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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Epidemiological Studies Of Soybean Vein Necrosis Virus And Potential Resistance Mechanisms To Its Vector Neohydatothrips Variabilis (Beach), Jing Zhou Dec 2018

Epidemiological Studies Of Soybean Vein Necrosis Virus And Potential Resistance Mechanisms To Its Vector Neohydatothrips Variabilis (Beach), Jing Zhou

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is one the most important crops in global agriculture with annual production of over 260 million metric tons. As the dependence of a growing global population to soybean has increased, so does the importance of soybean diseases and pests. Over 200 pathogens attack soybean; among them, viruses pose a major threat to the soybean industries accounting for approximately 10% of the annual yield reduction caused by diseases in the past two decades. Soybean vein necrosis virus (SVNV) is a relatively newly discovered virus causing the homonymous disease. The widespread occurrence of the disease in major …


Sip-428, A Sir2 Deacetylase Enzyme And Its Role In Biotic Stress Signaling Pathway, Bal Krishna Chand Thakuri Dec 2018

Sip-428, A Sir2 Deacetylase Enzyme And Its Role In Biotic Stress Signaling Pathway, Bal Krishna Chand Thakuri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

SABP2 (Salicylic Acid Binding Protein 2) plays a vital role in the salicylic acid signaling pathway of plants both regarding basal resistance and systemic acquired resistance against pathogen infection. SIP-428 (SABP2 Interacting Protein-428) is a Silent information regulator 2 (SIR2) like deacetylase enzyme that physically interacts with SABP2 in a yeast two-hybrid interaction and confirmed independently by a GST pull-down assay. We demonstrated that SIP- 428 is an NAD+ dependent SIR2 deacetylase enzyme. Transgenic tobacco plants silenced in SIP- 428 expression via RNAi showed enhanced basal resistance to microbial pathogens. Moreover, these SIP-428-silenced lines also exhibited a robust induction of …


A Simple Metabolic Switch May Activate Apomixis In Arabidopsis Thaliana, David Alan Sherwood Dec 2018

A Simple Metabolic Switch May Activate Apomixis In Arabidopsis Thaliana, David Alan Sherwood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Apomixis, asexual or clonal seed production in plants, can decrease the cost of producing hybrid seed and enable currently open pollinated crops to be converted to more vigorous and higher yielding hybrids that can reproduce themselves through their own seed. Sexual reproduction may be triggered by a programmed stress signaling event that occurs in both the meiocyte, just prior to meiosis, and later in the egg just prior to embryo sac maturation. The prevention of stress signaling and the activation of a pro-growth signal prior to meiosis triggered apomeiosis, the first half of apomixis. The same approach was used prior …


Localization Of Sip470, A Plant Lipid Transfer Protein In Nicotiana Tabacum, Shantaya Andrews Dec 2018

Localization Of Sip470, A Plant Lipid Transfer Protein In Nicotiana Tabacum, Shantaya Andrews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

SABP2-interacting protein 470 (SIP470), a non-specific lipid transfer protein (nsLTP), was discovered in a yeast two-hybrid screening using SABP2 as bait and tobacco leaf proteins as prey. SABP2 is an important enzyme in systemic acquired resistance that converts salicylic acid to methyl salicylate. Localization studies are an important aspect to understanding the biological function of proteins. nsLTPs are generally considered apoplastic proteins and has been localized intracellularly and extracellularly. Transient expression shows highest expression of SIP470-eGFP at 2 days post infiltration into Nicotiana benthamiana. Confocal microscopy showed localization near the periphery of the cell. Subcellular localization using differential centrifugation showed …


Characterization Of Acyltransferases And Wrinkled Orthologs Involved In Tag Biosynthesis In Avocado, Md Mahbubur Rahman Dec 2018

Characterization Of Acyltransferases And Wrinkled Orthologs Involved In Tag Biosynthesis In Avocado, Md Mahbubur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Triacylglycerols (TAG) or storage oils in plants are utilized by humans for nutrition, production of biomaterials and fuels. Since nonseed tissues comprise the bulk biomass, it is pertinent to understand how to improve their TAG content. Typically, the final step in TAG biosynthesis is catalyzed by diacylglycerol (DAG) acyltransferases (DGAT) and/or phospholipid: diacylglycerol acyltransferases (PDAT), which also determine the content and composition of TAG. Besides enzymatic regulation of TAG synthesis, transcription factors such as WRINKLED1 (WRI1) play a critical role during fatty acid synthesis. In this study, mesocarp of Persea americana, with > 60% TAG by dry weight and oleic …


The Interplay Between Polarity Regulators, Calcium, And The Actin Cytoskeleton During Tip Growth, Carlisle Bascom Jr Oct 2018

