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Impact Of Apoe Deficiency During Synaptic Remodeling In The Mouse Olfactory Bulb, Ikemefuna Nwosu, Salina Gairhe, Robert G. Struble, Britto P. Nathan Aug 2008

Impact Of Apoe Deficiency During Synaptic Remodeling In The Mouse Olfactory Bulb, Ikemefuna Nwosu, Salina Gairhe, Robert G. Struble, Britto P. Nathan

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In this study we examined the role of apoE on the rate of synaptic recovery in the olfactory bulb (OB) following olfactory epithelium (OE) lesioning in mice. We used both immunoblotting and immunohistochemical techniques to compare the density of OB synaptophysin (Syn, a synaptic marker) in apoE-gene deficient/knockout (KO) mice and wild-type (WT) mice following OE lesion. We found that the whole bulb concentrations of Syn, measured by immunoblotting, declined sharply following injury in both WT and KO mice during the degenerative phase (3–7 days). After this initial decline, the Syn concentration gradually increased to normal levels by 56 days …


Impact Of Apoe Deficiency During Synaptic Remodeling In The Mouse Olfactory Bulb, Ikemefuna Nwosu, Salina Gairhe, Robert Struble, Britto Nathan Aug 2008

Impact Of Apoe Deficiency During Synaptic Remodeling In The Mouse Olfactory Bulb, Ikemefuna Nwosu, Salina Gairhe, Robert Struble, Britto Nathan

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In this study we examined the role of apoE on the rate of synaptic recovery in the olfactory bulb (OB) following olfactory epithelium (OE) lesioning in mice. We used both immunoblotting and immunohistochemical techniques to compare the density of OB synaptophysin (Syn, a synaptic marker) in apoE-gene deficient/knockout (KO) mice and wild-type (WT) mice following OE lesion. We found that the whole bulb concentrations of Syn, measured by immunoblotting, declined sharply following injury in both WT and KO mice during the degenerative phase (3–7 days). After this initial decline, the Syn concentration gradually increased to normal levels by 56 days …


Botany At Eastern Illinois University, Marissa C. Jernegan, Nancy Coutant, Janice M. Coons Jun 2008

Botany At Eastern Illinois University, Marissa C. Jernegan, Nancy Coutant, Janice M. Coons

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Eastern Illinois University was established in 1899, and from its beginning recognized the importance of the botanical sciences. Two terms of botany were required for the four year program. Otis W. Caldwell, a botanist, was one of the original faculty members. He taught all of the biology courses and initiated the acquisition of a greenhouse. Caldwell was the first of a series of talented and dedicated botany professors including Edgar N. Transeau, Ernest L. Stover, Hiram F. Thut and John E. Ebinger. These and many other professors incorporated a field component into almost all classes. This dedication to the study …


Environmental Conditions Affect Sperm Competition Risk In Japanese Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Paul V. Switzer, Carissa A. Schoenick, Patrick C. Enstrom Jan 2008

Environmental Conditions Affect Sperm Competition Risk In Japanese Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Paul V. Switzer, Carissa A. Schoenick, Patrick C. Enstrom

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Males of many species guard their mates to prevent rivals from usurping paternity of the potential offspring. Environmental conditions, such as temperature, may affect a male’s ability to guard a female effectively and consequently the amount of sperm competition that occurs. We tested whether temperature and light affected mating behavior in laboratory experiments on the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, a species in which males guard females for minutes to many hours after mating. When tested in groups, under conditions of high temperature and high light, males guarded females for shorter periods of time and males and females both mated …


Vegetative Anatomy Of Calypsoeae (Orchidaceae), William Louis Stern, Barbara S. Carlsward Jan 2008

Vegetative Anatomy Of Calypsoeae (Orchidaceae), William Louis Stern, Barbara S. Carlsward

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Calypsoeae represent a small tribe of anatomically little-known orchids with a wide distribution in the Western Hemisphere. Leaves are present in all genera, except Corallorhiza and Wullschlaegelia both of which are subterranean taxa. Stomata are abaxial (ad- and abaxial in Aplectrum) and tetracytic (anomocytic in Calypso). Fiber bundles are absent in leaves of all taxa examined except Govenia tingens. Stegmata are present in leaves of only Cremastra and Govenia. Roots are velamentous, except in filiform roots of Wullschlaegelia. Vegetative anatomy supports a relationship between Wullschlaegelia and Corallorhiza but does not support the grouping of winter-leaved Aplectrum and Tipularia nor proposed …


Phylogenetic Utility Of Ycf1 In Orchids: A Plastid Gene More Variable Than Matk, Kurt Neubig, W. Whitten, Barbara Carlsward, Mario Blanco, Lorena Endara, Norris Williams, Michael Moore Jan 2008

