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Articles 61 - 90 of 125

Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Characterization Of Bacterial Chemotaxis Receptors Sensing And Signaling, Molly Elizabeth Payne May 2014

Characterization Of Bacterial Chemotaxis Receptors Sensing And Signaling, Molly Elizabeth Payne

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Regulation Of Gene Expression During Flocculation In Azospirillum Brasilense, Ryan P. Hammond May 2014

Regulation Of Gene Expression During Flocculation In Azospirillum Brasilense, Ryan P. Hammond

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Highly Dynamic Animal Contact Network And Implications On Disease Transmission, Shi Chen, Brad J. White, Michael W. Sanderson, David E. Amrine, Amiyaal Ilany, Cristina Lanzas Mar 2014

Highly Dynamic Animal Contact Network And Implications On Disease Transmission, Shi Chen, Brad J. White, Michael W. Sanderson, David E. Amrine, Amiyaal Ilany, Cristina Lanzas

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Contact patterns among hosts are considered as one of the most critical factors contributing to unequal pathogen transmission. Consequently, networks have been widely applied in infectious disease modeling. However most studies assume static network structure due to lack of accurate observation and appropriate analytic tools. In this study we used high temporal and spatial resolution animal position data to construct a high-resolution contact network relevant to infectious disease transmission. The animal contact network aggregated at hourly level was highly variable and dynamic within and between days, for both network structure (network degree distribution) and individual rank of degree distribution in …


Regulation Of Ethanol-Related Behavior And Ethanol Metabolism By The Corazonin Neurons And Corazonin Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kai Sha, Seung-Hoon Choi, Jeongdae Im, Gyunghee G. Lee, Frank Loeffler, Jae H. Park Jan 2014

Regulation Of Ethanol-Related Behavior And Ethanol Metabolism By The Corazonin Neurons And Corazonin Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kai Sha, Seung-Hoon Choi, Jeongdae Im, Gyunghee G. Lee, Frank Loeffler, Jae H. Park

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Impaired ethanol metabolism can lead to various alcohol-related health problems. Key enzymes in ethanol metabolism are alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH); however, neuroendocrine pathways that regulate the activities of these enzymes are largely unexplored. Here we identified a neuroendocrine system involving Corazonin (Crz) neuropeptide and its receptor (CrzR) as important physiological regulators of ethanol metabolism in Drosophila. Crz-cell deficient (Crz-CD) flies displayed significantly delayed recovery from ethanol-induced sedation that we refer to as hangover-like phenotype. Newly generated mutant lacking Crz Receptor (CrzR01) and CrzR-knockdown flies showed even more severe hangover-like phenotype, which is causally …


The Global Translation Profile In A Ribosomal Protein Mutant Resembles That Of An Eif3 Mutant, Bayu Sisay Tiruneh, Byung-Hoon Kim, Daniel R. Gallie, Bijoyita Roy, Albrecht G. Von Arnim Dec 2013

The Global Translation Profile In A Ribosomal Protein Mutant Resembles That Of An Eif3 Mutant, Bayu Sisay Tiruneh, Byung-Hoon Kim, Daniel R. Gallie, Bijoyita Roy, Albrecht G. Von Arnim

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Background

Genome-wide assays performed in Arabidopsis and other organisms have revealed that the translation status of mRNAs responds dramatically to different environmental stresses and genetic lesions in the translation apparatus. To identify additional features of the global landscape of translational control, we used microarray analysis of polysomal as well as non-polysomal mRNAs to examine the defects in translation in a poly(A) binding protein mutant, pab2 pab8, as well as in a mutant of a large ribosomal subunit protein, rpl24b/shortvalve1.

Results

The mutation of RPL24B stimulated the ribosome occupancy of mRNAs for nuclear encoded ribosomal proteins. Detailed analysis …


Demonstration Of A Targeted Proteome Characterization Approach For Examining Specific Metabolic Pathways In Complex Bacterial Systems, Adam Justin Martin Dec 2013

Demonstration Of A Targeted Proteome Characterization Approach For Examining Specific Metabolic Pathways In Complex Bacterial Systems, Adam Justin Martin

Masters Theses

Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) is a powerful tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) tool frequently implemented in proteomic studies to provide targeted analysis of proteins and peptides. The selectivity that MRM delivers is so strong that it provides the quadrupole mass spectrometers (QQQ), on which it is commonly employed, with pertinence to proteomic studies that they would otherwise lack for their relatively low resolution. Additionally, this increased level of selectivity is sufficient enough to supplant complicated fractionation techniques, additional dimensions of chromatography, and 24 hour long MS/MS experiments in simplistic biological samples. But there is a deficiency of evidence to determine the …


The Drosophila Gypsy Insulator Supports Transvection In The Presence Of The Vestigial Enhancer, Todd Schoborg, Srilalitha Kuruganti, Ryan Rickels, Mariano Labrador Nov 2013

The Drosophila Gypsy Insulator Supports Transvection In The Presence Of The Vestigial Enhancer, Todd Schoborg, Srilalitha Kuruganti, Ryan Rickels, Mariano Labrador

