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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Thermodynamic Analysis Of Phenylpropanoid Pathway In Arabidopsis Thanliana, Patrick J. Ioerger, Rohit Jaini, John A. Morgan Aug 2015

Thermodynamic Analysis Of Phenylpropanoid Pathway In Arabidopsis Thanliana, Patrick J. Ioerger, Rohit Jaini, John A. Morgan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biofuels represent a renewable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. As dependence on fossil fuels rise so does the importance of improving the production of alternative fuels. Lignin poses one obstacle in the development of such alternative fuels. Its presence strengthens cell walls and hinders degradation of polysaccharides into monosaccharides, increasing cost and time while decreasing efficiency of the process. Lignin is composed of three monolignols, each of which is produced through the Phenylpropanoid pathway; a series of chemical reactions. This work aims to determine which reactions in the pathway are least thermodynamically favorable and thus most limiting. From metabolic mapping …


Detecting Genomic Regions Responsible For Resistance In Arabidopsis, Valeria Cancino, Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, Rucha Karve Aug 2015

Detecting Genomic Regions Responsible For Resistance In Arabidopsis, Valeria Cancino, Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi, Rucha Karve

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Ralstonia solanacearum is a soil-borne plant root colonizing pathogen and the casual agent of bacterial wilt (BW) disease. BW leads to severe yield loss in a wide variety of agricultural commodity crops, such as tomato, banana, and pepper. In this study, we look at the plant-pathogen interaction between Ralstonia solanacearum and various ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana with the goal of finding resistant ecotypes. To identify resistant ecotypes, seeds are first sterilized and left to soak in the dark. Then the seeds are plated on agar media, transferred to a growth chamber, and allowed to grow for 5 days. On day …


Production, Purification, And X-Ray Crystallography Of The Potra Domains Of Pstoc75, Gabriela Jordan Little Apr 2015

Production, Purification, And X-Ray Crystallography Of The Potra Domains Of Pstoc75, Gabriela Jordan Little

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Plastids arose via endosymbiosis when a cyanobacterium was engulfed by a primitive eukaryote. The cyanobacterium was enslaved by the eukaryote, eventually giving rise to a new organelle, termed the plastid. The transition from a free-living cyanobacterium to a cell-dependent organelle demonstrates how the chloroplast ancestor underwent many changes in its physiology and biological processes. The majority of the DNA belonging to the cyanobacterium was scavenged by the nucleus of the host cell. This led to higher fidelity of genetic duplication, due to the proofreading abilities of the DNA polymerase of the host cell. This left the cell with the problem …


An Individual-Based Model Of Chaparral Vegetation Response To Frequent Wildfire, Timothy Lucas, Dayna Mann, Reanna Dona Mar 2015

An Individual-Based Model Of Chaparral Vegetation Response To Frequent Wildfire, Timothy Lucas, Dayna Mann, Reanna Dona

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In recent years, the Santa Monica Mountains (SMM) have been plagued by frequent wildfires which threaten the native chaparral species. Nonsprouting chaparral species are completely killed by a fire, but their seeds germinate in response to fire cues. Facultative sprouters both resprout after a wildfire and release seeds that germinate post-fire. This project is based on data collected since 1986 at a biological preserve adjacent to the Malibu campus of Pepperdine University with an average fire return interval of 7.5 years. We present a spatial model that simulates the growth, seed dispersal and resprouting behavior of individual shrubs that compete …