Life Sciences Commons^™

The Heritage Family Study: A Review Of The Effects Of Exercise Training On Cardiometabolic Health, With Insights Into Molecular Transducers, Mark A. Sarzynski Ph.D., Faha, Facsm, Treva K. Rice, Jean-Pierre Després, Louis Pérusse, Angelo Tremblay, Philip R. Stanforth, André Tchernof, Jacob L. Barber, Francesco Falciani, Clary Clish, James S. Skinner, D. C. Rao, Claude Bouchard

Faculty Publications

The aim of the HERITAGE Family Study was to investigate individual differences in response to a standardized endurance exercise program, the role of familial aggregation, and the genetics of response levels of cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors. Here we summarize the findings and their potential implications for cardiometabolic health and cardiorespiratory fitness. It begins with overviews of background and planning, recruitment, testing and exercise program protocol, quality control measures, and other relevant organizational issues. A summary of findings is then provided on cardiorespiratory fitness, exercise hemodynamics, insulin and glucose metabolism, lipid and lipoprotein profiles, adiposity and …

Feasibility Of A Hip Flexion Feedback System For Controlling Exercise Intensity And Tibia Axial Peak Accelerations During Treadmill Walking, Nuno Oliveira, Chuang-Yuan Chiu

Faculty Publications

The ability to meet high exercise intensities is limited by the increased risk of injury in some clinical populations. Previous studies have linked large tibia peak positive accelerations resulting from running to increased risk of developing lower-extremity injury. The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of using a hip flexion feedback system (HFFS) to meet and maintain different exercise intensities while maintaining low tibia axial accelerations. Ten healthy participants were tested on a HFFS test and an independent walking/running test to meet exercise intensities of 40% and 60% of heart rate reserve (HRR). During the HFFS test, …

Pickle Associates With Histone Deacetylase 9 To Mediate Vegetative Phase Change In Arabidopsis, Tieqiang Hu, Darren Manuela, Valerie Hinsch, Mingli Xu

Faculty Publications

The juvenile-to-adult vegetative phase change in flowering plants is mediated by a decrease in miR156 levels. Downregulation of MIR156A/MIR156C, the two major sources of miR156, is accompanied by a decrease in acetylation of histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27ac) and an increase in trimethylation of H3K27 (H3K27me3) at MIR156A/MIR156C in Arabidopsis. Here, we show that histone deacetylase 9 (HDA9) is recruited to MIR156A/MIR156C during the juvenile phase and associates with the CHD3 chromatin remodeler PICKLE (PKL) to erase H3K27ac at MIR156A/MIR156C.H2Aub and H3K27me3 become enriched at MIR156A/MIR156C, and the recruitment of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) to MIR156A/MIR156C is partially dependent …

Pickle Associates With Histone Deacetylase 9 To Mediate Vegetative Phase Change In Arabidopsis, Tieqiang Hu, Darren Manuela, Valerie Hinsch, Mingli Xu

Faculty Publications

• The juvenile-to-adult vegetative phase change in flowering plants is mediated by a decrease in miR156 levels. Downregulation of MIR156A/MIR156C, the two major sources of miR156, is accompanied by a decrease in acetylation of histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27ac) and an increase in trimethylation of H3K27 (H3K27me3) at MIR156A/MIR156C in Arabidopsis.

• Here, we show that histone deacetylase 9 (HDA9) is recruited to MIR156A/MIR156C during the juvenile phase and associates with the CHD3 chromatin remodeler PICKLE (PKL) to erase H3K27ac at MIR156A/MIR156C.

