Life Sciences Commons^™

Evolution In The Deep Sea: Scales And Mechanisms Of Population Divergence, Amanda E. Glazier

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The deep sea is the Earth’s largest ecosystem and harbors a unique and largely endemic fauna. Although most research has focused on the ecological mechanisms that allow coexistence, recent studies have begun to investigate how this remarkable fauna evolved.. My work quantifies geographic patterns of genetic variation and investigates potential mechanisms that shape evolution in the deep ocean.

Bathymetric genetic divergence is common in the deep sea with population structure typically decreasing with depth. The evolutionary mechanisms that underlie these patterns are poorly understood. Geographic patterns of genetic variation indicated that the protobranch bivalve Neilonella salicensis was composed of two …

Minibrain And Wings Apart Control Organ Growth And Tissue Patterning Through Downregulation Of Capicua, Liu Yang

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The regulation of organ growth is a fundamental aspect of developmental biology. My work uses Drosophila as a model system to understand how the various growth regulators are coordinated. The transcriptional repressor Capicua (Cic) controls tissue patterning and restricts organ growth, and has been recently implicated in several cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. Cic has emerged as a primary sensor of signaling downstream of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway, but how Cic activity is regulated in different cellular contexts remains poorly understood. In order to identify Cic regulators, I have used affinity purification/mass spectrometry (AP-MS) to study …

Identification And Use Of Indicator Data To Develop Models For Marine-Sourced Risks In Massachusetts Bay, Marin M. Kress

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The coastal watersheds around Massachusetts Bay are home to millions of people, many of whom recreate in coastal waters and consume locally harvested shellfish. Epidemiological data on food-borne illness and illnesses associated with recreational water exposure are known to be incomplete. Of major food categories, seafood has the highest recorded rate of associated foodborne illness. In total, the health impacts from these marine-sourced risks are estimated to cost millions of dollars each year in medical expenses or lost productivity. When recorded epidemiological data is incomplete it may be possible to estimate abundance or prevalence of specific pathogens or toxins in …