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Louisiana State University

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Articles 31 - 60 of 60

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Oyster Reefs In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Estuaries Harbor Diverse Fish And Decapod Crustacean Assemblages: A Meta-Synthesis, Megan K. La Peyre, Danielle Aguilar Marshall, Lindsay S. Miller Oct 2019

Oyster Reefs In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Estuaries Harbor Diverse Fish And Decapod Crustacean Assemblages: A Meta-Synthesis, Megan K. La Peyre, Danielle Aguilar Marshall, Lindsay S. Miller

Faculty Publications

Oyster reefs provide habitat for numerous fish and decapod crustacean species that mediate ecosystem functioning and support vibrant fisheries. Recent focus on the restoration of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs stems from this role as a critical ecosystem engineer. Within the shallow estuaries of the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM), the eastern oyster is the dominant reef building organism. This study synthesizes data on fish and decapod crustacean occupancy of oyster reefs across nGoM with the goal of providing management and restoration benchmarks, something that is currently lacking for the region. Relevant data from 23 studies were identified, representing data …

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Hinge Region In Dna Packaging Terminase Pul15 Of Herpes Simplex Virus: A Potential Allosteric Target For Antiviral Drugs, Lana F. Thaljeh, J. Ainsley Rothschild, Misagh Naderi, Lyndon M. Coghill Oct 2019

Hinge Region In Dna Packaging Terminase Pul15 Of Herpes Simplex Virus: A Potential Allosteric Target For Antiviral Drugs, Lana F. Thaljeh, J. Ainsley Rothschild, Misagh Naderi, Lyndon M. Coghill

Faculty Publications

Approximately 80% of adults are infected with a member of the herpesviridae family. Herpesviruses establish life-long latent infections within neurons, which may reactivate into lytic infections due to stress or immune suppression. There are nine human herpesviruses (HHV) posing health concerns from benign conditions to life threatening encephalitis, including cancers associated with viral infections. The current treatment options for most HHV conditions mainly include several nucleoside and nucleotide analogs targeting viral DNA polymerase. Although these drugs help manage infections, their common mechanism of action may lead to the development of drug resistance, which is particularly devastating in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, …

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Hinge Region In Dna Packaging Terminase Pul15 Of Herpes Simplex Virus: A Potential Allosteric Target For Antiviral Drugs, Lana F. Thaljeh, J. Ainsley Rothschild, Misagh Naderi, Lyndon M. Coghill, Jeremy M. Brown, Michal Brylinski Oct 2019

Hinge Region In Dna Packaging Terminase Pul15 Of Herpes Simplex Virus: A Potential Allosteric Target For Antiviral Drugs, Lana F. Thaljeh, J. Ainsley Rothschild, Misagh Naderi, Lyndon M. Coghill, Jeremy M. Brown, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

Approximately 80% of adults are infected with a member of the herpesviridae family. Herpesviruses establish life-long latent infections within neurons, which may reactivate into lytic infections due to stress or immune suppression. There are nine human herpesviruses (HHV) posing health concerns from benign conditions to life threatening encephalitis, including cancers associated with viral infections. The current treatment options for most HHV conditions mainly include several nucleoside and nucleotide analogs targeting viral DNA polymerase. Although these drugs help manage infections, their common mechanism of action may lead to the development of drug resistance, which is particularly devastating in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, …

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Fisetin, A 3,7,3 ',4 '-Tetrahydroxyflavone Inhibits The Pi3k/Akt/Mtor And Mapk Pathways And Ameliorates Psoriasis Pathology In 2d And 3d Organotypic Human Inflammatory Skin Models, Konstantin G. Kousoulas Sep 2019

Fisetin, A 3,7,3 ',4 '-Tetrahydroxyflavone Inhibits The Pi3k/Akt/Mtor And Mapk Pathways And Ameliorates Psoriasis Pathology In 2d And 3d Organotypic Human Inflammatory Skin Models, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated skin disease that involves the interaction of immune and skin cells, and is characterized by cytokine-driven epidermal hyperplasia, deviant differentiation, inflammation, and angiogenesis. Because the available treatments for psoriasis have significant limitations, dietary products are potential natural sources of therapeutic molecules, which can repair the molecular defects associated with psoriasis and could possibly be developed for its management. Fisetin (3,7,3 ',4 '-tetrahydroxyflavone), a phytochemical naturally found in pigmented fruits and vegetables, has demonstrated proapoptotic and antioxidant effects in several malignancies. This study utilized biochemical, cellular, pharmacological, and tissue engineering tools to characterize the effects of …