• H2Aub and H3K27me3 become enriched at MIR156A/MIR156C, and the recruitment of Polycomb Repressive Complex …

High Level Of Persister Frequency In Clinical Staphylococcal Isolates, Sarita Manandhar, Anjana Singh, Ajit Varma, Shanti Pandey, Neeraj Shrivastava

Faculty Publications

Staphylococcus aureus is a notorious human pathogen that causes often lethal systemic conditions that are mostly medical device associated biofilm infections. Similarly, coagulase negative staphylococci are emerging as leading pathogen for nosocomial infections owing to their ability to form biofilm on implanted medical equipment. Chronic in nature, these infections are difficult to treat. Such recalcitrance of these infections is caused mainly due to the presence of persister cells, which exhibit transient yet extreme tolerance to antibiotics. Despite tremendous clinical significance, there is lack of studies on persister cells formation among clinical bacterial isolates. Considering the importance of factors influencing persister …

The Interplay Between Hydrogen Sulfide And Phytohormone Signaling Pathways Under Challenging Environments, Muhammad Saad Shoaib Khan, Faisal Islam, Yajin Ye, Matthew Ashline, Daowen Wang, Biying Zhao, Zheng Qing Fu, Jian Chen

Faculty Publications

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) serves as an important gaseous signaling molecule that is involved in intra- and intercellular signal transduction in plant–environment interactions. In plants, H₂S is formed in sulfate/cysteine reduction pathways. The activation of endogenous H₂S and its exogenous application has been found to be highly effective in ameliorating a wide variety of stress conditions in plants. The H₂S interferes with the cellular redox regulatory network and prevents the degradation of proteins from oxidative stress via post-translational modifications (PTMs). H₂S-mediated persulfidation allows the rapid response of proteins in signaling networks …

In Situ Recording Of Mars Soundscape, S. Maurice, B. Chide, N. Murdoch, R. D. Lorenz, D. Mimoun, R. C. Wiens, A. Stott, X. Jacob, T. Bertrand, F. Montmessin, N. L. Lanza, C. Alvarez-Llamas, Stanley M. Angel, M. Aung, J. Balaram, O. Beyssac, A. Cousin, G. Delory, O. Forni, T. Fouchet, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

Before the Perseverance rover landing, the acoustic environment of Mars was unknown. Models predicted that: (1) atmospheric turbulence changes at centimetre scales or smaller at the point where molecular viscosity converts kinetic energy into heat1, (2) the speed of sound varies at the surface with frequency^2,3 and (3) high-frequency waves are strongly attenuated with distance in CO₂ (refs.^2,3,4). However, theoretical models were uncertain because of a lack of experimental data at low pressure and the difficulty to characterize turbulence or attenuation in a closed environment. Here, using Perseverance …

Recently Evolved Francisella-Like Endosymbiont Outcompetes An Ancient And Evolutionarily Associated Coxiella-Like Endosymbiont In The Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma Americanum) Linked To The Alpha-Gal Syndrome, Deepak Kumar, Surendra Raj Sharma, Abdulsalam Adegoke, Ashley Kennedy, Holly C. Tuten, Andrew Y. Li, Shahid Karim

Faculty Publications

Background: Ticks are hematophagous arthropods that transmit various bacterial, viral, and protozoan pathogens of public health significance. The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) is an aggressive human-biting tick that transmits bacterial and viral pathogens, and its bites are suspected of eliciting the alpha-gal syndrome, a newly emerged delayed hypersensitivity following consumption of red meat in the United States. While ongoing studies have attempted to investigate the contribution of different tick-inherent factors to the induction of alpha-gal syndrome, an otherwise understudied aspect is the contribution of the tick microbiome and specifically obligate endosymbionts to the establishment of the alpha-gal …