Phylogenetic Utility Of Ycf1 In Orchids: A Plastid Gene More Variable Than Matk, Kurt Neubig, W. Whitten, Barbara Carlsward, Mario Blanco, Lorena Endara, Norris Williams, Michael Moore

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Plastid DNA sequences have been widely used by systematists for reconstructing plant phylogenies. The utility of any DNA region for phylogenetic analysis is determined by ease of amplification and sequencing, confidence of assessment in phylogenetic character alignment, and by variability across broad taxon sampling. Often, a compromise must be made between using relatively highly conserved coding regions or highly variable introns and intergenic spacers. Analyses of a combination of these types of DNA regions yield phylogenetic structure at various levels of a tree (i.e., along the spine and at the tips of the branches). Here, we demonstrate the phylogenetic utility …


Scale-Dependent Habitat Use By Fall Migratory Birds: Vegetation Architecture, Floristics, And Geographic Consistency, Jill L. Deppe, John T. Rotenberry Jan 2008

Scale-Dependent Habitat Use By Fall Migratory Birds: Vegetation Architecture, Floristics, And Geographic Consistency, Jill L. Deppe, John T. Rotenberry

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Animal habitat selection is a central focus of ecology and conservation biology. Understanding habitat associations in migratory animals is particularly complicated because individuals have variable habitat requirements during the annual cycle, across their geographic range, along migratory routes, and at multiple spatial scales. We studied habitat associations of 16 fall Nearctic–Neotropical migratory land birds at two spatial scales at a stopover site along the northern Yucatan coast to examine scale-dependent habitat use, identify proximate cues shaping birds' distributions, and evaluate similarities in habitat use between our tropical stopover site and temperate sites. We addressed scale-dependent habitat associations in two ways, …


Exposure And Exposure Modeling, Karen F. Gaines, T. E. Chow, S. A. Dyer Jan 2008

Exposure And Exposure Modeling, Karen F. Gaines, T. E. Chow, S. A. Dyer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Exposure to contaminants in the environment is quantified through the ecological risk assessment (ERA) process which provides a framework for the development and implementation of environmental management decisions. The ERA uses available toxicological and ecological information to estimate the probability of occurrence for a specified undesired ecological event or endpoint. The level for these endpoints depends on the objectives and the constraints imposed upon the risk assessment process; therefore, multiple endpoints at different scales may be necessary. ERAs Ecotoxicology | Exposure and Exposure Assessment 1527Author's personal copy often rely on the link between these undesired endpoints to a threshold of …


Old Acetogens, New Light, Steven L. Daniel, Harold L. Drake, Anita S. Gößner Jan 2008

Old Acetogens, New Light, Steven L. Daniel, Harold L. Drake, Anita S. Gößner

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Acetogens utilize the acetyl-CoA Wood-Ljungdahl pathway as a terminal electron-accepting, energy-conserving, CO2-fixing process. The decades of research to resolve the enzymology of this pathway (1) preceded studies demonstrating that acetogens not only harbor a novel CO2-fixing pathway, but are also ecologically important, and (2) overshadowed the novel microbiological discoveries of acetogens and acetogenesis. The first acetogen to be isolated, Clostridium aceticum, was reported by Klaas Tammo Wieringa in 1936, but was subsequently lost. The second acetogen to be isolated, Clostridium thermoaceticum, was isolated by Francis Ephraim Fontaine and co-workers in 1942. C. thermoaceticum became the most extensively studied acetogen and …


Phylogenetic Utility Of Ycf1 In Orchids: A Plastid Gene More Variable Than Matk, Kurt M. Neubig, W. Mark Whitten, Barbara S. Carlsward, Mario A. Blanco, Lorena Endara, Norris H. Williams, Michael Moore Jan 2008

Phylogenetic Utility Of Ycf1 In Orchids: A Plastid Gene More Variable Than Matk, Kurt M. Neubig, W. Mark Whitten, Barbara S. Carlsward, Mario A. Blanco, Lorena Endara, Norris H. Williams, Michael Moore

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Plastid DNA sequences have been widely used by systematists for reconstructing plant phylogenies. The utility of any DNA region for phylogenetic analysis is determined by ease of amplification and sequencing, confidence of assessment in phylogenetic character alignment, and by variability across broad taxon sampling. Often, a compromise must be made between using relatively highly conserved coding regions or highly variable introns and intergenic spacers. Analyses of a combination of these types of DNA regions yield phylogenetic structure at various levels of a tree (i.e., along the spine and at the tips of the branches). Here, we demonstrate the phylogenetic utility …


