Life Sciences Commons^™

Past And Present Patterns Of Neutral And Adaptive Genetic Diversity In Wild Mandrills (Mandrillus Sphinx), Anna Weber

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Although primates have fascinated researchers and the public alike for generations, one species that has remained enigmatic is the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), a large Cercopithecine monkey endemic to Central Africa. Mandrills are currently in decline due to bushmeat hunting, urbanization, and habitat loss. Neutral and adaptive genetic diversity are important tools for understanding evolutionary history and future viability, since diversity influences a species’ ability to adapt to a changing environment. However, thus far, minimal genetic information has been available for wild mandrills. Because of the dense vegetation in their tropical forest habitat, studying wild mandrills has proven to …

Therapeutic Approaches To Working With Perinatal Loss Clients: A Grounded Theory Study, Heather H. Olivier

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Perinatal loss (i.e., miscarriage, stillbirth, termination, and infant death) is commonly referred to in the literature as an invisible loss, non-loss, and even medical event. It is an ambiguous loss exhibiting the dialectical contradiction between the physical absence and psychological presence of the baby accompanied by disenfranchised grief, a reaction to a loss that is unacknowledged by society. Despite the likelihood of mental health clinicians working with clients who have experienced perinatal loss, there has yet to be a therapeutic model designed specifically for the unique grief and trauma reactions presented in this population. Existing grief models do not address …

Ncrna-Protein Interaction Prediction Using Language-Based Features, Krishna Shah

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) play a significant role in several fundamental biological processes by binding to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs); hence, it is necessary to study ncRNA-protein interaction (RPI). Several classic and deep-learning machine learning models have been pro-posed to predict RPI. These models first need to collect features of RNA and protein, such as physicochemical properties, secondary and tertiary structure, et cetera, before feeding them into the model. More recently, after the advancement of high throughput sequenc-ing and the improvement in Natural Language Processing (NLP), transformer models like BERT-RBP and Evolutionary Scaling Model (ESM) can be trained to automatically extract feature …

Environmental Sensitivity Of Maternal And Offspring Phenotype In The Green Anole (Anolis Carolinensis) Lizard, Jamie Marks

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Animals dynamically invest their acquired energetic resources into fitness-related traits, and life-history trade-offs occur when limited resources are invested in a given trait at the expense of another. The phenotypic effects of life history trade-offs are well documented, but the mechanisms facilitating these trade-offs are poorly understood. One such mechanism is the insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) network, and specifically its two primary hormones: insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2). IGF1 is well-characterized but IGF2 is severely understudied, though it is present in nearly all amniotes and sometimes expressed at higher levels than IGF1 in adulthood. I …

Chromosome Number Evolution, Phylogeography, And The Effects Of Climate Change On Species Distributions In Polyploid Plant Systems, Courtney H. Babin

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Polyploidy, a term used to describe organisms with cells having more than two paired sets of chromosomes, is a significant driver of diversification among land plants. Over a century of research has advanced our understanding of polyploidization in some taxa, but polyploid organisms remain understudied. In this dissertation, I investigate chromosome number evolution, phylogeographic structure, genetic differentiation, and the effects of climate change on ploidy level distribution using polyploid plant systems. In the first chapter, I inferred a molecular phylogeny of Allium, an economically important genus that includes cultivated crops and ornamentals, to investigate evolutionary transitions in chromosome number …

Evaluating Methods To Determine The Maximum Oxygen Consumption By The Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis, Sylvia Mullen

Senior Honors Theses

Metabolic rate is an essential feature of animal physiology and ecology. The rate of aerobic metabolism, as determined by oxygen consumption rate (MO2), is influenced by a variety of factors, including body size, temperature, and activity levels. Maximum aerobic metabolic rate (MMR) reflects the physiological capacity of an animal for oxygen extraction and utilization. As such, MMR is argued to be an important feature of an animal’s life history. For fish, MMR is frequently estimated as the peak MO2 immediately following an exhaustive chase, although several studies indicate that this value may underestimate MMR. Rather, MMR may be attained during …

Repeated Boat Noise Exposure Damages Inner Ear Sensory Hair Cells And Decreases Hearing Sensitivity In Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias Undulatus), Gina A. Badlowski

