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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Analysis Of The Temporal Patterning Of Notch Downstream Targets During Drosophila Melanogaster Egg Chamber Development, Molly A. Rowe Nov 2019

Analysis Of The Temporal Patterning Of Notch Downstream Targets During Drosophila Melanogaster Egg Chamber Development, Molly A. Rowe

Honors College Theses

Living organisms require complex signaling interactions and proper regulation of these interactions to influence biological processes. Of these complex networks, one of the most distinguished is the Notch pathway. Dysregulation of this pathway often results in defects during organismal development and can be a causative mechanism for initiation and progression of cancer. Despite previous research entailing the importance of this signaling pathway and the organismal processes that it is involved in, less is known concerning the major Notch downstream targets, especially the onset and sequence in which they are modulated during normal development. As timing of regulation may be linked …


Mechanisms Of Oriented Cell Division And Their Roles In Tissue Development, Evan Blake Dewey Apr 2019

Mechanisms Of Oriented Cell Division And Their Roles In Tissue Development, Evan Blake Dewey

Biology ETDs

Properly executed cell division is crucial to development, maintenance, and longevity of multicellular organisms. Defects in both symmetric and asymmetric divisions can lead to improper developmental patterning, as well as genomic instability, disruption of tissue homeostasis, and cancer. Our research focuses on how regulators orchestrate proper cell divisions. Mushroom Body Defect (Mud) is one such regulator, and here we describe how Mud is regulated via the Hippo signaling pathway kinase Warts (Wts), showing Wts phosphorylates Mud to enhance interaction with the polarity protein Partner of Inscuteable, promoting spindle orientation activity. We next focus on another regulator, Shortstop (Shot), describing a …


The Effects Of A Ketone Body On Synaptic Transmission, Alexandra Elizabeth Stanback Jan 2019

The Effects Of A Ketone Body On Synaptic Transmission, Alexandra Elizabeth Stanback

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The ketogenic diet is commonly used to control epilepsy, especially in cases when medications cannot. The diet typically consists of high fat, low carb, and adequate protein and produces a metabolite called acetoacetate. Seizure activity is characterized by glutamate excitotoxicity and therefore glutamate regulation is a point of research for control of these disorders. Acetoacetate is heavily implicated as the primary molecule responsible for decreasing glutamate in the synapse; it is believed that acetoacetate interferes with the transport of glutamate into the synaptic vesicles. The effects on synaptic transmission at glutamatergic synapses was studied in relation to the ketogenic diet …


The Role Of Dunc13 In Ethanol Tolerance, Yusuke Wachi Jan 2019

The Role Of Dunc13 In Ethanol Tolerance, Yusuke Wachi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although the effects of ethanol on presynaptic activity have been studied, the molecular mechanisms and the changes in gene expression which are responsible for inducing ethanol tolerance are unclear. Munc13-1 is an active-zone protein that is essential for presynaptic vesicle fusion. This protein interacts with vesicle fusion machinery at presynaptic active zones in the mammalian brain. The C1 domain of Munc13-1 binds diacylglycerol (DAG), which helps membrane localization of this protein and promotes vesicle fusion, facilitating synaptic vesicle release. Previously, it was shown that ethanol binds to the C1 domain of Munc13-1 in vitro at concentrations below 100 mM (Das …