One Planet: One Health. A Call To Support The Initiative On A Global Science-Policy Body On Chemicals And Waste, Werner Brack, Damia Barcelo Culleres, Alistair B.A. Boxall, Helene Budzinski, Sara Castiglioni, Adrian Covaci, Valeria Dulio, Beate I. Escher, Peter Fantke, Faith Kandie, Despo Fatta-Kassinos, Felix J. Hernandez, Klara Hilscherova, Juliane Hollender, Henner Hollert, Annika Jahnke, Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Stuart J. Khan, Andreas Kortenkamp, Klaus Kuemmerer, Brice Lalonde, Marja H. Lamoree, Yves Levi, Pablo Antonio Lara Martin, Cassiana C. Montagner, Christian Mougin, Titus Msagati, Joerg Oehlmann, Leo Posthuma, Malcolm Reid, Martin Reinhard, Susan D. Richardson, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The chemical pollution crisis severely threatens human and environmental health globally. To tackle this challenge the establishment of an overarching international science–policy body has recently been suggested. We strongly support this initiative based on the awareness that humanity has already likely left the safe operating space within planetary boundaries for novel entities including chemical pollution. Immediate action is essential and needs to be informed by sound scientific knowledge and data compiled and critically evaluated by an overarching science–policy interface body. Major challenges for such a body are (i) to foster global knowledge production on exposure, impacts and governance going beyond …

An Insight Into The Microrna Profile Of The Ectoparasitic Mite Varroa Destructor (Acari: Varroidae), The Primary Vector Of Honey Bee Deformed Wing Virus, Deepak Kumar, Mohamed Alburaki, Faizan Tahir, Michael Goblirsch, John Adamczyk, Shahid Karim

Faculty Publications

The remarkably adaptive mite Varroa destructor is the most important honey bee ectoparasite. Varroa mites are competent vectors of deformed wing virus (DWV), and the Varroa-virus complex is a major determinant of annual honey bee colony mortality and collapse. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 22-24 nucleotide non-coding RNAs produced by all plants and animals and some viruses that influence biological processes through post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Knowledge of miRNAs and their function in mite biology remains limited. Here we constructed small RNA libraries from male and female V. destructor using Illumina’s small RNA-Seq platform. A total of 101,913,208 and 91,904,732 …

Peak Chlorophyll A Concentrations In The Lower Mississippi River From 1997 To 2018, R. Eugene Turner, Charles S. Milan, Erick M. Swenson, James M. Lee

Faculty Publications

Large and turbid rivers have varying temperatures, light conditions, nutrient availability, and nutrient ratios that may affect phytoplankton communities and occur within a changing world of point and nonpoint source nutrient loadings. We investigated how these physical and chemical factors affect Chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations in the Mississippi River, the largest river in North America, by sampling 878 times from February 1997 to December 2018 near its terminus at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We hypothesized that nutrient concentrations and ratios were significant factors limiting phytoplankton biomass accumulations in this turbid river. The Chl a concentrations were in the "poor" water …

The Global Virome In One Network (Virion): An Atlas Of Vertebrate-Virus Associations, Colin J. Carlson, Rory J. Gibb, Gregory F. Albery, Liam Brierley, Ryan P. Connor, Tad Dallas, Evan A. Eskew, Anna C. Fagre, Maxwell J. Farrell, Hannah K. Frank, Renata L. Muylaert, Timothée Poisot, Angela L. Rasmussen, Sadie J. Ryan, Stephanie N. Seifert

Faculty Publications

Data that catalogue viral diversity on Earth have been fragmented across sources, disciplines, formats, and various degrees of open sharing, posing challenges for research on macroecology, evolution, and public health. Here, we solve this problem by establishing a dynamically maintained database of vertebrate-virus associations, called The Global Virome in One Network (VIRION). The VIRION database has been assembled through both reconciliation of static data sets and integration of dynamically updated databases. These data sources are all harmonized against one taxonomic backbone, including metadata on host and virus taxonomic validity and higher classification; additional metadata on sampling methodology and evidence strength …

The Global Virome In One Network (Virion): An Atlas Of Vertebrate-Virus Associations, Colin J. Carlson, Rory J. Gibb, Gregory F. Albery, Liam Brierley, Ryan P. Connor, Tad Dallas, Evan A. Eskew, Anna C. Fagre, Maxwell J. Farrell, Hannah K. Frank, Renata L. Muylaert, Timothée Poisot, Angela L. Rasmussen, Sadie J. Ryan, Stephanie N. Seifert