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fluctuating Parasite Prevalence Is Not Linked To Patterns Of Mhc Class Ii-Ss Diversity In An Island Endemic Reptile, Gina Zwicky

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Few studies have explored the evolutionary mechanisms that maintain adaptive immunogenetic diversity in nature. We took advantage of museum samples to test for evidence of parasite-mediated fluctuating selection at MHC Class II-ß loci in an endemic island reptile. The Saban anole Anolis sabanus is commonly infected with three species of malaria (Plasmodium). Proportions of each parasite species detected in anole blood samples fluctuated over space and time, suggesting competitive interactions between parasites or differences in vector ecology. Our analyses of parasite prevalence and MHC Class II-ß allelic variation found that malaria infection was not associated with patterns of …

Co-Option Of The Yolkless Oocyte Receptor For Crispr/Cas9 May Induce Transient Sterility In Female Drosophila Grimshawi Flies, Bronwyn Miller

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary developmental biology has historically used generalist model organisms like Drosophila melanogaster. The Hawaiian Drosophilidae radiation, which occurred just 25 million years ago, is an ideal lineage for work in Evo-Devo. Hawaiian flies make up 25% of the world’s Drosophila species and extreme diversity is seen throughout the group. D. grimshawi is a generalist Hawaiian picture-wing fly that has served as a model for the Hawaiian Drosophilidae radiation. However, D. grimshawi’s power and use as a model organism is constrained by our lack of ability to manipulate its genome. In this work, I attempted to edit the genome of …

The Race To Fifty Feet: An Effort To Determine The Benefits Of Deepening The Mississippi River, Brian Miles

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the benefits and drawbacks of deepening the Lower Mississippi River to fifty feet. It established that the deepening of the Lower Mississippi River will impact not only the local area but also the inland regions that rely on the river systems and lower river ports for product movement. The perspectives of vessel operators, maritime industry experts and charterers are provided to offer insight. The sources for the research include educational literature, maritime research and interviews of industry experts. Based on this research, it is clear that this project will benefit many parties. The beneficiaries will include both …

Having A High-Activity Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Allele Is Associated With Elevated Anxiety And Lower Salivary Dehydroepiandrosterone But Also Lower Alpha Amylase In Children With Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome., Jessie Beebe

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) results from a hemizygous deletion located on the long arm of chromosome 22. The most common deletion sizes affect between 30 and 90 genes. Individuals with 22q11.2DS may develop serious developmental and psychiatric disorders. The phenotype is highly variable, however, and may be influenced by allelic variation of the retained copies of genes covered by the deletion. I set out to examine the effects of two genes, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and proline dehydrogenase (PRODH), in relation to anxiety in children and adolescents with 22q11.2DS. Individuals with the major COMT allele (higher activity) have significantly higher anxiety …

Applied Molecular Dynamics: From Targeting Viral Helicases, To Understanding The Interactions Of Cucurbituril Complexes In Ionic Solutions, Bryan Raubenolt

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Molecular Dynamics simulations are a highly useful tool in helping understand the fundamental interactions present in a variety of chemical systems. The work discussed here illustrates it’s use in determining the conformational dynamics of the Zika and SARS-Cov-2 helicase in a physiological environment, largely in an effort to discover inhibitors capable of rendering the protein inert. Additionally, we show how it can be used to understand paradoxical trends in the anion-induced precipitation of Cucurbituril cavitands.

Viral helicases are motor proteins tasked with unwinding the viral dsRNA, a crucial step in preparing the strand to be translatable by host cells. By …

Structure And Evolution Of Lizard Immunity Genes, Trent Santonastaso

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

One of the most important gene families to play a role in adaptive immunity is the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). MHC class II loci are considered to be the most variable loci in the vertebrate genome, and studies have shown that this variability can be maintained through complex co-evolutionary dynamics between host and parasite. Despite the rich body of research into the MHC, there is comparatively little understanding of its genomic architecture in reptiles. Similarly, loci associated with innate immunity have received little attention in reptiles compared to other vertebrates. In the first chapter, we investigated the structure and organization …

Documenting West And Central African Dung Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) Community Structures And Their Vulnerability To Climate Change, Christie A. Sukhdeo

