Life Sciences Commons^™

Slate-Throated Redstarts (Myioborus Miniatus) Breeding In Maderas Del Carmen, Coahuila, Mexico, John Mccormack

John E. McCormack

The breeding range of the slate-throated redstart (Myioborus miniatus) stretches from South America to Mexico, where it extends northward along the Sierra Madre Oriental to southeastern Coahuila and along the Sierra Madre Occidental to southern Chihuahua and Sonora. We report the discovery of slate-throated redstarts breeding in the Maderas del Carmen mountains in Coahuila. This represents a range extension of approximately 400 km and is, to our knowledge, the northernmost breeding record for this species.

Developmental Biology. Encountering Micrornas In Cell Fate Signaling., Xantha Karp, Victor Ambros

Victor R. Ambros

Comment on: LIN-12/Notch activation leads to microRNA-mediated down-regulation of Vav in C. elegans. [Science. 2005]

16s Rrna Gene Sequence And Phylogenetic Tree Of Lactobacillus Species From The Vagina Of Healthy Nigerian Women, Kingsley Anukam, Emmanuel Osazuwa, Ijeoma Ahonkhai, Gregor Reid

Kingsley C Anukam

Lactobacilli are ubiquitous in nature and in humans they play a very significant role in the general health maintenance of the host. Identification of Lactobacilli has previously been based on cultutre-dependent methods and recently molecular techniques involving gene sequencing are now the ‘gold standard’. Scarce information exists in Africa on the real identity of Lactobacillus species, albeit phylogenetic distances among the species present in the human vagina. 185 vaginal swabs were collected from healthy premenopausal women (18-48 years). Bacterial DNA was extracted, amplified using PCR, with group specific Lactobacillus primers, and processed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). DGGE bands …

Expression Profiling Of Arabidopsis Stigma Tissue Identifies Stigma-Specific Genes, Rob Swanson, T Clark, D Preuss

Rob Swanson

Plants discriminate among pollen grains that land on the stigma surface, providing compatible pollen with the nutrients and signals required to proceed in pollination, and in many species, recognizing and inhibiting foreign pollen adhesion, hydration, germination and invasion. Much of the stigma machinery involved in these processes remains unknown. It is likely that the expression of a stigma-specific gene program confers specialized structural and functional properties. Here we used microarray technology and cDNA subtraction to build a profile of candidate stigma genes that facilitate early pollination events. Of over 24,000 Arabidopsis genes probed, we identified 11,403 genes expressed in stigma …

The Reef Fish Assemblage Of The Outer Los Angeles Federal Breakwater, 2002–2003, John Froeschke, Larry Allen, Daniel Pondella

Daniel Pondella

The conspicuous and cryptic fish assemblage of the Los Angeles Federal Breakwater was assessed from 2002 to 2003. Thirty-five species were observed or collected during the study period. The assemblage of cryptic fishes was composed primarily of a mix of Oregonian and San Diegan, species including snubnose sculpin (Orthonopias triacis), coralline sculpin (Artedius corallinus) and blackeye goby (Rhinogobiops nicholsii). The species composition of conspicuous fishes was approximately equal between taxa from these two provinces. Blacksmith (Chromis punctipinnis), black perch (Embiotoca jacksoni) and kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus) dominated the assemblage of conspicuous fishes. Species composition reflects the localized cool temperature regime …

Two Forms Of The Large Tumor Suppressor Gene (Lats1) Protein Expressed In The Vertebrate Retina, Novrouz B. Akhmedov, Clyde K. Yamashita, Dai Tran, Natik I. Piri, Gustavo D. Aguirre, Debora B. Farber

Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD

No Relationship Between Sequence Variation In Protein Coding Regions Of The Tas1r3 Gene And Saccharin Preference In Rats., Clinton Chapman, Ke Lu, Amanda Mcdaniel, Michael Tordoff, Li Xia, Gary Beauchamp, Nancy Dess, Dennis Vanderweele, Liquan Huang, Hong Wang, Danielle Reed

Clinton D Chapman

Nearly all mammalian species like sweet-tasting foods and drinks, but there are differences in the degree of 'sweet tooth' both between species and among individuals of the same species. Some individual differences can be explained by genetic variability. Polymorphisms in a sweet taste receptor (Tas1r3) account for a large fraction of the differences in consumption of sweet solutions among inbred mouse strains. We wondered whether mice and rats share the same Tas1r3 alleles, and whether this gene might explain the large difference in saccharin preference among rats. We conducted three experiments to test this. We examined DNA sequence differences in …

Electromyographical Analysis And Comparison Of Selected Abdominal Training Devices With A Traditional Crunch, Stuart Rugg

Stuart Rugg

The present study compared the muscle activity elicited by selected abdominal training devices with muscle activity elicited by a traditional crunch. Forty-six adults participated in the study. The exercise devices tested included the Ab-ONE, Perfect Abs Roller, Ab Scissor, Ab Swing, 6SecondAbs, and the Torso Track. For those devices with variable resistances, all were tested at their high resistance setting. Surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from the upper and lower portions of the rectus abdominis and the external oblique during each repetition. EMG values were analyzed using repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) and pairwise comparisons. EMG measurements for each …

The Proto-Oncogene C-Kit Maps To Canid B-Chromosomes, Alexander S. Graphodatsky, Anna V. Kukekova, Dmitry V. Yudkin, Vladimir A. Trifonov, Nadezhda V. Vorobieva, Violetta R. Beklemisheva, Polina L. Perelman, Daria A. Graphodatskaya, Lyudmila N. Trut, Fengtang Yang, Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith, Gregory M. Acland, Gustavo D. Aguirre

Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD

Quantitative Nonisotopic Nitrocellulose Filter Binding Assays: Bacterial Manganese Superoxide Dismutase–Dna Interactions, Joshua Czerwinski, Stephanie Hovan, David Mascotti

David P. Mascotti

Nitrocellulose filter binding assays (NCFBAs) have been used for many years to qualitatively and quantitatively determine protein–nucleic acid affinities. While this technique can be robust thermodynamically and fairly simple to perform, the requirement of radiolabeled nucleic acids (typically 32P) has several major drawbacks. Some disadvantages are the short half-life of 32P, the inherent safety concerns, and the cost of working with radioisotopes. Another drawback is that over time the beta emissions cause fragmentation of the nucleic acids. We have modified standard NCFBAs by developing a quantitative nonisotopic chemiluminescent method using biotin-labeled DNA and a dual-filter format. The biotin tag is …

Presence And Colonization Of Placobdella On Two Species Of Freshwater Turtles (Graptemys Geographica And Sternotherus Odoratus), Travis Ryan

Travis J. Ryan

It is generally accepted that bottom-dwelling turtles have a higher ectoparasite load than turtles that bask aerially because of effects of desiccation on ectoparasites, especially with regard to leeches. We compared number of leeches (primarily Placobdella parasitica) on field-caught Common Musk Turtles (Stemotherus odoratus) and Common Map Turtles (Graptemys geographica). The bottom-dwelling species S. odoratus had more than 20 times the number of leeches than the aerial-basking species G. geographica. We then exposed cleaned (leech-free) turtles to leeches in mesocosms (cattle tanks) to measure the rate of colonization. In this experiment, S. odoratus had more than four times the number …

Bioinformatic Analysis Of The Metal-Binding Protein Families And Heavy Metal Resistance Amongst Cyanobacteria, Tin-Chun Chu, Lee Lee, Shankar Srinivasan

Tin-Chun Chu, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Castration Inhibits The Exercise-Induced Accumulation Of Hsp70 In Male Rodent Cardiac Muscle Tissue, Kevin Milne, David Thorp, C.W. Melling, Earl Noble

Jamie Melling

Intense exercise leads to accumulation of the inducible member of the 70-kDa family of heat shock proteins, Hsp70, in male, but not female, hearts. Estrogen is at least partially responsible for this difference. Because androgen receptors are expressed in the heart and castration leads to decreases in calcium regulatory proteins and altered cardiac function, testosterone (T) or its metabolites could also be involved. We hypothesized that removal of endogenous T production through castration would reduce cardiac Hsp70 accumulation after an acute exercise bout, whereas castrated animals supplemented with 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) would show the intact male response. Fifty-four 8-wk-old male Sprague-Dawley …

Amyloid Fibril Formation By Bovine Milk Kappa-Casein And Its Inhibition By The Molecular Chaperones Alpha-S And Beta-Casein, Mark Wilson, David Thorn, Agata Rekas, S. L Gras, Christopher Dobson, Sarah Meehan, Cait Macphee, M Sunde

Mark R Wilson

No abstract provided.

Heat Shock Protein 70 Inhibits Alpha-Synuclein Fibril Formation Via Preferential Binding To Prefibrillar Species, Mark Wilson, M. M. Dedmon, J. Christodoulou, Christopher Dobson

Mark R Wilson

No abstract provided.

Lymphotoxin-Beta Receptor-Dependent Genes In Lymph Node And Follicular Dendritic Cell Transcriptomes, Mark Wilson, C. Huber, C. Thielen, Y. Fu, E. Heinen, A Aguzzi, G Miele

Mark R Wilson

No abstract provided.

Nonclassical, Distinct Endocytic Signals Dictate Constitutive And Pkc-Regulated Neurotransmitter Transporter Internalization, Haley Melikian

Haley Melikian

Neurotransmitter transporters are critical for synaptic neurotransmitter inactivation. Transporter inhibitors markedly increase the duration and magnitude of synaptic transmission, underscoring the importance of transporter activity in neurotransmission. Recent studies indicate that membrane trafficking dynamically governs neuronal transporter cell-surface presentation in a protein kinase C-regulated manner, suggesting that transporter trafficking profoundly affects synaptic signaling. However, the molecular architecture coupling neurotransmitter transporters to the endocytic machinery is not defined. Here, we identify nonclassical, distinct endocytic signals in the dopamine transporter (DAT) that are necessary and sufficient to drive constitutive and protein kinase C-regulated DAT internalization. The DAT internalization signal is conserved across …

Ecological Divergence Among Five Co-Occurring Species Of Old-Field Goldenrods, Warren Abrahamson, K. Ball Dobley

Warren G. Abrahamson, II

No abstract provided.

The Acute Phase Protein Haptoglobin Is A Mammalian Extracellular Chaperone With An Action Similar To Clusterin, Justin Yerbury, Mark S Rybchyn, Simon B Easterbrook-Smith, C. Henriques, Mark Wilson

Mark R Wilson

Haptoglobin (Hp) is an acidic glycoprotein present in most body fluids of humans and other mammals. Although the functions of Hp are not yet fully understood, the available evidence indicates that it is likely to play an important role in suppressing inflammatory responses. Some earlier work suggested that Hp might be a newly identified member of a small group of extracellular chaperones found at significant levels in human body fluids. Previously, the only well-characterized member of this group was clusterin, which shares functional similarities with the small heat-shock proteins. We report here that Hp specifically inhibited the precipitation of a …

Water Flow In Roots: Structural And Regulatory Features, Gretchen North, C. Peterson

Gretchen North

No abstract provided.

Mountain Biking, L. Ransdell, Shelley Lucas, S. Warner

Shelley Lucas

No abstract provided.

Engagement With The Land: Redemption Of The Rural Residence Fantasy?, K. Valentine Cadieux

K. Valentine Cadieux