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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Structural Basis For Light Control Of Cell Development Revealed By Crystal Structures Of A Myxobacterial Phytochrome, Nicole C. Woitowich, Andrei S. Halavaty, Patricia Waltz, Christopher Kupitz, Joseph Valera, Gregory Tracy, Kevin D. Gallagher, Elin Claesson, Takanori Nakane, Suraj Pandey, Garrett Nelson, Rie Tanaka, Eriko Nango, Eiichi Mizohata, Shigeki Owada, Kensure Tono, Yasumasa Joti, Angela C. Nugent, Hardik Patel, Ayesha Mapara, James Hopkins, Phu Duong, Dorina Bizhga, Svetlana E. Kovaleva, Rachel St. Peter, Cynthia N. Hernandez, Wesley B. Ozarowski, Shatabdi Roy-Chowdhuri, Jay-How Yang, Petra Edlund, Heikki Takala, Janne Ihalainen, Jennifer Brayshaw, Tyler Norwood, Ishwor Poudyal, Petra Fromme, John C.H. Spence, Keith Moffat, Sebastian Westenhoff, Marius Schmidt, Emina A. Stojkovic Sep 2018

Structural Basis For Light Control Of Cell Development Revealed By Crystal Structures Of A Myxobacterial Phytochrome, Nicole C. Woitowich, Andrei S. Halavaty, Patricia Waltz, Christopher Kupitz, Joseph Valera, Gregory Tracy, Kevin D. Gallagher, Elin Claesson, Takanori Nakane, Suraj Pandey, Garrett Nelson, Rie Tanaka, Eriko Nango, Eiichi Mizohata, Shigeki Owada, Kensure Tono, Yasumasa Joti, Angela C. Nugent, Hardik Patel, Ayesha Mapara, James Hopkins, Phu Duong, Dorina Bizhga, Svetlana E. Kovaleva, Rachel St. Peter, Cynthia N. Hernandez, Wesley B. Ozarowski, Shatabdi Roy-Chowdhuri, Jay-How Yang, Petra Edlund, Heikki Takala, Janne Ihalainen, Jennifer Brayshaw, Tyler Norwood, Ishwor Poudyal, Petra Fromme, John C.H. Spence, Keith Moffat, Sebastian Westenhoff, Marius Schmidt, Emina A. Stojkovic

Biology Faculty Publications

Phytochromes are red-light photoreceptors that were first characterized in plants, with homologs in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic bacteria known as bacteriophytochromes (BphPs). Upon absorption of light, BphPs interconvert between two states denoted Pr and Pfr with distinct absorption spectra in the red and far-red. They have recently been engineered as enzymatic photoswitches for fluorescent-marker applications in non-invasive tissue imaging of mammals. This article presents cryo- and room-temperature crystal structures of the unusual phytochrome from the non-photosynthetic myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca (SaBphP1) and reveals its role in the fruitingbody formation of this photomorphogenic bacterium. SaBphP1 lacks a conserved histidine (His) in the chromophore-binding …


Mobile Elements Shape Plastome Evolution In Ferns, Tanner A. Robison, Amanda L. Grusz, Paul G. Wolf, Jeffrey P. Mower, Blake D. Fauskee, Karla Sosa, Eric Schuettpelz Aug 2018

Mobile Elements Shape Plastome Evolution In Ferns, Tanner A. Robison, Amanda L. Grusz, Paul G. Wolf, Jeffrey P. Mower, Blake D. Fauskee, Karla Sosa, Eric Schuettpelz

Biology Faculty Publications

Plastid genomes display remarkable organizational stability over evolutionary time. From green algae to angiosperms, most plastid genomes are largely collinear, with only a few cases of inversion, gene loss, or, in extremely rare cases, gene addition. These plastome insertions are mostly clade-specific and are typically of nuclear or mitochondrial origin. Here, we expand on these findings and present the first family-level survey of plastome evolution in ferns, revealing a novel suite of dynamic mobile elements. Comparative plastome analyses of the Pteridaceae expose several mobile open reading frames that vary in sequence length, insertion site, and configuration among sampled taxa. Even …


Mobilization And Role Of Starch, Protein, And Fat Reserves During Seed Germination Of Six Wild Grassland Species, Ming Zhao, Hongxiang Zhang, Hong Yan, Lu Qiu, Carol C. Baskin Feb 2018

Mobilization And Role Of Starch, Protein, And Fat Reserves During Seed Germination Of Six Wild Grassland Species, Ming Zhao, Hongxiang Zhang, Hong Yan, Lu Qiu, Carol C. Baskin

Biology Faculty Publications

Since seed reserves can influence seed germination, the quantitative and qualitative differences in seed reserves may relate to the germination characteristics of species. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the correlation between germination and seed reserves, as well as their mobilization during germination of six grassland species (Chloris virgata, Kochia scoparia, Lespedeza hedysaroides, Astragalus adsurgens, Leonurus artemisia, and Dracocephalum moldavica) and compare the results with domesticated species. We measured starch, protein, and fat content in dry seeds and the initial absorption of water during imbibition. Starch, soluble protein, fat, and soluble …


Lethal Effects Of Leaf Leachate From The Non-Native Invasive Shrub Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera Maackii) On A Model Aquatic Organism (Hyalella Azteca), Eric B. Borth, Kevin W. Custer, Ryan W. Mcewan Jan 2018

Lethal Effects Of Leaf Leachate From The Non-Native Invasive Shrub Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera Maackii) On A Model Aquatic Organism (Hyalella Azteca), Eric B. Borth, Kevin W. Custer, Ryan W. Mcewan

Biology Faculty Publications

The invasive shrub Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle) is a problematic species in the eastern United States and there is growing evidence that materials from this species have toxic effects on some organisms. We used a sequence of microcosm bioassays to assess the influence of L. maackii leaf leachate on the macroinvertebrate Hyalella azteca, which is a standard aquatic organism for toxicity assessment. In a laboratory setting, H. azteca were exposed to a leaf leachate dilution series (6.25%, 12.5%, 25%, 50%, 100%) in 48-h toxicity tests. This was repeated throughout the growing season to assess the potential for changes in …


The Role Of Environmental Filtering In Structuring Appalachian Tree Communities: Topographic Influences On Functional Diversity Are Mediated Through Soil Characteristics, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan Jan 2018

The Role Of Environmental Filtering In Structuring Appalachian Tree Communities: Topographic Influences On Functional Diversity Are Mediated Through Soil Characteristics, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Biology Faculty Publications

Identifying the drivers of community assembly has long been a central goal in ecology, and the development of functional diversity indices has provided a new way of detecting the influence of environmental gradients on biotic communities. For an old-growth Appalachian forest, we used path analysis to understand how patterns of tree functional diversity relate to topography and soil gradients and to determine whether topographic effects are mediated through soil chemistry. All of our path models supported the idea of environmental filtering: stressful areas (high elevation, low soil moisture, low soil nutrients) were occupied by communities of low functional diversity, which …