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Histone H4 H75e Mutation Attenuates Global Genomic And Rad26-Independent Transcription-Coupled Nucleotide Excision Repair, Shisheng Li, Kathiresan Selvam, Sheikh Arafatur Rahman Aug 2019

Histone H4 H75e Mutation Attenuates Global Genomic And Rad26-Independent Transcription-Coupled Nucleotide Excision Repair, Shisheng Li, Kathiresan Selvam, Sheikh Arafatur Rahman

Faculty Publications

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) consists of global genomic NER (GG-NER) and transcription coupled NER (TC-NER) subpathways. In eukaryotic cells, genomic DNA is wrapped around histone octamers (an H3-H4 tetramer and two H2A-H2B dimers) to form nucleosomes, which are well known to profoundly inhibit the access of NER proteins. Through unbiased screening of histone H4 residues in the nucleosomal LRS (loss of ribosomal DNA-silencing) domain, we identified 24 mutations that enhance or decrease UV sensitivity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. The histone H4 H75E mutation, which is largely embedded in the nucleosome and interacts with histone H2B, significantly attenuates GG-NER and Rad26-independent …

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From Pampa To Puna: Biogeography And Diversification Of A Group Of Neotropical Obligate Grassland Birds (Anthus: Motacillidae), Paul Van Els Aug 2019

From Pampa To Puna: Biogeography And Diversification Of A Group Of Neotropical Obligate Grassland Birds (Anthus: Motacillidae), Paul Van Els

Faculty Publications

The evolution of Neotropical birds of open landscapes remains largely unstudied. We investigate the diversification and biogeography of a group of Neotropical obligate grassland birds (Anthus: Motacillidae). We use a multilocus phylogeny of 22 taxa of Anthus to test the hypothesis that these birds radiated contemporaneously with the development of grasslands in South America. We employ the R package DDD to analyze the dynamics of Anthus diversification across time in Neotropical grasslands, explicitly testing for shifts in dynamics associated with the Miocene development of grasslands, the putative Pleistocene expansion of arid lowland biomes, and Pleistocene sundering of Andean highland grasslands. …

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The Nopp140 Gene In Drosophila Melanogaster Displays Length Polymorphisms In Its Large Repetitive Second Exon, Patrick J. Dimario, Sonu Shrestha Baral Aug 2019

The Nopp140 Gene In Drosophila Melanogaster Displays Length Polymorphisms In Its Large Repetitive Second Exon, Patrick J. Dimario, Sonu Shrestha Baral

Faculty Publications

Nopp140, often called the nucleolar and Cajal body phosphoprotein (NOLC1), is an evolutionarily conserved chaperone for the transcription and processing of rRNA during ribosome subunit assembly. Metazoan Nopp140 contains an amino terminal LisH dimerization domain and a highly conserved carboxyl domain. A large central domain consists of alternating basic and acidic motifs of low sequence complexity. Orthologous versions of Nopp140 contain variable numbers of repeating basic-acidic units. While vertebrate Nopp140 genes use multiple exons to encode the central domain, the Nopp140 gene in Drosophila uses exclusively exon 2 to encode the central domain. Here, we define three overlapping repeat sequence …

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Temporal And Spatial Dynamics Of Competitive Parapatry In Chewing Lice, Mark S. Hafner Jul 2019

Temporal And Spatial Dynamics Of Competitive Parapatry In Chewing Lice, Mark S. Hafner

Faculty Publications

We synthesize observations from 1979 to 2016 of a contact zone involving two subspecies of pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae connectens and T. b. opulentus) and their respective chewing lice (Geomydoecus aurei and G. centralis) along the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, U.S.A., to test predictions about the dynamics of the zone. Historically, the natural flood cycle of the Rio Grande prevented contact between the two subspecies of pocket gophers. Flood control measures completed in the 1930s permitted contact, thus establishing the hybrid zone between the pocket gophers and the contact zone between their lice (without hybridization). Since that time, …

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The Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homolog D (Rbohd) Cell And Tissue Distribution In Potato-Potato Virus Y (Pvyntn) Hypersensitive And Susceptible Reactions, Rodrigo A. Valverde Jun 2019

The Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homolog D (Rbohd) Cell And Tissue Distribution In Potato-Potato Virus Y (Pvyntn) Hypersensitive And Susceptible Reactions, Rodrigo A. Valverde

Faculty Publications

The respiratory burst oxidase homolog D (RbohD) acts as a central driving force of reactive oxygen species signaling in plant cells by integrating many different signal transduction pathways in plants, including incompatible interactions with pathogens. This study demonstrated the localization and distribution of RbohD in two types of potato-potato virus Y (PVY) interactions: Compatible and incompatible (resistant). The results indicated a statistically significant induction of the RbohD antigen signal in both interaction types. In the hypersensitive response (resistant reaction) of potato with a high level of resistance to the potato tuber necrotic strain of PVY (PVYNTN), RbohD localization followed by …

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Zinc Toxicity And Iron-Sulfur Cluster Biogenesis In Escherichia Coli, Huangen Ding May 2019

Zinc Toxicity And Iron-Sulfur Cluster Biogenesis In Escherichia Coli, Huangen Ding

Faculty Publications

While zinc is an essential trace metal in biology, excess zinc is toxic to organisms. Previous studies have shown that zinc toxicity is associated with disruption of the (4Fe-4S] clusters in various dehydratases in Escherichia coli. Here, we report that the intracellular zinc overload in E. coli cells inhibits iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis without affecting the preassembled iron-sulfur clusters in proteins. Among the housekeeping iron-sulfur cluster assembly proteins encoded by the gene cluster iscSUA-hscBA-fdx-iscX in E. coli cells, the scaffold IscU, the iron chaperone IscA, and ferredoxin have strong zinc binding activity in cells, suggesting that intracellular zinc overload inhibits iron-sulfur …

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Hemipteran Pests Of Sugarcane In North America, Blake E. Wilson Apr 2019

Hemipteran Pests Of Sugarcane In North America, Blake E. Wilson

Faculty Publications

ing-sucking herbivores (Insecta: Hemiptera) represent one of the greatest threats to agricultural production worldwide. Hemipteran pests directly injure plants as well as vector disease-causing plant pathogens. Production of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) in North America is impacted by a complex of Hemiptera including the sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari Zehntner (Aphididae); yellow sugarcane aphid, Sipha flava (Forbes) (Aphididae); West Indian canefly, Saccharosydne saccharivora (Westwood) (Delphacidae); sugarcane delphacid, Perkinsiella saccharicida Kirkaldy (Delphacidae); and sugarcane lace bug, Leptodictya tabida (Herric-Schaeffer) (Tingidae). None of these pests is consistently damaging to large amounts of sugarcane acreage, but regional outbreaks are common. The biology, ecology, and pest …

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The Cure For Cultivating Fastidious Microbes, William Wischusen, Arundhati Bakshi, Austen T. Webber, Lorelei E. Patrick Apr 2019

The Cure For Cultivating Fastidious Microbes, William Wischusen, Arundhati Bakshi, Austen T. Webber, Lorelei E. Patrick

Faculty Publications

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) expand the scientific educational benefits of research to large groups of students in a course setting. As part of an ongoing effort to integrate CUREs into first-year biology labs, we developed a microbiology CURE (mCURE) that uses a modified dilution-to-extinction high throughput culturing protocol for isolating abundant yet fastidious aquatic bacterioplankton during one semester. Students learn common molecular biology techniques like nucleic acid extraction, PCR, and molecular characterization; read and evaluate scientific literature; and receive training in scientific communication through written and oral exercises that incorporate social media elements. In the first three semesters, the …

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Influence Of Sorghum Cultivar, Phenological Stage, And Fertilization On Development And Reproduction Of Melanaphis Sacchari (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Blake E. Wilson, Jeffrey Davis, Thomas Reagan, Luna Lama Apr 2019

Influence Of Sorghum Cultivar, Phenological Stage, And Fertilization On Development And Reproduction Of Melanaphis Sacchari (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Blake E. Wilson, Jeffrey Davis, Thomas Reagan, Luna Lama

Faculty Publications

The sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is an invasive pest of grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench (Poaceae). Since its first outbreak in sorghum in 2013, severe infestations have spread throughout the southern USA, causing major economic losses. Whereas insecticide applications can mitigate some of the pest's impacts, a sustainable ecology-based management program is needed to reduce reliance on chemical control. Two greenhouse assays examined the influence of selected host plant characteristics on M. sacchari life table parameters. We studied the effects of silicon (rates equivalent to 0 and 3,360 kg silicon per ha) and nitrogen (rates equivalent …

