Life Sciences Commons^™

Homoploid Hybrid Speciation In A Rare Endemic Castilleja From Idaho (Castilleja Christii, Orobanchaceae), Danielle Leigh Clay

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Evidence to support the origins of a putative hybrid species with certainty must be determined using several lines of evidence: the presence of genetic additivity of parental marker alleles in a putative hybrid species, along with ecological or niche separation. Novel or transgressive morphological traits obtained through chromosomal rearrangements during hybridization may facilitate niche separation of the hybrid species from progenitor habitats. These evolutionary processes together enforce reproductive isolation and promote an independent evolutionary trajectory in hybrid species. By studying these evolutionary processes in putative hybrid species, researchers may identify hybrid species with confidence.

We employed multiple lines of evidence …

Environmental Regulation Of Dormancy Loss In Seeds Of Lomatium Dissectum, Melissa Dawn Scholten

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Lomatium dissectum (Nutt.) Mathias & Constance is a perennial plant found across much of western North America. For disturbed lands within this range, there is interest in using L. dissectum in restoration. A problem in the propagation of L. dissectum is that at the time of dispersal the seeds are dormant. Thus, prior to usage in restoration projects the type of dormancy and the procedures necessary to release dormancy in these seeds must be determined. Determining the type of dormancy and the treatments necessary to break dormancy in L. dissectum seeds was the primary focus of this study. To approach …

The Y-Str Genetic Diversity Of An Idaho Basque Population, With Comparison To European Basques And Us Caucasians, Josu Zubizarreta, Michael C. Davis, Greg Hampikian

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fifty unrelated Basque males from southwest Idaho were typed for the 17 Y-STR loci in the Yfiler multiplex kit (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, YGATA_H4.1 and DYS385a/b). A total of 42 haplotypes were identified, with no more than two individuals sharing a single haplotype. The haplotype diversity (HD) was 0.9935, and gene diversity (D) over loci was 0.457 ± 0.137. The Idaho Basque population was compared to the source population from the Basque autonomous region of Northern Spain and Southern France, as well as a US Caucasian population. The haplotype diversity …

Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein Is Not Required For Normal Ductal Or Alveolar Development In The Post-Natal Mammary Gland, Kata Boras-Granic, Joshua Vanhouten, Minoti Hiremath, John Wysolmerski

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

PTHrP is necessary for the formation of the embryonic mammary gland and, in its absence, the embryonic mammary bud fails to form the neonatal duct system. In addition, PTHrP is produced by the breast during lactation and contributes to the regulation of maternal calcium homeostasis during milk production. In this study, we examined the role of PTHrP during post-natal mammary development. Using a PTHrP-lacZ transgenic mouse, we surveyed the expression of PTHrP in the developing post-natal mouse mammary gland. We found that PTHrP expression is restricted to the basal cells of the gland during pubertal development and becomes expressed in …

Mucosal Immunization With A Staphylococcus Aureus Isda-Cholera Toxin A2/B Chimera Induces Antigen-Specific Th2-Type Responses In Mice, Britni M. Arlian, Juliette Tinker

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of opportunistic infection worldwide and a significant public health threat. The iron-regulated surface determinant A (IsdA) adhesin is essential for S. aureus colonization on human nasal epithelial cells and plays an important role in iron acquisition and resistance to human skin defenses. Here we investigated the murine immune response to intranasal administration of a cholera toxin (CT) A₂/B chimera containing IsdA. Plasmids were constructed to express the IsdA-CTA₂/B chimera and control proteins in E. coli. Proper construction of the chimera was verified by SDS-PAGE, western blot, GM1 ELISA, and …

Immunoregulation Of Liver Regeneration By The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor: Role Of Lymphocytes And Interferon-Gamma, Christopher John Horras

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a persistent environmental contaminant that elicits toxicity by activating the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. The toxic effects associated with TCDD exposure include immunotoxicity and dysregulated cell cycle control, although the mechanisms are poorly understood. A previous report indicates that exposure to TCDD suppresses hepatocyte proliferation in a mouse model of liver regeneration induced by 70% partial hepatectomy (PH). Based on reports that liver regeneration is negatively regulated by interferon (IFN)-γ produced by activated natural killer (NK) cells, along with the well-established immunotoxic effects of TCDD in other model systems, we hypothesized that TCDD treatment attenuates liver …