Faculty Publications

Data that catalogue viral diversity on Earth have been fragmented across sources, disciplines, formats, and various degrees of open sharing, posing challenges for research on macroecology, evolution, and public health. Here, we solve this problem by establishing a dynamically maintained database of vertebrate-virus associations, called The Global Virome in One Network (VIRION). The VIRION database has been assembled through both reconciliation of static data sets and integration of dynamically updated databases. These data sources are all harmonized against one taxonomic backbone, including metadata on host and virus taxonomic validity and higher classification; additional metadata on sampling methodology and evidence strength …

Us Agricultural University Students' Mental Well-Being And Resilience During The First Wave Of Covid-19: Discordant Expectations And Experiences Across Genders, Mariah D. Ehmke, Bhagyashree Katare, Kristin Kiesel, Jason S. Bergtold, Jerrod M. Penn, Kathryn A. Boys

Faculty Publications

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic's first wave led to declining mental health and life satisfaction outcomes for college students, especially women. While women in undergraduate agricultural programs outperformed men academically prior to and during the pandemic, the achievement may have come at personal cost, especially for those women with fewer personal and environmental resiliency resources. Our research objective was to expand on personal, social, and environmental factors linked with lower mental health and life satisfaction scores for students in agriculture during the pandemic. We measured the influence of such factors across gender-based mental health and life satisfaction outcomes. Our …

Density Dependent Refueling Of Migratory Songbirds During Stopover Within An Urbanizing Coastal Landscape, Emily B. Cohen, Jill M. Lafleur, Frank R. Moore

Faculty Publications

Refueling performance is the primary currency of a successful migration as birds must maintain energy stores to achieve an optimal travel schedule. Migrating birds can anticipate heightened energy demand, not to mention increased uncertainty that energy demands will be satisfied, especially within an urbanizing landscape following long-distance flights. We tested the expectation that refueling performance of songbirds is reduced as densities increase at stopover sites in an urbanizing coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. We measured the density of migrating birds, their refueling performance, and arthropod abundance in two large tracts of contiguous forest paired with two small isolated patches …

Longitudinal Association Of Biological Maturation With Physical Activity Behaviors In Girls Transitioning From 5th To 7th Grade, Russell R. Pate, Marsha Dowda Ph.D., Rod L. Dishman, Joseph Gorab, Agnes Bucko, Ruth P. Saunders Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Introduction

This longitudinal study determined if social cognitive variables influence physical activity in girls stratified on the basis of maturity status.

Methods

Participants attended South Carolina public schools (Mage in 5th grade = 11.1 years) and included a cohort of 529 girls who provided physical activity data in the 5th grade and in 6th and/or 7th grade. The measure of maturity status was age at peak height velocity (APHV) estimated from maturity offset when the children were in the 5th grade. The Earlier Maturity (EM) group included girls whose APHV was one standard deviation or more below the mean APHV …

Amorphization Of Pseudocapacitive T−Nb2O5 Accelerates Lithium Diffusivity As Revealed Using Tunable Isomorphic Architectures, Wessel Van Den Bergh, Sean Wechsler, Hasala Nadeesini Lokupitiya, Lauren Jarocha, Kwangnam Kim, James Chapman, Kyoung E. Kweon, Brandon C. Wood, Steve Heald, Morgan Stefik Phd

Faculty Publications

Intercalationpseudocapacitancecan combinecapacitor-likepower densitieswith battery-likeenergy densities.Such surface-limitedbehaviorrequiresrapid diffusionwhere amorphizationcan increasesolid-statediffusivity.Here intercalationpseudoca-pacitivematerialswith tailoredextentsof amorphizationin T-Nb2O5are first reported.Amorphizationwas characterizedwithWAXS, XPS, XAFS, and EPR which suggesteda peroxide-rich(O22) surface that was consistentwith DFT predictions.A seriesof tunableisomorphicarchitecturesenabledcomparisonswhileindependentlyvaryingtransportparameters.Throughprocessof elimination,solid-statelithium diffusionwas identifiedas thedominantdiffusive-constraintdictatingthe maximumvoltagesweep rate for surface-limitedkinetics(vSLT), termed the Surface-LimitedThreshold(SLT). ThevSLTincreasedwith amorphizationhoweverstable cycling requiredcrystallineT-Nb2O5. A current-responsemodel using series-impedanceswell-matchedtheseobservations.This perspectiverevealedthat amorphizationof T-Nb2O5enhancedsolid-statediffusionby 12.2% and increasedsurface-limitationsby 17.0% (stablesamples).This approachenabledretaining95% lithiationcapacityat ~800mVs1(1,600C-rate equivalent).