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Amplification Dynamics Of Platy-1 Retrotransposons In The Cebidae Platyrrhine Lineage, Mark A. Batzer, Jessica M. Storer, Jackson R. Mierl, Sarah A. Brantley Apr 2019

Amplification Dynamics Of Platy-1 Retrotransposons In The Cebidae Platyrrhine Lineage, Mark A. Batzer, Jessica M. Storer, Jackson R. Mierl, Sarah A. Brantley

Faculty Publications

Platy-1 elements are Platyrrhine-specific, short interspersed elements originally discovered in the Callithrix jacchus (common marmoset) genome. To date, only the marmoset genome has been analyzed for Platy-1 repeat content. Here, we report full-length Platy-1 insertions in other New World monkey (NWM) genomes (Saimiri boliviensis, squirrel monkey; Cebus imitator, capuchin monkey; and Aotus nancymaae, owl monkey) and analyze the amplification dynamics of lineage-specific Platy-1 insertions. A relatively small number of full-length and lineage-specific Platy-1 elements were found in the squirrel, capuchin, and owl monkey genomes compared with the marmoset genome. In addition, only a few older Platy-1 subfamilies were recovered in …

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Genomic, Ecological, And Morphological Approaches To Investigating Species Limits: A Case Study In Modern Taxonomy From Tropical Eastern Pacific Surgeonfishes, Prosanta Chakrabarty Apr 2019

Genomic, Ecological, And Morphological Approaches To Investigating Species Limits: A Case Study In Modern Taxonomy From Tropical Eastern Pacific Surgeonfishes, Prosanta Chakrabarty

Faculty Publications

A wide variety of species are distinguished by slight color variations. However, molecular analyses have repeatedly demonstrated that coloration does not always correspond to distinct evolutionary histories between closely related groups, suggesting that this trait is labile and can be misleading for species identification. In the present study, we analyze the evolutionary history of sister species of Prionurus surgeonfishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP), which are distinguished by the presence or absence of dark spots on their body. We examined the species limits in this system using comparative specimen-based approaches, a mitochondrial gene (COI), more than 800 nuclear loci …

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The Aqueous Environment As An Active Participant In The Protein Folding Process, Michal Brylinski Mar 2019

The Aqueous Environment As An Active Participant In The Protein Folding Process, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

Existing computational models applied in the protein structure prediction process do not sufficiently account for the presence of the aqueous solvent. The solvent is usually represented by a predetermined number of H2O molecules in the bounding box which contains the target chain. The fuzzy oil drop (FOD) model, presented in this paper, follows an alternative approach, with the solvent assuming the form of a continuous external hydrophobic force field, with a Gaussian distribution. The effect of this force field is to guide hydrophobic residues towards the center of the protein body, while promoting exposure of hydrophilic residues on its surface. …

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Vegetation Phenology And Nest Survival: Diagnosing Heterogeneous Effects Through Time, Kevin M. Ringelman Feb 2019

Vegetation Phenology And Nest Survival: Diagnosing Heterogeneous Effects Through Time, Kevin M. Ringelman

Faculty Publications

bias; duck; grassland; mallard; prairie; Robel; waterfowl; WATERFOWL PRODUCTION; HABITAT SELECTION; ARTIFICIAL NESTS; MOTTLED DUCKS; WINTER-WHEAT; SUCCESS; NORTH; PREDATION; CONCEALMENT; FIELDS

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Deepdrug3d: Classification Of Ligand-Binding Pockets In Proteins With A Convolutional Neural Network, Michal Brylinski, Limeng Pu, Rajiv Gandhi Govindaraj, Jeffrey Mitchell Lemoine Feb 2019

Deepdrug3d: Classification Of Ligand-Binding Pockets In Proteins With A Convolutional Neural Network, Michal Brylinski, Limeng Pu, Rajiv Gandhi Govindaraj, Jeffrey Mitchell Lemoine