Old Acetogens, New Light, Steven Daniel, Harold Drake, Anita Gößner Jan 2008

Old Acetogens, New Light, Steven Daniel, Harold Drake, Anita Gößner

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Acetogens utilize the acetyl-CoA Wood-Ljungdahl pathway as a terminal electron-accepting, energy-conserving, CO2-fixing process. The decades of research to resolve the enzymology of this pathway (1) preceded studies demonstrating that acetogens not only harbor a novel CO2-fixing pathway, but are also ecologically important, and (2) overshadowed the novel microbiological discoveries of acetogens and acetogenesis. The first acetogen to be isolated, Clostridium aceticum, was reported by Klaas Tammo Wieringa in 1936, but was subsequently lost. The second acetogen to be isolated, Clostridium thermoaceticum, was isolated by Francis Ephraim Fontaine and co-workers in 1942. C. thermoaceticum became the most extensively studied acetogen and …


Clapper Rails As Indicators Of Mercury And Pcb Bioavailability In A Georgia Saltmarsh System, James C. Cumbee Jr., Karen F. Gaines, Gary L. Mills, N. Garvin, Warren L. Stephens Jr., James N. Novak, I. L. Brisbin Jr. Jan 2008

Clapper Rails As Indicators Of Mercury And Pcb Bioavailability In A Georgia Saltmarsh System, James C. Cumbee Jr., Karen F. Gaines, Gary L. Mills, N. Garvin, Warren L. Stephens Jr., James N. Novak, I. L. Brisbin Jr.

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Clapper rails (Rallus longirostris) were used as an indicator species of estuarine marsh habitat quality because of their strong site fidelity and predictable diet consisting of mostly benthic organisms. Mercury (Hg) and the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Aroclor 1268 concentrations were determined for sediments, crabs, as well as clapper rail adults and chicks collected from salt marshes associated with the LCP Superfund site in Brunswick, Georgia. Home ranges were established for adult rails, and sediment and crab samples were taken from each individual’s range. The study was designed to minimize the spatial variability associated with trophic transfer studies by choosing an …


Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) Harvesting On And Near The U.S. Department Of Energy’S Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak Jan 2008

Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) Harvesting On And Near The U.S. Department Of Energy’S Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Understanding the toxicodynamics of wildlife populations in contaminated ecosystems is one of the greatest challenges in ecotoxicology today. The goal is to manage these populations to minimize risk to ecosystem integrity as well as human health. Ecological risk assessments (ERAs) in the United States are designed to meet the regulatory mandates of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an ERA evaluates the potential adverse effects that human activities have on the ' ora and fauna that de( ne an ecosystem (U.S. Environmental Protection …


Spatial And Temporal Expression Profiling Of Cell-Wall Invertase Genes During Early Development In Hybrid Poplar, Thomas Canam, Sarah W.Y. Mak, Shawn D. Mansfield Jan 2008

Spatial And Temporal Expression Profiling Of Cell-Wall Invertase Genes During Early Development In Hybrid Poplar, Thomas Canam, Sarah W.Y. Mak, Shawn D. Mansfield

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Cell-wall invertase genes are spatially and temporally regulated in several plant species, including Daucus carota L., Lycopersicon esculentum L. and Solanum tuberosum L. However, few studies of cell-wall invertase genes of trees have been conducted, despite the importance of trees as a source of lignocellulosic biopolymers.We identified three putative cell-wall invertase genes in hybrid poplar (Populus alba L. × grandidentata Michx.) that showed higher homology to each other than to cell-wall invertases of other dicotyledonous species, with two of the genes (Pa×gINV2 and Pa×gINV3) appearing as a genomic tandem repeat. These genes are more similar to each other than to …


Simulating The Effects Of Wetland Loss And Inter-Annual Variability On The Fitness Of Migratory Bird Species, Jill L. Deppe, James A. Smith Jan 2008

Simulating The Effects Of Wetland Loss And Inter-Annual Variability On The Fitness Of Migratory Bird Species, Jill L. Deppe, James A. Smith

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Long-distance migratory shorebirds require wetland stopover sites where they can forage and deposit sufficient fat to complete their migration and, in the spring, reproduce. Conservation biologists are concerned that continental-scale reductions in wetland availability and quality due to human disturbance, climate change, and natural drought events are negatively impacting these species by eliminating critical stopovers along migratory flyways. We describe an individual-based migration model driven by remotely sensed land surface data, climate data assimilation models, and biological field data to examine the impact of changing environmental conditions on migration routes, temporal patterns, and fitness. We used an evolutionary programming approach …