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Guineo-Congolian (GC) region of West and Central Africa contains high levels of species richness (SR) and endemism. Within the GC region, the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) is an important biodiversity hotspot in part due to montane habitats that constitute important ‘sky islands’ refugia during warm periods of the Pleistocene glacial cycles. However, little is known about the diversity of many taxa in the GC region, especially for insects. The main goals of this dissertation are to: 1) document dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) species diversity across the GC region and assess the potential impacts of future climate change on species …

Hind Wing Eyespots Of Brassolini Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae): Evolutionary Diversification And Functions In Anti-Predator Defense And Mating Behavior, Logan Crees

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Ventral hind wing eyespots are prominent pattern elements in Brassolini butterflies, likely functioning in predator-prey interactions and reproductive activities. Caligo and Opsiphanes differ in male mate-seeking behaviors and it has been suggested that Caligo females use the male cua1 eyespot as a mate-locating cue, but Opsiphanes females do not seem to do so. We predict Caligo males should have larger eyespots than congeneric females, but the sexes would not differ in eyespot size in Opsiphanes. Our analyses supported both these predictions. Displacing the eyespot to the center of the wing makes eyespots more conspicuous, we asked if eyespot position …

Physiological And Behavioral Correlates Of Hif-1 Alpha Protein Levels In The Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis, Jasmine Harris

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Although the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF) orchestrates molecular responses to low oxygen, the amount of HIF-1α protein expressed during hypoxia varies among species, individuals, and tissues. This study measured HIF-1α protein levels along with several physiological and behavioral variables in the estuarine fish Fundulus grandis under normoxia (> 7 mg l^-1 dissolved oxygen) and hypoxia (1 mg l^-1 dissolved oxygen). Fish under hypoxic conditions had higher tissue levels of HIF-1α, hematocrit, blood glucose, blood lactate, frequency of aquatic surface respiration (ASR), and lower activity than normoxic controls. Under hypoxia, HIF-1α abundance in gill was positively correlated with body …

Cpet Is The Phycoerythrobilin Lyase For Cys-165 On Beta-Phycoerythrin From Fremyella Diplosiphon And The Chaperone-Like Protein Cpez Greatly Improves Its Activity., Wendy M. Schluchter, A. A. Nguyen, K. L. Joseph, A. N. Bussell, S. Pokhrel, A. J. Karty, M. C. Kronfel, D. M. Kehoe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Bilin lyases are enzymes which ligate linear tetrapyrrole chromophores to specific cysteine residues on light harvesting proteins present in cyanobacteria and red algae. The lyases responsible for chromophorylating the light harvesting protein phycoerythrin (PE) have not been fully characterized. In this study, we explore the role of CpeT, a putative bilin lyase, in the biosynthesis of PE in the cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon. Recombinant protein studies show that CpeT alone can bind phycoerythrobilin (PEB), but CpeZ, a chaperone-like protein, is needed in order to correctly and efficiently attach PEB to the beta-subunit of PE. MS analyses of the recombinant beta-subunit of …

A Transcriptomic Exploration Of Hawaiian Drosophilid Development And Evolution, Madeline M. Chenevert

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

One in four known species of fruit flies inhabit the Hawaiian Islands. From a small number of colonizing flies, a wide range of species evolved, some of which managed to reverse-colonize other continental environments. In order to explore the developmental pathways, which separate the Hawaiian Drosophila proper and the Scaptomyza group that contains reverse-colonized species, the transcriptomes of two better-known species in each group, Scaptomyza anomala and Drosophila grimshawi, were analyzed to find changes in gene expression between the two groups. This study describes a novel transcriptome for S. anomala studies as well as unusual changes in gene expression …

The Vezo Communities And Fisheries Of The Coral Reef Ecosystem In The Bay Of Ranobe, Madagascar, Shane Abeare

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Madagascar, a country whose extraordinary levels of endemism and biodiversity are celebrated globally by scientists and laymen alike, yet historically has received surprisingly little research attention, is the setting of the present dissertation. Here, I contribute to the need for applied research by: 1) focusing on the most intensely fished section of the Toliara Barrier Reef, the Bay of Ranobe; 2) characterizing the marine environment, the human population, and the fisheries; and 3) collecting the longest known time-series of data on fisheries of Madagascar, thereby providing a useful baseline for future analyses. In Chapter 1, the bathymetry of the Bay …