Investigation Of Eating Disorder Risk And Body Image Dissatisfaction Among Female Competitive Cheerleaders, Allison B. Smith, Jennifer L. Gay, Eva V. Monsma, Shawn M. Arent, Mark A. Sarzynski, Dawn M. Emerson, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

Social agents associated with cheerleading environments are increasingly linked to body image dissatisfaction (BID) and eating disorders (ED). This study examined ED risk across team type, squad type, and position. An additional purpose determined BID in clothing type (daily clothing, midriff uniform, and full uniform), and meta-perceptions from the perspective of peers (MP peers), parents (MP parents), and coaches (MP coaches). Female cheerleaders ( = 268) completed an online survey which included demographics, the Eating Attitudes Test-26, and pathogenic behavior questions. Body image perceptions were assessed by using the Sex-Specific Figural Stimuli Silhouettes. Overall, 34.4% of cheerleaders ( = 268; …

Singing Strategies Are Linked To Perch Use On Foraging Territories In Heart-Nosed Bats, Grace C. Smarsh, Ashley M. Long, Michael Smotherman

Faculty Publications

Acoustic communication allows animals to coordinate and optimize resource utilization in space. Cardioderma cor, the heart-nosed bat, is one of the few species of bats known to sing during nighttime foraging. Previous research found that heart-nosed bats react aggressively to song playback, supporting the territorial defense hypothesis of singing in this species. We further investigated the territorial defense hypothesis from an ecological standpoint, which predicts that singing should be associated with exclusive areas containing a resource, by tracking 14 individuals nightly during the dry seasons in Tanzania. We quantified the singing behavior of individuals at all perches used throughout the …

Whole-Genome Sequencing And Rna-Seq Reveal Differences In Genetic Mechanism For Flowering Response Between Weedy Rice And Cultivated Rice, Richard S. Garcia, Sapphire Coronejo, Jonathan Concepcion, Prasanta K. Subudhi

Faculty Publications

Flowering is a key agronomic trait that influences adaptation and productivity. Previous studies have indicated the genetic complexity associated with the flowering response in a photoinsensitive weedy rice accession PSRR-1 despite the presence of a photosensitive allele of a key flowering gene Hd1. In this study, we used whole-genome and RNA sequencing data from both cultivated and weedy rice to add further insights. The de novo assembly of unaligned sequences predicted 225 genes, in which 45 were specific to PSRR-1, including two genes associated with flowering. Comparison of the variants in PSRR-1 with the 3K rice genome (RG) dataset identified …

Mass Removal Efficiencies In Water And Consequences After A River Diversion Into Coastal Wetlands: Second Thoughts, R. Eugene Turner, Erik M. Swenson, James M. Lee, Charles S. Milan

Faculty Publications

Salinity control, nutrient additions, and sediment supply were directly or indirectly the rationale for a $220 million coastal wetland restoration project (Davis Pond River Diversion) that began in 2002. We sampled Mississippi River water going in and out of the receiving basin from 1999 to 2018 to understand why wetland loss increased after it began. There was a reduction in inorganic sediments, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) concentrations within the ponding area of 77%, 39% and 34%, respectively, which is similar to that in other wetlands. But the average sediment accumulation of 0.6 mm year(-1) inadequately balances the present-day 5.6 …