Variation In Surrounding Forest Habitat Influences The Initial Orientation Of Juvenile Amphibians Emigrating From Breeding Ponds, Leroy J. Walston, Stephen J. Mullin Jan 2008

Variation In Surrounding Forest Habitat Influences The Initial Orientation Of Juvenile Amphibians Emigrating From Breeding Ponds, Leroy J. Walston, Stephen J. Mullin

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Annotation Of The Bacteriophage 933w Genome: An In-Class Interactive Web-Based Exercise, Kai F. Hung Jan 2008

Annotation Of The Bacteriophage 933w Genome: An In-Class Interactive Web-Based Exercise, Kai F. Hung

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Molybdate Treatment And Sulfate Starvation Decrease Atp And Dna Levels In Ferroplasma Acidarmanus, Kai F. Hung Jan 2008

Molybdate Treatment And Sulfate Starvation Decrease Atp And Dna Levels In Ferroplasma Acidarmanus, Kai F. Hung

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Sulfate is a primary source of sulfur for most microbes and in some prokaryotes it is used an electron acceptor. The acidophile Ferroplasma acidarmanus (strain fer1) requires a minimum of 150 mM of a sulfate-containing salt for growth. Sulfate is assimilated by F. acidarmanus into proteins and reduced to form the volatile organic sulfur compounds methanethiol and dimethyldisulfide. In the absence of sulfate, cell death occurs by an unknown mechanism. In this study, cell viability and genomic DNA and ATP contents of F. acidarmanus were monitored in response to the absence of sulfate or the presence of sulfate and the …


Mitochondria In Energy-Limited States: Mechanisms That Blunt The Signaling Of Cell Death, Steven C. Hand, Michael A. Menze Jan 2008

Mitochondria In Energy-Limited States: Mechanisms That Blunt The Signaling Of Cell Death, Steven C. Hand, Michael A. Menze

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Cellular conditions experienced during energy-limited states – elevated calcium, shifts in cellular adenylate status, compromised mitochondrial membrane potential – are precisely those that trigger, at least in mammals, the mitochondrion to initiate opening of the permeability transition pore, to assemble additional protein release channels, and to release pro-apoptotic factors. These proapototic factors in turn activate initiator and executer caspases. How is activation of mitochondria-based pathways for the signaling of apoptotic and necrotic cell death avoided under conditions of hypoxia, anoxia, diapause, estivation and anhydrobiosis? Functional trade-offs in environmental tolerance may have occurred in parallel with the evolution of diversified pathways …


Molybdate Treatment And Sulfate Starvation Decrease Atp And Dna Levels In Ferroplasma Acidarmanus, Kai Hung Jan 2008

Molybdate Treatment And Sulfate Starvation Decrease Atp And Dna Levels In Ferroplasma Acidarmanus, Kai Hung

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Sulfate is a primary source of sulfur for most microbes and in some prokaryotes it is used an electron acceptor. The acidophile Ferroplasma acidarmanus (strain fer1) requires a minimum of 150 mM of a sulfate-containing salt for growth. Sulfate is assimilated by F. acidarmanus into proteins and reduced to form the volatile organic sulfur compounds methanethiol and dimethyldisulfide. In the absence of sulfate, cell death occurs by an unknown mechanism. In this study, cell viability and genomic DNA and ATP contents of F. acidarmanus were monitored in response to the absence of sulfate or the presence of sulfate and the …


Microsatellite Analysis Of Mating And Kinship In Beavers (Castor Canadensis)., J C. Cawford, Zhiwei Liu, T A. Nelson, C K. Nielsen, C K. Bloomquist Jan 2008

Microsatellite Analysis Of Mating And Kinship In Beavers (Castor Canadensis)., J C. Cawford, Zhiwei Liu, T A. Nelson, C K. Nielsen, C K. Bloomquist

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Scale-Dependent Habitat Use By Fall Migratory Birds: Vegetation Architecture, Floristics, And Geographic Consistency, Jill Deppe, John Rotenberry Jan 2008

Scale-Dependent Habitat Use By Fall Migratory Birds: Vegetation Architecture, Floristics, And Geographic Consistency, Jill Deppe, John Rotenberry

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Animal habitat selection is a central focus of ecology and conservation biology. Understanding habitat associations in migratory animals is particularly complicated because individuals have variable habitat requirements during the annual cycle, across their geographic range, along migratory routes, and at multiple spatial scales. We studied habitat associations of 16 fall Nearctic–Neotropical migratory land birds at two spatial scales at a stopover site along the northern Yucatan coast to examine scale-dependent habitat use, identify proximate cues shaping birds' distributions, and evaluate similarities in habitat use between our tropical stopover site and temperate sites. We addressed scale-dependent habitat associations in two ways, …


