolia In Response To Salt Stress, Zhengxiang Liu, Jiangfeng Zhu, Xiuyan Yang, Haiwen Wu, Qi Wei, Hairong Wei, Huaxin Zhang

Michigan Tech Publications

Elaeagnus angustifolia is one of the most extensively afforested tree species in environment-harsh regions of northern China. Despite its exceptional tolerance to saline soil, the intrinsic adaptive physiology has not been revealed. In this study, we investigated the growth, organ-level ionic relations and organic osmoregulation of the seedlings hydroponically treated with 0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl for 30 days. We found that the growth characteristics and the whole-plant dry weight were not obviously stunted, but instead, were even slightly stimulated by the treatment of 100 mM NaCl. In contrast, these traits were significantly inhibited by 200 mM NaCl treatment. …


The Effect Of Poplar Psngs1.2 Overexpression On Growth, Secondary Cell Wall, And Fiber Characteristics In Tobacco, Tingting Lu, Lulu Liu, Minjing Wei, Yingying Liu, Zianshang Qu, Chuanping Yang, Hairong Wei, Zhigang Wei Jan 2018

The Effect Of Poplar Psngs1.2 Overexpression On Growth, Secondary Cell Wall, And Fiber Characteristics In Tobacco, Tingting Lu, Lulu Liu, Minjing Wei, Yingying Liu, Zianshang Qu, Chuanping Yang, Hairong Wei, Zhigang Wei

Michigan Tech Publications

The glutamine synthetase (GS1) is a key enzyme that catalyzes the reaction of glutamate and ammonia to produce glutamine in the nitrogen (N) metabolism. Previous studies on GS1s in several plant species suggest that overexpression of GS1s can enhance N utilization, accelerate plant vegetative growth, and change wood formation. In this study, we isolated a GS1 gene, termed PsnGS1.2, from Populus simonii × Populus nigra. This gene was expressed at a higher level in roots, and relatively lower but detectable levels in xylem, leaves and phloem of P. simonii × P. nigra. The protein encoded by PsnGS1.2 is …