The Interplay Between Polarity Regulators, Calcium, And The Actin Cytoskeleton During Tip Growth, Carlisle Bascom Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

Plant cell growth is a meticulously regulated process whereby the cell wall is selectively loosened to allow for turgor-pressure driven expansion. The rate of expansion must equal delivery of new material, or the cell will lyse. In many plant cells, this process happens diffusely around the cell. However, a number of plant cells have anisotropic shapes that require exquisite spatial control of secretion. One simple example of anisotropic patterning is tip growth; highly polarized cell expansion utilized by pollen tubes, root hairs, and moss protonemata. Investigating the role various molecules have in tip growth sheds light on how plant cells …


Defective Aba-Mediated Sugar Signalling Pathway In An Established Arabidopsis Thaliana Cell Suspension Culture Explains Its Stay-Green Phenotype At High Sugar Concentrations, Avery Mccarthy Jun 2018

Defective Aba-Mediated Sugar Signalling Pathway In An Established Arabidopsis Thaliana Cell Suspension Culture Explains Its Stay-Green Phenotype At High Sugar Concentrations, Avery Mccarthy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An unusual sugar insensitive phenotype was identified in an established cell suspension culture of Arabidopsis thaliana. We characterized the physiology, biochemistry and genetics of the sugar insensitive cell culture, in order to identify factors contributing to the phenotype. Chlorophyll levels of the cell suspension culture were insensitive to high sucrose (6-15% w/v) and maintained a green phenotype. Immunoblotting indicated that levels of key photosynthetic proteins (PsaA, Lhcb2 and Rubisco) increased as a function of external sucrose concentration. The green cell culture was photosynthetically competent based on light-dependent, CO2-saturated rates of O2 evolution as well as Fv/Fm …


Binding Of Maize Necrotic Streak Virus (Mnesv) 3’ I-Shaped Structure (3’ Iss) To Eukaryotic Translation Factors (Eifs) And Implication In Eif4f Mediated Translation Initiation, Qiao Liu May 2018

Binding Of Maize Necrotic Streak Virus (Mnesv) 3’ I-Shaped Structure (3’ Iss) To Eukaryotic Translation Factors (Eifs) And Implication In Eif4f Mediated Translation Initiation, Qiao Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

5' m7GpppN cap and the 3' poly adenosine (A) tail of eukaryotic mRNAs are key elements for recruiting translation initiation machinery in canonical translation initiation. Unlike host mRNAs, many viruses lack these elements and yet they are translated efficiently. Plant viruses, in particular, have complex structures within their untranslated regions (UTR) that allow them to bypass some cellular translation control steps. In Maize necrotic streak virus (MNeSV) 3' UTR, an I-Shaped RNA Structure (ISS) has been reported to mediate the virus translation initiation progress. 3’ ISS binding with eIF4F has been shown to facilitate translation. 5’ -3’ kissing …


Roles Of Phospholipases And Ribosomal S6 Kinase In Lipid Remodeling And Growth In Arabidopsis Response To Phosphate Deprivation, Yuan Su Apr 2018

Roles Of Phospholipases And Ribosomal S6 Kinase In Lipid Remodeling And Growth In Arabidopsis Response To Phosphate Deprivation, Yuan Su

Dissertations

Phosphate (Pi) is one of three macronutrients for plants, which is vital for plant growth and development. Understanding the mechanism by which plants respond and adapt to Pi deficiency not only unveils functions of genes and pathways involved, but also provides potential tools to manipulate crops to better stand Pi stress in low Pi-containing lands. One of the significant metabolic changes in plants under Pi starvation is the membrane lipid remodeling that converts Pi-containing lipids such as phospholipids to Pi-free lipids, such as glycolipids. To elucidate the metabolism and regulation of lipid remodeling, this dissertation characterizes the role of two …


Investigating Phosphorylation Patterns And Their Effect On The Activity Of Transcription Factor Taabf1 In Imbibing Cereal Grains, Grace Uwase Jan 2018

Investigating Phosphorylation Patterns And Their Effect On The Activity Of Transcription Factor Taabf1 In Imbibing Cereal Grains, Grace Uwase

Honors Theses

The wheat transcription factor TaABF1 plays an important role in hormone-mediated regulation of seed dormancy and germination of cereal grains. Evidence shows that TaABF1 activity is regulated by phosphorylation, and previous work in our lab showed that when serine residues in its conserved regions; S36, S37, S113, S115 were altered to phosphomimetic aspartate, the 4xD TaABF1 mutant had increased activity as a transcription factor. However, when only S113 was altered, TaABF1’s activity was greatly reduced. The work presented here explored whether the S36D/S37D/S115D mutant would have stronger activity than the 4xD mutant. Using the particle bombardment technique to introduce the …