Acclimation, Long-Term Repeatability, And Phenotypic Correlations Of Aerobic Metabolic Traits In The Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis, Jessica E. Reemeyer

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the effects of acclimation to lowered salinity, elevated temperature, and hypoxia on aerobic metabolism of the Gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis, a common estuarine resident of the Gulf of Mexico. Standard metabolic rate (SMR), maximum metabolic rate (MMR), absolute aerobic scope (AAS), and critical oxygen tension (P_crit) were each influenced by one or more acclimation treatments. Assessing the consistency of these traits measured in the same individuals over time, all were found to be significantly repeatable with no indication that the repeatability of any traits was affected by acclimation conditions. Significant correlations were found between …

Investigation Of The Amino Acids Responsible For Isomerase Activity Through Mutagenesis Of Bilin Lyase Mpew From Synechococcus Sp. A15-62, Kourtney Weaver

Senior Honors Theses

Synechococcus sp. A15-62 is a marine cyanobacterium that undergoes Type IV chromatic acclimation (CA4) by altering the bilin content of the phycobilisome (PBS) or light harvesting complex to match the light color of its environment. The PBS is a protein complex comprised of rods containing phycobiliproteins (PBP) and linker proteins. In this species, phycoerythrin I and phycoerythrin II (PEI and PEII) are the phycobiliproteins located on the distal ends of the rods and the alpha () subunits of these proteins are the ones with altered bilin content during CA4. Bilin chromophores such as phycoerythrobilin (PEB) and phycourobilin (PUB) are bound …

Effective Statistical Energy Function Based Protein Un/Structure Prediction, Avdesh Mishra

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Proteins are an important component of living organisms, composed of one or more polypeptide chains, each containing hundreds or even thousands of amino acids of 20 standard types. The structure of a protein from the sequence determines crucial functions of proteins such as initiating metabolic reactions, DNA replication, cell signaling, and transporting molecules. In the past, proteins were considered to always have a well-defined stable shape (structured proteins), however, it has recently been shown that there exist intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which lack a fixed or ordered 3D structure, have dynamic characteristics and therefore, exist in multiple states. Based on …

The Development And Evaluation Of Small Specialized Turtle Excluder Devices To Reduce Sea Turtle Bycatch In Various Small Shrimp Gears, Meghan P. Gahm

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the southeastern United States, skimmer trawls, pusher-head trawls, wing nets, and small try nets (headrope length less than 12-ft (3.66-m)) are exempt from using a turtle excluder device (TED) and instead must adhere to tow time restrictions as a mode to mitigate sea turtle bycatch. However, observer and stranding data indicate that these tow times may often be exceeded and result in mortality of sea turtles. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published a notice of proposed rulemaking in December 2016 to extend TED requirements to other trawl types, however there has been limited development of specialized TEDs for …

Formulation Of Hybrid Knowledge-Based/Molecular Mechanics Potentials For Protein Structure Refinement And A Novel Graph Theoretical Protein Structure Comparison And Analysis Technique, Aaron Maus

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Proteins are the fundamental machinery that enables the functions of life. It is critical to understand them not just for basic biology, but also to enable medical advances. The field of protein structure prediction is concerned with developing computational techniques to predict protein structure and function from a protein’s amino acid sequence, encoded for directly in DNA, alone. Despite much progress since the first computational models in the late 1960’s, techniques for the prediction of protein structure still cannot reliably produce structures of high enough accuracy to enable desired applications such as rational drug design. Protein structure refinement is the …

Enlarged Hind Wings Of The Neotropical Butterfly Pierella Helvina (Nymphalidae) Enhance Gliding Flight Performance In Ground Effect., Marc Stylman

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Flight is a vital component of butterfly natural history, and flight-associated morphology is thought to be under strong selection for the performance of critical behaviors such as patrolling, courtship and oviposition. However, while different behaviors require different proportions of flapping versus gliding flight, few studies actually quantify butterfly flight behavior. Moreover, as butterfly flight is anteromotoric, no prior study has measured the role of hind wing allometry in flight. Using high-speed videography, this study compares the flight of two species of Haeterini (Nymphalidae) that regularly employ gliding flight. We also employ stereo videography and experimental hind wing area reduction to …

