Life Sciences Commons^™

The Origin, Phylogenetics And Natural History Of Darwiniothamnus (Asteraceae: Astereae), An Endemic Shrub Of The Galapagos Islands, Nicole Genet Andrus

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Darwiniothamnus (Asteraceae:Astereae), one of seven plant genera endemic to the Galipagos Islands, has until recently had an unknown origin, number of species, and conservation status. The purpose of this master's thesis was to determine the origin and phylogenetics of Darwiniothamnus and to outline the major ecological factors influencing the survival of this genus.

Material for this thesis was sequenced from the ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) region of 18-26S nuclear ribosomal DNA of putative sister taxa from South, Central and North America, Mexico and the Caribbean. A molecular phylogeny was then constructed using fifty-four representatives from the tribe Astereae. Sequence data …

Immunophylogenetic Aspects Of A Gorgonian Coral, Larry J. Dishaw

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One goal of comparative immunology is to derive inferences about evolutionary pathways in the development of immune-defense systems. Almost 700 million years ago, a major divergence occurred in the phylogeny of animals, spitting all descendants into either the protostome or deuterostome (includes vertebrates) lineages. Genes have evolved independently along these lineages for that amount of time. Cnidarians originated before that divergence event, and can hold clues as to which immune response genes are homologous to both lineages. This work uses the gorgonian coral, Swiftia exserfa, for two major reasons: 1) because of their phylogenetic position, corals are an important …

Use Of Luxa Sequences For Investigation On Luciferases Kinetics And Characterization Of Luminous Bacteria, Rita Di Bonito

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Known luminous bacteria belong to the genera Vibrio, Photobacterium, Shewanella, and Photorhabdus. The enzyme luciferase catalyzing the luminous reaction is composed by the α and β polypeptides and subunit α is responsible for substrate binding and catalytic activities. Luciferases are classified into "slow " of Vibrio harveyi and "fast" of Photobacterium sps. on the basis of enzyme kinetics. Shewanella woodyi has "intermediate" kinetics. This research has tested the hypothesis of existence of three kinetic classes by sequencing luxA gene (coding for c subunit) of new strains and comparing these clusters to phenotypic analysis and sequencing …