How Do Human Disturbance, Beach Characteristics, And Coastal Engineering Affect Snowy Plover (Charadrius Alexandrinus) Habitat Selection On The Florida Panhandle?, Alyson F. Webber

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Snowy plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus) are listed as threatened by the State of Florida, and have been a species of growing concern among wildlife management agencies. The population of snowy plovers breeding along the Florida Panhandle has a patchy distribution, and large stretches of private and public land go virtually unused by plovers. Further, there is a strong negative correlation between coastal engineering projects and snowy plover nest site use. The relationship between coastal engineering and snowy plover nesting distribution is unclear, however, because most engineering projects have occurred on developed beaches with high human use. My objectives were …

Land Cover And Topographic Effects On Cavity-Nesting Owl Occurrence And The Role Of Species Interactions In Structuring Cavity-Nesting Owl Communities, Micah Noel Scholer

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Relatively little is known about the distribution, abundance, and population trends of many species of owls. Frequently, studies that describe owl distributions are accomplished by modeling characteristics of the habitat such as land cover and topographic features. However, the potential to model owl distributions as a function of species interactions has been largely unexplored. I investigated how habitat characteristics as well as species interactions shape owl distributions in the Western United States. Using occurrence data collected between 2009 and 2010 in the Boise National Forest, Idaho, I developed species distribution models for Flammulated Owls (Otus flammeolus) and Northern …

Differences In The Mechanics Between The Dominant And Non-Dominant Plant Limb During Instep Soccer Kicking, Cassidy M. Berlin

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Over the past 15 years, participation in women’s soccer has increased drastically and with that comes increased exposure to injury. When athletes perform deceleration tasks, such as planting the limb during a kick, there is an increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Low knee flexion angles at contact, high posterior ground reaction force (GRF), increased lateral trunk lean, high knee abduction angle, and high knee external rotation of the knee have all been identified as potential mechanisms of ACL injury during deceleration tasks. At higher levels of competition, a soccer player becomes more valuable if they are …

Effects Of Developmental Conditions On Nestling American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius) Corticosterone Concentrations, Erin H. Strasser, Julie A. Heath

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

How nestling birds respond to stressful situations may constitute an important survival component that has lasting developmental effects on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. As birds are exposed to increasing amounts of potential anthropogenic stressors through land use change, understanding how these factors contribute to HPA development is important. We examined whether conditions experienced during the nestling stage affected free-living American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) HPA activity prior to fledging. Kestrels experienced varying levels of human disturbance around their nest and we classified this environmental exposure as high or low environmental human disturbance based on traffic patterns and …

Depletion Of Beclin-1 Due To Proteolytic Cleavage By Caspases In The Alzheimer's Disease Brain, Troy T. Rohn, Ellen Wirawan, Raquel J. Brown, Jordan R. Harris, Eliezer Masliah, Peter Vandenabeele

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Beclin-1 protein is essential for the initiation of autophagy and recent studies suggest this function may be compromised in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In addition, in vitro studies have supported a loss of function of Beclin-1 due to proteolytic modification by caspases. In the present study we examined whether caspase-cleavage of Beclin-1 occurs in the AD brain by designing a site-directed caspase-cleavage antibody based upon a known cleavage site within the protein at position D149. We confirmed that Beclin-1 is an excellent substrate for caspase-3 and demonstrate cleavage led to the formation of a 35 kDa C-terminal fragment labeled by …

Propagule Pressure And Introduction Pathways Of Bromus Tectorum (Cheatgrass; Poaceae) In The Central United States, Temsha D. Huttanus, Richard N. Mack, Stephen J. Novak

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An introduced species' propagule pressure strongly influences the genetic diversity and evolutionary potential of its descendants and even the likelihood of biological invasion. We examined population genetic consequences arising from introduction of the invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum into the central United States (U.S.). The origin and frequency of introductions were investigated by assembling allozyme diversity data from 60 widely spaced populations. At least five introduction events contributed to the grass’s genetic diversity in the central U.S. Populations in this region have fewer alleles (30 vs. 43) and polymorphic loci (5 vs. 13) than native populations, evidence of a genetic …

The Effects Of Neonatal Handling On Adrenocortical Responsiveness, Morphological Development And Corticosterone Binding Globulin In Nestling American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), Buddy A. Whitman, Creagh W. Breuner, Alfred M. Dufty