Faculty Publications

Comprehensive characterization of ligand-binding sites is invaluable to infer molecular functions of hypothetical proteins, trace evolutionary relationships between proteins, engineer enzymes to achieve a desired substrate specificity, and develop drugs with improved selectivity profiles. These research efforts pose significant challenges owing to the fact that similar pockets are commonly observed across different folds, leading to the high degree of promiscuity of ligand-protein interactions at the system-level. On that account, novel algorithms to accurately classify binding sites are needed. Deep learning is attracting a significant attention due to its successful applications in a wide range of disciplines. In this communication, we …

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Host Sex, Size, And Hemoparasite Infection Influence The Effects Of Ectoparasitic Burdens On Free-Ranging Iguanas, Christine Lattin Feb 2019

Host Sex, Size, And Hemoparasite Infection Influence The Effects Of Ectoparasitic Burdens On Free-Ranging Iguanas, Christine Lattin

Faculty Publications

Investigations focusing on host-ectoparasite interactions in animals have revealed asymptomatic to severe health and fitness consequences suggesting that species mobilize different interspecific response mechanisms. Fewer studies, however, have examined intraspecific responses to ectoparasitic burdens. In this study, we analyzed host health and fitness responses to increasing ectoparasite burdens along with the presence/absence of hemoparasites of free-ranging insular rock iguanas (Cyclura cychlura) in The Bahamas. Using hematology, plasma biochemistry, as well as body condition and growth rate comparisons, we failed to find significant associations of tick burdens with annual growth rate, corticosterone, packed cell volume, total white blood cell, and heterophil, …

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Dosage Compensation Of The X Chromosomes In Bovine Germline, Early Embryos, And Somatic Tissues, Zongliang Jiang Jan 2019

Dosage Compensation Of The X Chromosomes In Bovine Germline, Early Embryos, And Somatic Tissues, Zongliang Jiang

Faculty Publications

Dosage compensation of the mammalian X chromosome (X) was proposed by Susumu Ohno as a mechanism wherein the inactivation of one X in females would lead to doubling the expression of the other. This would resolve the dosage imbalance between eutherian females (XX) versus male (XY) and between a single active X versus autosome pairs (A). Expression ratio of X- and A-linked genes has been relatively well studied in humans and mice, despite controversial results over the existence of upregulation of X-linked genes. Here we report the first comprehensive test of Ohno's hypothesis in bovine preattachment embryos, germline, and somatic …

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Evotext: A New Tool For Analyzing The Biological Sciences, Grant Ramsey, Charles H. Pence Apr 2016

Evotext: A New Tool For Analyzing The Biological Sciences, Grant Ramsey, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

We introduce here evoText, a new tool for automated analysis of the literature in the biological sciences. evoText contains a database of hundreds of thousands of journal articles and an array of analysis tools for generating quantitative data on the nature and history of life science, especially ecology and evolutionary biology. This article describes the features of evoText, presents a variety of examples of the kinds of analyses that evoText can run, and offers a brief tutorial describing how to use it.

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Cognitive Phenotypes And The Evolution Of Animal Decisions, Tamra C. Mendelson, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Mark E. Hauber, Charles H. Pence, Rafael L. Rodríguez, Rebecca J. Safran, Caitlin A. Stern, Jeffrey R. Stevens Jan 2016

Cognitive Phenotypes And The Evolution Of Animal Decisions, Tamra C. Mendelson, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Mark E. Hauber, Charles H. Pence, Rafael L. Rodríguez, Rebecca J. Safran, Caitlin A. Stern, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Faculty Publications

Despite the clear fitness consequences of animal decisions, the science of animal decision making in evolutionary biology is underdeveloped compared with decision science in human psychology. Specifically, the field lacks a conceptual framework that defines and describes the relevant components of a decision, leading to imprecise language and concepts. The ‘judgment and decision-making’ (JDM) framework in human psychology is a powerful tool for framing and understanding human decisions, and we apply it here to components of animal decisions, which we refer to as ‘cognitive phenotypes’. We distinguish multiple cognitive phenotypes in the context of a JDM framework and highlight empirical …

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Failure Of A Heterologous Recombinant Sca5/Ompb Protein-Based Vaccine To Elicit Effective Protective Immunity Against Rickettsia Rickettsii Infections In C3h/Hen Mice, Sean P. Riley, Marissa M. Cardwell, Yvonne G. Chan, Ludovic Pruneau, Fabio Del Piero, Juan J. Martinez Dec 2015

