Life Sciences Commons^™

Sympatric Ecological Speciation Meets Pyrosequencing: Sampling The Transcriptome Of The Apple Maggot Rhagoletis Pomonella, Dietmar Schwarz, Hugh M. Robertson, Jeffrey L. Feder, Kranthi Varala, Matthew E. Hudson, Gregory J. Ragland, Daniel A. Hahn, Stewart H. Berlocher

Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Background

The full power of modern genetics has been applied to the study of speciation in only a small handful of genetic model species - all of which speciated allopatrically. Here we report the first large expressed sequence tag (EST) study of a candidate for ecological sympatric speciation, the apple maggot Rhagoletis pomonella, using massively parallel pyrosequencing on the Roche 454-FLX platform. To maximize transcript diversity we created and sequenced separate libraries from larvae, pupae, adult heads, and headless adult bodies.

Results

We obtained 239,531 sequences which assembled into 24,373 contigs. A total of 6810 unique protein coding genes …

A Comparative Study Of Drosophila And Human A-Type Lamins, Sandra R. Schulze, Beatrice Curio-Penny, Sean Speese, George Dialynas, Diane E. Cryderman, Cairtrin W. Mcdonough, Demet Nalbant, Melissa Petersen, Vivian Budnik, Pamela K. Geyer, Lori L. Wallrath

Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Nuclear intermediate filament proteins, called lamins, form a meshwork that lines the inner surface of the nuclear envelope. Lamins contain three domains: an N-terminal head, a central rod and a C-terminal tail domain possessing an Ig-fold structural motif. Lamins are classified as either A- or B-type based on structure and expression pattern. The Drosophila genome possesses two genes encoding lamins, Lamin C and lamin Dm0, which have been designated A- and B-type, respectively, based on their expression profile and structural features. In humans, mutations in the gene encoding A-type lamins are associated with a spectrum of predominantly tissue-specific diseases …

Energy, Agriculture, And Food: National, County, City Considerations, Gigi M. Berardi

Environmental Studies Faculty and Staff Publications

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the available information, assess the specific situation in Whatcom County, and make recommendations on reducing vulnerability to peak oil. The paper includes a discussion of energy use in agriculture, identification of particularly vulnerable areas, and suggestion of ways to reduce the vulnerability of the county‘s agriculture and, indeed, the entire food system to peak oil and volatile energy prices.

Spawning, Development, And The Duration Of Larval Life In A Deep-Sea Cold-Seep Mussel, Shawn M. Arellano, Craig M. Young

Shannon Point Marine Center Faculty Publications

We describe culturing techniques and development for the cold-seep mussel “Bathymodiolus” childressi, the only deep-sea bivalve for which development has been detailed. Spawning was induced in mature mussels by injection of 2 mmol l⁻¹ serotonin into the anterior adductor muscle. The mean egg diameter is 69.15 ± 2.36 μm (±S.D.; n = 50) and eggs are negatively buoyant. Cleavages are spiral and at 7–8 °C occur at a rate of one per 3–9 h through hatching, with free-swimming blastulae hatching by 40 h and shells beginning to develop by day 12. When temperature was raised to 12–14 °C …

The World Beneath Our Feet: Mycorrhizal Networking And The Establishment Of Ohio’S Native Trees And Shrubs, Jenise Bauman

College of the Environment on the Peninsulas Publications

Fungi are not random occurrences, but have evolved over millions of years. The relationship between native fungi and Ohio's trees and shrubs roots deep and is much more than what appears on the surface. The mushroom is the above ground fungal body that produces and disperses the spores. That very structure is made of interwoven, tightly packed, filamentous hyphae.

Kenya — Starvation And Food Insecurity In The Land Of Plenty, Gigi M. Berardi

Environmental Studies Faculty and Staff Publications

My last month in Kenya has been sobering. Ten million Kenyans were reportedly facing starvation. There were daily reports on affected districts, those most vulnerable, and the government’s mishandling of the disaster. Newspapers reported heavily on the incompetency of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), which is responsible, under the guidance of Trustees, in maintaining a Strategic Grain Reserve of about 6 million bags of maize cereal. How best to do this? An obvious way is through purchase of local grain supplies. Despite drought and resultant famine, poor infrastructure, high farm input costs, serious planting disruption after last year’s …