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Early developmental experiences play an important role in development of the adult phenotype. We investigated the effects of neonatal handling on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in a free-living avian species, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius). In the handled group (H), kestrel chicks were handled for 15 min/day from hatching until 26 days of age, after which time blood samples were collected for analysis of adrenal responsiveness and corticosterone binding globulin (CBG) levels. The non-handled control group (NH) was left undisturbed until 26 days of age when blood samples were collected and analyzed as above. Handled and NH kestrels did not differ …

Immunolocalization Of Influenza A Virus And Markers Of Inflammation In The Human Parkinson’S Disease Brain, Troy T. Rohn, Lindsey W. Catlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although much is known regarding the molecular mechanisms leading to neuronal cell loss in Parkinson’s disease (PD), the initiating event has not been identified. Prevailing theories including a chemical insult or infectious agent have been postulated as possible triggers, leading to neuroinflammation. We present immunohistochemical data indicating the presence of influenza A virus within the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) from postmortem PD brain sections. Influenza A virus labeling was identified within neuromelanin granules as well as on tissue macrophages in the SNpc. Further supporting a role for neuroinflammation in PD was the identification of T-lymphocytes that colocalized with an …

Clinical Significance Of Interleukin (Il)-6 In Cancer Metastasis To Bone: Potential Of Anti-Il-6 Therapies, Ken Tawara, Julia T. Oxford, Cheryl L. Jorcyk

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Metastatic events to the bone occur frequently in numerous cancer types such as breast, prostate, lung, and renal carcinomas, melanoma, neuroblastoma, and multiple myeloma. Accumulating evidence suggests that the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 is frequently upregulated and is implicated in the ability of cancer cells to metastasize to bone. IL-6 is able to activate various cell signaling cascades that include the STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) pathway, the PI3K (phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase) pathway, and the MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathway. Activation of these pathways may explain the ability of IL-6 to mediate various aspects of normal and pathogenic bone …

Effects Of Regional Cold Fronts And Localized Weather Phenomena On Autumn Migration Of Raptors And Landbirds In Southwest Idaho, Robert A. Miller, Jay D. Carlisle, Gregory S. Kaltenecker

Intermountain Bird Observatory Publications and Presentations

Weather has a significant effect on avian migration, but whether the influence is similar across diverse geographic regions and across all species remains to be determined. We evaluated the effect of regional cold fronts and localized weather phenomena on the timing of autumn migration of multiple species of landbirds and raptors in southwest Idaho. The focus of the analysis was on total landbirds and the ten most common landbird species, along with total raptors and the eight most common raptor species. Using 13 years of data from the Idaho Bird Observatory in southwest Idaho (1997–2009), including standardized mist-net captures of …

Progression Of Breast Cancer Metastatic Disease And Subsequent Osteolytic Bone Degradation Mediated By Oncostatin M, Ken Tawara

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women and is the second most common cancer-related death for women worldwide. While the primary tumor itself is not lethal, the metastases that disrupt vital organ functions pose a significant clinical challenge. Seventy percent of women with metastatic breast cancer have metastases to the bone, which is the most significant cause of morbidity for these patients. Oncostatin M (OSM) is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays a role in the immune system, wound repair, and haematopoiesis. OSM was previously considered for anticancer therapy due to its anti-proliferative effects against breast cancer cells in …

Physiologic Performance Test Differences By Competition Level And Player Position In Female Volleyball Athletes, Monique Lynae Schaal

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The game of volleyball, which requires power, strength, speed, agility, and anaerobic fitness, is played around the world. A performance divide is evident between high school and collegiate volleyball athletes, and the physiologic differences have not been extensively studied. Because sport specific test performance data are not available, performance deficits in high school athletes are not well understood. Players striving to improve volleyball performance need clear expectations of skill and performance measures to succeed at higher levels of competition. There are extremely limited data available for female volleyball players that specifically describe how physiological performance test data may …

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles As Potential Novel Anticancer Therapies, Janet C. Layne

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Nanoparticles (NP) are increasingly being recognized for their utility in the field of medicine, including use as drug carriers and imaging tools. We demonstrated that ZnO NP preferentially kill cancerous cells of the T cell lineage, and extended this research to evaluate other cells types, including normal and malignant B cells, and normal and malignant breast and prostate epithelial cells. Preferential ZnO nanoparticle cytotoxicity occurred for multiple types of cancer cells, but was most pronounced for non-adherent cells of hematopoietic lineage. Normal T and B lymphocytes showed the greatest resistance to NP toxicity, followed by normal breast epithelial cells, and …

