Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Use Of Extractable Lipofuscin For Age Determination Of Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus, Se-Jong Ju, David H. Secor, H. Rodger Harvey

OES Faculty Publications

The blue crab Callinectes sapidus is an economically and ecologically important species in many temperate estuaries, yet stock assessments have been limited to length-based methods for demographic analyses. We evaluated the potential of age pigments (lipofuscins) sequestered in neural tissue of eye-stalks and brains to estimate the age of blue crabs collected from Chesapeake Bay and Chincoteague Bay. The rate of lipofuscin accumulation was determined using crabs of known age reared in the laboratory. Age pigments were extracted from neural tissues (eye-stalk or brain), quantified, and normalized to protein content to allow comparisons across tissue types and crab sizes. Field-collected …

Optimal Replication Activity Of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Rna Polymerase Requires Phosphorylation Of A Residue(S) At Carboxy-Terminal Domain Ii Of Its Accessory Subunit, Phosphoprotein P, Leroy N. Hwang, Nathan Englund, Tapas Das, Amiya K. Florida, Asit K. Pattnaik

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The phosphoprotein, P, of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a key subunit of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex. The protein is phosphorylated at multiple sites in two different domains. We recently showed that specific serine and threonine residues within the amino-terminal acidic domain I of P protein must be phosphorylated for in vivo transcription activity, but not for replication activity, of the polymerase complex. To examine the role of phosphorylation of the carboxy-terminal domain II residues of the P protein in transcription and replication, we have used a panel of mutant P proteins in which the phosphate acceptor sites …

Tissue-Specific Expression And Steroid Hormone Regulation Of Human Gonadotropin -Releasing Hormone (Hgnrh) Gene In Placental Cells (Jeg -3 Cells), Zhengguang Chen

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Using JEG-3 cells as an in vitro model, I investigated the mechanisms behind the tissue-specific expression and steroid hormone regulation of the hGnRH gene in the human placenta. The hGnRH upstream promoter was found to be functionally active in JEG-3 cells. The DNA sequence responsible for functioning of the upstream promoter in JEG-3 cells is narrowed to a region between –1048 bp and –730 bp. This DNA fragment contains four elements, which can bind with nuclear extract from JEG-3 cells (but not from GT1-7 cells).

Estradiol (E2) represses the hGnRH upstream promoter activity in JEG-3 cells. This inhibition is receptor-mediated, …

Nucleotide Sequences For Detection Of Serpulina Hyodysenteriae, Gerald E. Duhamel, Robert Elder

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The invention provides a method for detecting the presence of Serpulina hyOdysenteriae in a biological Sample, an oligonucleotide primer and an S. hyodysenteriae-specific oligonucleotide probe useful in that method, and an article of manufacture that contains the primers and/or probe. Also provided are an about 2.3-kb DNA fragment derived from genomic DNA of S. hyodysenteriae and encoding for an about 56 kDa polypeptide, a recombinant expression vector containing the DNA fragment, the 56 kDa polypeptide and a monoclonal antibody reactive with the peptide, and a method of assaying for antibodies reactive with the 56 kDa peptide.

In Situ Hybridization For The Detection And Localization Of Swine Chlamydia Trachomatis, C. Chae, D.-S. Cheon, D. Kwon, O. Kim, B. Kim, J. Suh, D. G. Rogers, K. D. E. Everett, A. A. Anderson

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Gnotobiotic piglets were inoculated intralaryngeally with swine Chlamydia trachomatis strain R33 or orally with swine C. trachmatis strain R27. Archived formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from piglets euthanatized 4–7 days postinoculation were examined by in situ hybridization for C. trachomatis nucleic acid using a nonradioactive digoxigenin-labeled DNA probes that targeted specific ribosomal RNA or omp1 mRNA molecules of the swine C. trachomatis strains. Positive hybridization signals were detected in bronchial epithelial cells, bronchiolar epithelial cells, pneumocytes, alveolar and interstitial macrophages, and jejunal and ileal enterocytes. Chlamydia-infected cells had a strong signal that was confined to the intracytoplasmic inclusions. Positive hybridization signals were …

Clarification Of The Hybrid Origin Of Carex X Deamii Herm. (Cyperaceae) Based On Macro And Micro Morphological Characters, Paul B. Marcum

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The origin of Carex x deamii Herm. has been in question ever since it was named to science in 1938. Collections of the hybrid have always been associated with C. shortiana Dewey and either C. typhina Michx. or C. squarrosa L.. C. typhina and C. squarrosa are closely related taxa (Section Squarrosae) and often are morphologically similar. Because of this similarity, determining the correct parental species to the hybrid has been extremely difficult. It is known that the hybrid is sterile and only reproduces asexually. Pollen was analyzed to ascertain the viability of all four taxa. This study utilizes both …

Interaction Of Laminin Beta2 With Eps8 And Desmin In Muscle Cells, Luke Xueliang Cui

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Laminin β2 is localized to the synaptic basal lamina (BL) in muscle and glomerular BL in kidney. To find interacting proteins, a mouse kidney cDNA library was screened with domain I of rat laminin β2 using the yeast two-hybrid system. Fifteen positive clones were found. The DNA sequence of three each of these clones corresponded to the phosphoprotein Eps8 (epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate clone 8, which is tyrosine phosphorylated after EGF stimulation) and the intermediate filament (IF) protein keratin. To determine if this interaction occurred in muscle cells, C2 cells transfected with the rat …

The Role Of Retinoids And Protein Kinase C In Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation And Function, Shaoshan Wang

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The structural and functional changes in the arterial wall of humans and animals accompany the development of hypertension and atherosclerosis. Hence, great interest exists in the mechanisms that govern vascular smooth muscle cell contraction and proliferation. Rat aortic rings maintained in organ culture show a significant loss of contractility; whereas, vascular smooth muscle cells in culture quickly dedifferentiate into a secretory phenotype with a marked capacity for proliferation. The addition of all-trans retinoic acid (RA) and retinol to the plasma-containing medium preserved the contractile response of cultured vessels. Removal of endothelium prior to culture abolished these effects. All-trans retinoic acid …

Plasmd Bearing A Cdna Copy Of The Genome Of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus, Chimeric Derivatives Thereof, And Method Of Producing An Infectious Bovine Wral Darrheavirus Using Sad Plasmid, Ruben O. Donis, Ventzislav B. Vassilev

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

A plasmid bearing a cDNA copy of the genome of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), chimeric derivatives of the plasmid and a method of producing an infectious bovine viral diarrhea virus using the plasmid are disclosed. The invention relates to a plasmid DNA molecule that replicates easily in E. coli and contains a sufficient portion of the genome of BVDV, cloned as cDNA, to be a suitable template to produce RNA in vitro which, upon transfection into bovine cells, gives rise to infectious BVDV. The BVDV created by the process of the invention can be engineered for use as a …