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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

Zika Modulates Arthropod Histone Methylation In Mosquito Cells, Telvin Lee Harrell Jul 2018

Zika Modulates Arthropod Histone Methylation In Mosquito Cells, Telvin Lee Harrell

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Epigenetics is the heritable series of covalent modifications that affect chromatin structure, gene expression, and protein function. Methylation is one such epigenetic modification that involves the addition of chemical modifying entities, such as methyl groups, on nucleic acids or proteins. Recent studies have reported that Zika virus (ZIKV) modulates methylation of human and viral RNA important for its replication in vertebrate cells. However, little is known whether ZIKV exerts methylation in arthropod vectors. In this study, I show that ZIKV modulates S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe) synthase, an enzyme involved in the production of SAMe, and histone methylation for its survival in …


Marine Reserves Promote Coral Reef Resilience By Mitigating Human Impacts Through The Restoration Of Parrotfish Populations, Increasing Their Reproductive Output And Seeding Neighboring Overfished Reefs, Brian L. Stockwell Oct 2017

Marine Reserves Promote Coral Reef Resilience By Mitigating Human Impacts Through The Restoration Of Parrotfish Populations, Increasing Their Reproductive Output And Seeding Neighboring Overfished Reefs, Brian L. Stockwell

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Coral reefs are some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, providing fisheries resources for over a billion people with billions of dollars in revenue from tourism for developing nations. Coral reefs are under threat from overfishing and water pollution, resulting in less productive algae dominated reefs. Marine reserves are widely expected to promote the resilience of reefs by protecting and increasing the abundance of herbivorous fishes that can graze on algae, therefore directly or indirectly preventing coral to algal phase shifts. However, the ability of marine reserves to mitigate human impacts, restore herbivorous fish populations and seed nearby …


The Chondrocyte Channelome: A Novel Ion Channel Candidate In The Pathogenesis Of Pectus Deformities, Anthony J. Asmar Jul 2017

The Chondrocyte Channelome: A Novel Ion Channel Candidate In The Pathogenesis Of Pectus Deformities, Anthony J. Asmar

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Costal cartilage is a type of rod-like hyaline cartilage connecting the ribs to the sternum. The chest wall deformities pectus excavatum (PE) and pectus carinatum (PC) involve displacement of the sternum causing a depression or protrusion of the chest. There is little knowledge about costal cartilage and pectus deformities with much of its understanding based on assumptions from articular cartilage. Chondrocytes are subjected to a constantly changing environment with fluctuations in pH and osmolarity. Ion channels detect these changes and in turn regulate proliferation, differentiation, and extracellular matrix production. Using ion channel qPCR arrays, we produced expression profiles for normal, …


Novel Architecture Of Costal Cartilage And Implications In Chest Wall Deformities, Anthony J. Asmar Apr 2013

Novel Architecture Of Costal Cartilage And Implications In Chest Wall Deformities, Anthony J. Asmar

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Costal cartilage is a type of hyaline cartilage that forms rod-like structures that connect the ribs to the sternum. Deformation of costal cartilage is observed in the chest wall deformities, pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum. Pectus excavatum involves a sternal displacement causing a depression of the chest while pectus carinatum causes a protrusion of the chest. As costal cartilage is not a widely studied tissue, this leaves little knowledge into possible factors involved in the pathogenesis of pectus deformities. Costal cartilage in these deformities has been described as being weakened and may implicate proteoglycans which play an important role in …


Acetylcholinesterase In The Neonatal Rat Brain: The Effects Of Prenatal Ethanol Exposure, Linda M. Boland Jul 1985

Acetylcholinesterase In The Neonatal Rat Brain: The Effects Of Prenatal Ethanol Exposure, Linda M. Boland

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the neonatal rat brain was determined by histochemical localization and quantitative biochemical analysis. AChE-positive perikarya were concentrated in the neostriatum, globus pallidus, medial habenular nucleus, amygdaloid complex, various hypothalamic nuclei, gigantocellular and paragigantocellular reticular nuclei, raphe nuclei, locus coeruleus, and motor nuclei of cranial nerves III-VII and IX-XII. Some areas stained differently or not at all when compared with the adult rat brain. The effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on regional AChE activity were assessed by comparing enzyme levels in offspring exposed via maternal consumption of a liquid diet containing 35 percent ethanol derived calories. This …