Trophic Ecology Of Burrowing Owls In Natural And Agricultural Habitats And An Analysis Of Predator Communities Using Stable Isotopes Of Carbon And Nitrogen, Kathlyn Jean Mcvey

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen can provide powerful tools for estimating the trophic positions of animals and determining the source or the primary producer of a food web. I used stable isotopes analysis of carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) to investigate the trophic position of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) in agricultural and natural habitats and trophic relationships of a community of vertebrate predators in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA), located in southern Idaho.

Burrowing owl populations have declined across much of North America owing to loss …

Walk-Run Transition Speed And The Relevance Of Loading, Muscular Fatigue, And Human Kinematics: A Comparison Of Human Gait Patterns, Callie Elizabeth Gunderson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: The walk-to-run transition (WRT) typically occurs at a preferred transition speed (PTS) of 1.9-2.1ms^-1. Previous research has focused on potential triggers for this transition such as leg length, muscular fatigue, loading rates (LR), and vertical ground reaction forces (VGRFs). Rather than focus on mechanisms responsible for the transition, the purpose of the current study was to determine if basic anthropometrics or gait characteristics are predictive of the WRT. METHODS: Thirty participants were recruited for the current study (n = 13 male, 17 female; n = 11 normal weight, n = 10 overweight, n = …

Passive Immunization Reduces Behavioral And Neuropathological Deficits In An Alpha-Synuclein Transgenic Model Of Lewy Body Disease, Troy Rohn

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) are common causes of motor and cognitive deficits and are associated with the abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein (α-syn). This study investigated whether passive immunization with a novel monoclonal α-syn antibody (9E4) against the C-terminus (CT) of α-syn was able to cross into the CNS and ameliorate the deficits associated with α-syn accumulation. In this study we demonstrate that 9E4 was effective at reducing behavioral deficits in the water maze, moreover, immunization with 9E4 reduced the accumulation of calpain-cleaved α-syn in axons and synapses and the associated neurodegenerative deficits. In vivo studies …

A User's Guide To The Encyclopedia Of Dna Elements (Encode), Morgan Giddings, Brian Risk

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The mission of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project is to enable the scientific and medical communities to interpret the human genome sequence and apply it to understand human biology and improve health. The ENCODE Consortium is integrating multiple technologies and approaches in a collective effort to discover and define the functional elements encoded in the human genome, including genes, transcripts, and transcriptional regulatory regions, together with their attendant chromatin states and DNA methylation patterns. In the process, standards to ensure high-quality data have been implemented, and novel algorithms have been developed to facilitate analysis. Data and derived results …

Structured Multiple Endosymbiosis Of Bacteria And Archaea In A Ciliate From Marine Sulfidic Sediments: A Survival Mechanism In Low Oxygen, Sulfidic Sediments?, Virginia P. Edgcomb, Edward R. Leadbetter, William A. Bourland, David Beaudoin, Joan M. Bernhard

William Bourland

Marine micro-oxic to sulfidic environments are sites of intensive biogeochemical cycling and elemental sequestration, where prokaryotes are major driving forces mediating carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and metal cycles, important from both biogeochemical and evolutionary perspectives. Associations between single-celled eukaryotes and bacteria and/or archaea are common in such habitats. Here we describe a ciliate common in the micro-oxic to anoxic, typically sulfidic, sediments of Santa Barbara Basin (CA, USA). The ciliate is 95% similar to Parduzcia orbis (18S rRNA). Transmission electron micrographs reveal clusters of at least three different endobiont types organized within membrane-bound sub-cellular regions. Catalyzed reporter deposition–fluorescent in situ …

New World Origins Of Southwest Pacific Gesneriaceae: Multiple Movements Across And Within The South Pacific, Vincent L. Woo, Minde M. Funke, James F. Smith, Peter J. Lockhart, Philip J. Garnock-Jones

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coronanthereae is a tribe of ~20 species with a suite of unique morphological characters and a disjunct geographic distribution in the Southern Hemisphere. Three species are found in southern South America and the remainder in the southwest Pacific. It has been suggested, because of this distribution and disjunction, that Coronanthereae represents a relictual Gondwanan group from which the two major lineages in the family, the Old World Cyrtandroideae and the New World Gesnerioideae, originated. We tested this hypothesis by using phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences, ancestral-area reconstruction, and molecular dating. The tribe is placed within the mostly …