Docking And Molecular Dynamic Of Microalgae Compounds As Potential Inhibitors Of Beta-Lactamase, Roberto Pestana-Nobles, Yani Aranguren-Diaz, Elwi Machado-Sierra, Juvenal Yosa, Nataly J. Galan-Freyle,, Laura X. Sepulveda-Montano, Daniel G. Kuroda, Leonardo C. Pacheco-Londono

Faculty Publications

Bacterial resistance is responsible for a wide variety of health problems, both in children and adults. The persistence of symptoms and infections are mainly treated with beta-lactam antibiotics. The increasing resistance to those antibiotics by bacterial pathogens generated the emergence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), an actual public health problem. This is due to rapid mutations of bacteria when exposed to antibiotics. In this case, beta-lactamases are enzymes used by bacteria to hydrolyze the beta-lactam rings present in the antibiotics. Therefore, it was necessary to explore novel molecules as potential beta-lactamases inhibitors to find antibacterial compounds against infection caused by ESBLs. …

Transcriptional Coactivators: Driving Force Of Plant Immunity, Muhammad Saad Shoaib Khan, Faisal Islam, Huan Chen, Ming Chang, Daowen Wang, Fengquan Liu, Zhengqing Fu, Jian Chen

Faculty Publications

Salicylic acid (SA) is a plant defense signal that mediates local and systemic immune responses against pathogen invasion. However, the underlying mechanism of SA-mediated defense is very complex due to the involvement of various positive and negative regulators to fine-tune its signaling in diverse pathosystems. Upon pathogen infections, elevated level of SA promotes massive transcriptional reprogramming in which Non-expresser of PR genes 1 (NPR1) acts as a central hub and transcriptional coactivator in defense responses. Recent findings show that Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1 (EDS1) also functions as a transcriptional coactivator and stimulates the expression of PR1 in the presence of …

Examination Of The Prevalence Of Female Athlete Triad Components Among Competitive Cheerleaders, Allison B. Smith, Jennifer L. Gay, Shawn M. Arent, Mark A. Sarzynski, Dawn M. Emerson, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine individual and combined Female Athlete Triad components within collegiate cheerleaders, an at-risk group. Cheerleaders ( = 19; age: 20.3 ± 1.2 years) completed anthropometric measurements, health history questionnaires, resting metabolic rate, the eating disorder inventory-3 and symptom checklist, blood sample, and DXA scan. Participants completed dietary and exercise logs for 7 days and used heart rate monitors to track daily and exercise energy expenditure. Proportions were calculated for low energy availability (LEA) risk, disordered eating risk, and pathogenic behaviors. Chi-square analysis was used to determine the difference between cheerleaders who experience low …

An Exploratory Study On The Microbiome Of Northern And Southern Populations Of Ixodes Scapularis Ticks Predicts Changes And Unique Bacterial Interactions, Deepak Kumar, Latoyia P. Downs, Abdulsalam Adegoke, Erika Machtinger, Kelly Oggenfuss, Richard S. Ostfeld, Monica Embers, Shahid Karim

Faculty Publications

The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is the primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease in North America. However, the prevalence of Lyme borreliosis is clustered around the Northern States of the United States of America. This study utilized a metagenomic sequencing approach to compare the microbial communities residing within Ix. scapularis populations from northern and southern geographic locations in the USA. Using a SparCC network construction model, we performed potential interactions between members of the microbial communities from Borrelia burgdorferi–infected tissues of unfed and blood-fed ticks. A significant difference in bacterial composition …

An Exploratory Study On The Microbiome Of Northern And Southern Populations Of Ixodes Scapularis Ticks Predicts Changes And Unique Bacterial Interactions, Deepak Kumar, Latoyia P. Downs, Abdulsalam Adegoke, Erika Machtinger, Kelly Oggenfuss, Richard S. Ostfeld, Monica Embers, Shahid Karim