Cpef Is The Bilin Lyase That Ligates The Doubly Linked Phycoerythrobilin On Phycoerythrin In The Cyanobacterium Fremyella Diplosiphon, Wendy M. Schluchter, R. B. Cole, D. M. Kehoe, M. N. Boutaghou, J. A. Karty, A. Gutu, L. S. Hernandez, J. P. Frick, C. V. Hernandez, C. M. Kronfel

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Phycoerythrin (PE) is a green light-absorbing protein present in the light-harvesting complex of cyanobacteria and red algae. The spectral characteristics of PE are due to its prosthetic groups, or phycoerythrobilins (PEBs), that are covalently attached to the protein chain by specific bilin lyases. Only two PE lyases have been identified and characterized so far, and the other bilin lyases are unknown. Here, using in silico analyses, markerless deletion, biochemical assays with purified and recombinant proteins, and site-directed mutagenesis, we examined the role of a putative lyase-encoding gene, cpeF, in the cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon. Analyzing the phenotype of the cpeF deletion, …

The Roles Of The Chaperone-Like Protein Cpez And The Phycoerythrobilin Lyase Cpey In Phycoerythrin Biogenesis, Wendy M. Schluchter, D. M. Kehoe, J. A. Karty, T. Blensdorf, A. Gutu, J. P. Frick, A. Biswas, C. M. Kronfel

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Phycoerythrin (PE) present in the distal ends of light-harvesting phycobilisome rods in Fremyella diplosiphon (Tolypothrix sp. PCC 7601) contains five phycoerythrobilin (PEB) chromophores attached to six cysteine residues for efficient green light capture for photosynthesis. Chromophore ligation on PE subunits occurs through bilin lyase catalyzed reactions, but the characterization of the roles of all bilin lyases for phycoerythrin is not yet complete. To gain a more complete understanding about the individual functions of CpeZ and CpeY in PE biogenesis in cyanobacteria, we examined PE and phycobilisomes purified from wild type F. diplosiphon, cpeZ and cpeY knockout mutants. We find that …

Interplay Between Differentially Expressed Enzymes Contributes To Light Color Acclimation In Marine Synechococcus, Wendy M. Schluchter, D. M. Kehoe, F. Partensky, J. A. Strnat, S. Pokhrel, J. A. A. Karty, L. Garczarek, A. A. Nguyen, J. E. Sanfilippo

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine Synechococcus, a globally important group of cyanobacteria, thrives in various light niches in part due to its varied photosynthetic light-harvesting pigments. Many Synechococcus strains use a process known as chromatic acclimation to optimize the ratio of two chromophores, green-light-absorbing phycoerythrobilin (PEB) and blue-light-absorbing phycourobilin (PUB), within their light-harvesting complexes. A full mechanistic understanding of how Synechococcus cells tune their PEB to PUB ratio during chromatic acclimation has not yet been obtained. Here, we show that interplay between two enzymes named MpeY and MpeZ controls differential PEB and PUB covalent attachment to the same cysteine residue. MpeY attaches PEB to …

A Change In Grain? Diet Induced Plasticity In The Generalist Grasshopper Melanoplus Differentialis, Austin M. Culotta

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Phenotypic plasticity is favored in heterogeneous environments in which alternative phenotypes can exploit alternative resources. However, it’s not clear whether phenotypic plasticity is useful in environments that become more homogenous over an organism’s life cycle. I studied a population of grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis that experiences high resource diversity as nymphs but low resource diversity as adults to determine if individuals can undergo diet-induced morphological plasticity in head shape to increase biting ability and ingestion of hard diets. Insects on a soft diet were larger and had greater bite force than those on a hard diet. Head structures related to chewing …

Legacy Habitat Suitability Of Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica) In Louisiana: A Prelude To Mississippi River Delta Freshwater Diversions, Tasia Mv Denapolis

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Louisiana oyster industry is greatly impacted by freshwater and sediment diversions that are part of the effort to restore the state’s coastline. A habitat suitability index (HSI) proposes species-habitat relationships that can be instrumental in creating impact assessments and suitability predictions for management as new diversions are implemented. An oyster (Crassostrea virginica) HSI was developed using three variables crucial to oyster sustainability: average annual salinity, minimum monthly salinity, and average salinity during the spawning season. These Legacy HSI visualizations show annual fluctuations in the distribution of zones suitable for oyster cultivation prior to proposed diversions in Pontchartrain …