New Implications On Genomic Adaptation Derived From The Helicobacter Pylori Genome Comparison, Edgar Eduardo Lara-Ramírez, Aldo Segura-Cabrera, Xianwu Guo, Gongxin Yu, Carlos Armando García-Pérez, Mario A. Rodríguez-Pérez

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Helicobacter pylori has a reduced genome and lives in a tough environment for long-term persistence. It evolved with its particular characteristics for biological adaptation. Because several H. pylori genome sequences are available, comparative analysis could help to better understand genomic adaptation of this particular bacterium.

Principal Findings: We analyzed nine H. pylori genomes with emphasis on microevolution from a different perspective. Inversion was an important factor to shape the genome structure. Illegitimate recombination not only led to genomic inversion but also inverted fragment duplication, both of which contributed to the creation of new genes and gene family, and further, …

Migration Patterns, Use Of Stopover Areas, And Austral Summer Movements Of Swainson's Hawks, Michael N. Kochert, Mark R. Fuller, Linda S. Schueck, Laura Bond, Marc J. Bechard, Brian Woodbridge, Geoff L. Holroyd, Mark S. Martell, Ursula Banasch

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

From 1995 to 1998, we tracked movements of adult Swainson’s Hawks (Buteo swainsoni), using satellite telemetry to characterize migration, important stopover areas, and movements in the austral summer. We tagged 46 hawks from July to September on their nesting grounds in seven U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Swainson’s Hawks followed three basic routes south on a broad front, converged along the east coast of central Mexico, and followed a concentrated corridor to a communal area in central Argentina for the austral summer. North of 20°N, southward and northward tracks differed little for individuals from east of the …

Inhibition Of Proprotein Convertase Ski-1 Blocks Transcription Of Key Extracellular Matrix Genes Regulating Osteoblastic Mineralization, Jeff P. Gorski, Nichole T. Huffman, Sridar Chittur, Ronald J. Midura, Claudine Black, Julia Oxford, Nabil G. Seidah

Biomolecular Research Center Publications and Presentations

Mineralization, a characteristic phenotypic property of osteoblastic lineage cells, was blocked by AEBSF and dec-RRLL-cmk, inhibitors of SKI-1 (site 1; subtilisin kexin like-1) protease. Since SKI-1 is required for activation of SREBP and CREB/ATF family transcription factors, we tested the effect of these inhibitors on gene expression. AEBSF decreased expression of 140 genes by 1.5- to 3.0-fold including Phex, Dmp1, COL1A1, COL11A1 and fibronectin. Direct comparison of AEBSF and dec-RRLL-cmk, a more specific SKI-1 inhibitor, demonstrated that expression of Phex, Dmp1, COL11A1 and fibronectin was reduced by both while COL1A2 and HMGCS1 were reduced …

Climate Change And Idaho Agriculture: Is Farm Size A Determinate Of Adaptive Capacity?, Blair P. Vanderlugt

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Determining how agriculture will be affected by climate change is not only a question biophysical change in crop production; it also depends on the adaptation of the farmer to these changing conditions. A flaw in models using nationally aggregated cross sectional data is that the adaptive capacity of unique farms is not captured in the analysis. In order to understand the local effect of climate change on welfare models must capture attributes specific to the study area. Factors that must be taken into consideration include farm characteristics local policy and institutional frameworks (Antle et al. 2004; Mendelsohn, Nordhaus, and Shaw …

Aeolian Nutrient Fluxes Following Wildfire In Sagebrush Steppe: Implications For Soil Carbon Storage, N. J. Hasselquist, M. J. Germino, J. B. Sankey, L. J. Ingram, N. F. Glenn

Nancy Glenn

Pulses of aeolian transport following fire can profoundly affect the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in semi-arid and arid ecosystems. Our objective was to determine horizontal nutrient fluxes occurring in the saltation zone during an episodic pulse of aeolian transport that occurred following a wildfire in a semi-arid sagebrush steppe ecosystem in southern Idaho, USA. We also examined how temporal trends in nutrient fluxes were affected by changes in particle sizes of eroded mass as well as nutrient concentrations associated with different particle size classes. In the burned area, total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes were as high as 235 …