Failure Of A Heterologous Recombinant Sca5/Ompb Protein-Based Vaccine To Elicit Effective Protective Immunity Against Rickettsia Rickettsii Infections In C3h/Hen Mice, Sean P. Riley, Marissa M. Cardwell, Yvonne G. Chan, Ludovic Pruneau, Fabio Del Piero, Juan J. Martinez

Faculty Publications

Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsial species are obligate intracellular tick-borne pathogens that are responsible for important human diseases. Previous reports have demonstrated the feasibility of using recombinant surface cell antigen Sca5/OmpB to elicit protective immunity against homologous challenges using murine models of Mediterranean spotted fever and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. In addition, the feasibility of generating cross-protective immunity against related rickettsial species has also been established, but the molecular basis for these phenomena was not explored. Here, we demonstrate that vaccination of C3H/HeN mice with a recombinant OmpB domain derived from Rickettsia conorii induced high titer humoral immune responses that …

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Fitness: Philosophical Problems, Grant Ramsey, Charles H. Pence Jun 2013

Fitness: Philosophical Problems, Grant Ramsey, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

Fitness plays many roles throughout evolutionary theory, from a measure of populations in the wild to a central element in abstract theoretical presentations of natural selection. It has thus been the subject of an extensive philosophical literature, which has primarily centred on the way to understand the relationship between fitness values and reproductive outcomes. If fitness is a probabilistic or statistical quantity, how is it to be defined in general theoretical contexts? How can it be measured? Can a single conceptual model for fitness be offered that applies to all biological cases, or must fitness measures be case-specific? Philosophers have …

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Staffan Müller-Wille And Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, A Cultural History Of Heredity, Charles H. Pence Jan 2013

Staffan Müller-Wille And Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, A Cultural History Of Heredity, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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A Path To Success? A Review Of Evolution, Development, And The Predictable Genome By David L. Stern, Hope Hollocher, Charles H. Pence, Grant Ramsey, Michelle M. Wirth Jan 2013

A Path To Success? A Review Of Evolution, Development, And The Predictable Genome By David L. Stern, Hope Hollocher, Charles H. Pence, Grant Ramsey, Michelle M. Wirth

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Mtbindingsim: Simulate Protein Binding To Microtubules, Julia T. Philip, Charles H. Pence, Holly V. Goodson Jan 2012

Mtbindingsim: Simulate Protein Binding To Microtubules, Julia T. Philip, Charles H. Pence, Holly V. Goodson

Faculty Publications

Summary: Many protein–protein interactions are more complex than can be accounted for by 1:1 binding models. However, biochemists have few tools available to help them recognize and predict the behaviors of these more complicated systems, making it difficult to design experiments that distinguish between possible binding models. MTBindingSim provides researchers with an environment in which they can rapidly compare different models of binding for a given scenario. It is written specifically with microtubule polymers in mind, but many of its models apply equally well to any polymer or any protein–protein interaction. MTBindingSim can thus both help in training intuition about …

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Oyun: A New, Free Program For Iterated Prisoner’S Dilemma Tournaments In The Classroom, Charles H. Pence, Lara Buchak Jan 2012

Oyun: A New, Free Program For Iterated Prisoner’S Dilemma Tournaments In The Classroom, Charles H. Pence, Lara Buchak

Faculty Publications

Evolutionary applications of game theory present one of the most pedagogically accessible varieties of genuine, contemporary theoretical biology. We present here Oyun (oy-oon, http://charlespence.net/oyun), a program designed to run iterated prisoner's dilemma tournaments, competitions between prisoner's dilemma strategies developed by the students themselves. Using this software, students are able to readily design and tweak their own strategies, and to see how they fare both in round-robin tournaments and in “evolutionary” tournaments, where the scores in a given “generation” directly determine contribution to the population in the next generation. Oyun is freely available, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, …

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On The Origin Of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, And Fiction, Hope Hollocher, Agustín Fuentes, Charles H. Pence, Grant Ramsey, Daniel John Sportiello, Michelle M. Wirth Jan 2011

On The Origin Of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, And Fiction, Hope Hollocher, Agustín Fuentes, Charles H. Pence, Grant Ramsey, Daniel John Sportiello, Michelle M. Wirth

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Darwinian Populations And Natural Selection, Grant Ramsey, Hope Hollocher, Agustín Fuentes, Charles H. Pence, Edwin Siu Jan 2010

Darwinian Populations And Natural Selection, Grant Ramsey, Hope Hollocher, Agustín Fuentes, Charles H. Pence, Edwin Siu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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