Faculty Publications

The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is the primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease in North America. However, the prevalence of Lyme borreliosis is clustered around the Northern States of the United States of America. This study utilized a metagenomic sequencing approach to compare the microbial communities residing within Ix. scapularis populations from northern and southern geographic locations in the USA. Using a SparCC network construction model, we performed potential interactions between members of the microbial communities from Borrelia burgdorferi–infected tissues of unfed and blood-fed ticks. A significant difference in bacterial composition …

Reef Sediments Can Act As A Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Vector, Michael S. Studivan, Ashley M. Rossin, Ewelina Rubin, Nash Soderberg, Daniel M. Holstein, Ian C. Enochs

Faculty Publications

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in 2014 near Virginia Key in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Field sampling, lab experiments, and modeling approaches have suggested that reef sediments may play a role in SCTLD transmission, though a positive link has not been tested experimentally. We conducted an ex situ transmission assay using a statistically-independent disease apparatus to test whether reef sediments can transmit SCTLD in the absence of direct contact between diseased and healthy coral tissue. We evaluated two methods of sediment inoculation: batch inoculation of sediments collected from southeast Florida using whole colonies of diseased Montastraea cavernosa, …

Improved Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly Of The Glanville Fritillary Butterfly (Melitaea Cinxia) Integrating Pacific Biosciences Long Reads And A High-Density Linkage Map, Olli-Pekka Smolander, Daniel Blande, Virpi Ahola, Pasi Rastas, Jaakko Tanskanen, Juhana Kammonen, Vicencio Oostra, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Suvi Ikonen, Tad Dallas, Michelle F. Dileo, Anne Duplouy, Iihan Cem Duru, Pauliina Halimaa, Aapo Kahilainen, Suyog S. Kuwar, Sirpa O. Kärenlampi, Elvira Lafuente, Shiqi Luo, Jenny Makkonen, Abhilash Nair, Narua De La Paz Celorio-Mancera, Ville Pennanen, Annukka Ruokolainen, Tarja Sundell, Arja I. Tervahauta, Victoria Twort, Erik Van Bergen, Janina Österman-Udd, Lars Paulin, Mikko J. Frilander, Petri Auvinen, Marjo Saastamoinen

Faculty Publications

Background

The Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome-level assembly of the butterfly's genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses.

Results

The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO indicates that the genome contains 92–94% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,810 genes using the MAKER pipeline and …

Evolutionary Analyses Of Visual Opsin Genes In Frogs And Toads: Diversity, Duplication, And Positive Selection, Ryan K. Schott, Leah Perez, Matthew Kwiatkowski, Vance Imhoff, Jennifer M. Gumm

Faculty Publications

Among major vertebrate groups, anurans (frogs and toads) are understudied with regard to their visual systems, and little is known about variation among species that differ in ecology. We sampled North American anurans representing diverse evolutionary and life histories that likely possess visual systems adapted to meet different ecological needs. Using standard molecular techniques, visual opsin genes, which encode the protein component of visual pigments, were obtained from anuran retinas. Additionally, we extracted the visual opsins from publicly available genome and transcriptome assemblies, further increasing the phylogenetic and ecological diversity of our dataset to 33 species in total. We found …

Investigation Of Metastable Low Dimensional Halometallates, Navindra Keerthisinghe, Matthew S. Christian, Anna A. Berseneva, Gregory Morrison, Vladislav V. Klepov, Mark D. Smith, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

The solvothermal synthesis, structure determination and optical characterization of five new metastable halometallate compounds, [1,10-phenH][Pb_3.5I₈] (1), [1,10-phenH₂][Pb₅I₁₂]·(H₂O) (2), [1,10-phen][Pb₂I₄] (3), [1,10-phen]₂[Pb₅Br₁₀] (4) and [1,10-phenH][SbI₄]·(H₂O) (5), are reported. The materials exhibit rich structural diversity and exhibit structural dimensionalities that include 1D chains, 2D sheets and 3D frameworks. The optical spectra of these materials are consistent with bandgaps ranging from 2.70 to 3.44 eV. We show …