Simulating The Effects Of Wetland Loss And Inter-Annual Variability On The Fitness Of Migratory Bird Species, Jill Deppe, James Smith Jan 2008

Simulating The Effects Of Wetland Loss And Inter-Annual Variability On The Fitness Of Migratory Bird Species, Jill Deppe, James Smith

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Long-distance migratory shorebirds require wetland stopover sites where they can forage and deposit sufficient fat to complete their migration and, in the spring, reproduce. Conservation biologists are concerned that continental-scale reductions in wetland availability and quality due to human disturbance, climate change, and natural drought events are negatively impacting these species by eliminating critical stopovers along migratory flyways. We describe an individual-based migration model driven by remotely sensed land surface data, climate data assimilation models, and biological field data to examine the impact of changing environmental conditions on migration routes, temporal patterns, and fitness. We used an evolutionary programming approach …


Environmental Conditions Affect Sperm Competition Risk In Japanese Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Paul Switzer, Carissa Schoenick, Patrick Enstrom Jan 2008

Environmental Conditions Affect Sperm Competition Risk In Japanese Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), Paul Switzer, Carissa Schoenick, Patrick Enstrom

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Males of many species guard their mates to prevent rivals from usurping paternity of the potential offspring. Environmental conditions, such as temperature, may affect a male’s ability to guard a female effectively and consequently the amount of sperm competition that occurs. We tested whether temperature and light affected mating behavior in laboratory experiments on the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, a species in which males guard females for minutes to many hours after mating. When tested in groups, under conditions of high temperature and high light, males guarded females for shorter periods of time and males and females both mated …


Spatial And Temporal Expression Profiling Of Cell-Wall Invertase Genes During Early Development In Hybrid Poplar, Thomas Canam, Sarah Mak, Shawn Mansfield Jan 2008

Spatial And Temporal Expression Profiling Of Cell-Wall Invertase Genes During Early Development In Hybrid Poplar, Thomas Canam, Sarah Mak, Shawn Mansfield

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Cell-wall invertase genes are spatially and temporally regulated in several plant species, including Daucus carota L., Lycopersicon esculentum L. and Solanum tuberosum L. However, few studies of cell-wall invertase genes of trees have been conducted, despite the importance of trees as a source of lignocellulosic biopolymers.We identified three putative cell-wall invertase genes in hybrid poplar (Populus alba L. × grandidentata Michx.) that showed higher homology to each other than to cell-wall invertases of other dicotyledonous species, with two of the genes (Pa×gINV2 and Pa×gINV3) appearing as a genomic tandem repeat. These genes are more similar to each other than to …


The Correct Genus For The Jingle Bell Orchid, Harrisella Porrecta, Barbara Carlsward, Mark Whitten Jan 2008

The Correct Genus For The Jingle Bell Orchid, Harrisella Porrecta, Barbara Carlsward, Mark Whitten

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Vegetative Anatomy Of Calypsoeae (Orchidaceae), William Stern, Barbara Carlsward Jan 2008

Vegetative Anatomy Of Calypsoeae (Orchidaceae), William Stern, Barbara Carlsward

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Calypsoeae represent a small tribe of anatomically little-known orchids with a wide distribution in the Western Hemisphere. Leaves are present in all genera, except Corallorhiza and Wullschlaegelia both of which are subterranean taxa. Stomata are abaxial (ad- and abaxial in Aplectrum) and tetracytic (anomocytic in Calypso). Fiber bundles are absent in leaves of all taxa examined except Govenia tingens. Stegmata are present in leaves of only Cremastra and Govenia. Roots are velamentous, except in filiform roots of Wullschlaegelia. Vegetative anatomy supports a relationship between Wullschlaegelia and Corallorhiza but does not support the grouping of winter-leaved Aplectrum and Tipularia nor proposed …


The Correct Genus For The Jingle Bell Orchid, Harrisella Porrecta, Barbara S. Carlsward, Mark Whitten Jan 2008

The Correct Genus For The Jingle Bell Orchid, Harrisella Porrecta, Barbara S. Carlsward, Mark Whitten

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Microsatellite Analysis Of Mating And Kinship In Beavers (Castor Canadensis)., J Cawford, Zhiwei Liu, T Nelson, C Nielsen, C Bloomquist Jan 2008

Microsatellite Analysis Of Mating And Kinship In Beavers (Castor Canadensis)., J Cawford, Zhiwei Liu, T Nelson, C Nielsen, C Bloomquist

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.