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Though operationally defined as cis-regulatory elements, enhancers can also communicate with promoters on a separate homolog in trans, a mechanism that has been suggested to account for the ability of certain alleles of the same gene to complement one another in a process otherwise known as transvection. This homolog-pairing dependent process is facilitated in Drosophila by chromatin-associated pairing proteins, many of which remain unknown and their mechanism of action uncharacterized. Here we have tested the role of the gypsy chromatin insulator in facilitating pairing and communication between enhancers and promoters in trans using a transgenic eGFP reporter system …


Myosin Xik Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Accumulates At The Root Hair Tip And Is Required For Fast Root Hair Growth, Eunsook Park, Andreas Nebenführ Oct 2013

Myosin Xik Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Accumulates At The Root Hair Tip And Is Required For Fast Root Hair Growth, Eunsook Park, Andreas Nebenführ

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Myosin motor proteins are thought to carry out important functions in the establishment and maintenance of cell polarity by moving cellular components such as organelles, vesicles, or protein complexes along the actin cytoskeleton. In Arabidopsis thaliana, disruption of the myosin XIK gene leads to reduced elongation of the highly polar root hairs, suggesting that the encoded motor protein is involved in this cell growth. Detailed live-cell observations in this study revealed that xik root hairs elongated more slowly and stopped growth sooner than those in wild type. Overall cellular organization including the actin cytoskeleton appeared normal, but actin filament …


Toward Direct Biosynthesis Of Drop-In Ready Biofuels In Plants: Rapid Screening And Functional Genomic Characterization Of Plant-Derived Advanced Biofuels And Implications For Coproduction In Lignocellulosic Feedstocks, Blake Lee Joyce Aug 2013

Toward Direct Biosynthesis Of Drop-In Ready Biofuels In Plants: Rapid Screening And Functional Genomic Characterization Of Plant-Derived Advanced Biofuels And Implications For Coproduction In Lignocellulosic Feedstocks, Blake Lee Joyce

Doctoral Dissertations

Advanced biofuels that are “drop-in” ready, completely fungible with petroleum fuels, and require minimal infrastructure to process a finished fuel could provide transportation fuels in rural or developing areas. Five oils extracted from Pittosporum resiniferum, Copaifera reticulata, and surrogate oils for Cymbopogon flexuosus, C. martinii, and Dictamnus albus in B20 blends were sent for ASTM International biodiesel testing and run in homogenous charge combustion ignition engines to determine combustion properties and emissions. All oils tested lowered cloud point. Oils derived from Copaifera reticulata also lowered indicated specific fuel consumption and had emissions similar to the ultra-low sulfur diesel control. Characterization …


Chromatin Insulators: Master Regulators Of The Eukaryotic Genome, Todd Andrew Schoborg Aug 2013

Chromatin Insulators: Master Regulators Of The Eukaryotic Genome, Todd Andrew Schoborg

Doctoral Dissertations

Proper organization of the chromatin fiber within the three dimensional space of the eukaryotic nucleus relies on a number of DNA elements and their interacting proteins whose structural and functional consequences exert significant influence on genome behavior. Chromatin insulators are one such example, where it is thought that these elements assist in the formation of higher order chromatin loop structures by mediating long-range contacts between distant sites scattered throughout the genome. Such looping serves a dual role, helping to satisfy both the physical constraints needed to package the linear DNA polymer within the small volume of the nucleus while simultaneously …


Functional Analysis Of Corazonin And Its Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kai Sha Aug 2013

Functional Analysis Of Corazonin And Its Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Kai Sha

Doctoral Dissertations

Corazonin (Crz) is an amidated undecapeptide originally isolated from the American cockroach. It has been shown to affect diverse physiological functions in a species-specific manner. However, the functionality of Crz in Drosophila melanogaster has not yet been determined. To gain insight into the role of Crz signaling in vivo, Crz and CrzR null alleles were obtained by transposable element mobilization. Flies carrying a deficiency uncovering Crz and pr-set7 loci were generated via P-element excision, and the latter was rescued by wild-type pr-set7 transgene. A mutation of Crz receptor (CrzR) was generated by Minos-element mobilization from …


The N-Terminus Of The Saccharomyces Cerevisiae G Protein-Coupled Receptor Ste2p: Formation Of Dimer Interfaces And Negative Regulation, Mohammad Seraj Uddin Aug 2013

The N-Terminus Of The Saccharomyces Cerevisiae G Protein-Coupled Receptor Ste2p: Formation Of Dimer Interfaces And Negative Regulation, Mohammad Seraj Uddin

Doctoral Dissertations

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest family of membrane proteins on the cell surface, play essential roles in signal transduction in all eukaryotic organisms. These proteins are responsible for sensing and detecting a wide range of extracellular stimuli and translating them to intracellular responses. This signaling requires a tight control for receptor activation without which abnormal signal leads to diseases. In fact, malfunctions of these receptors are associated with numerous pathological conditions and currently an estimated 40-50% of therapeutic drugs are designed to target these receptors suggesting that further increases in understanding of GPCRs and the signaling pathways they initiate …


Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated With Performance Traits In Beef Cattle Grazing Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue, Bryan Christopher Bastin Aug 2013

Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated With Performance Traits In Beef Cattle Grazing Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue, Bryan Christopher Bastin

Masters Theses

Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum Schreb.) is the most prevalent forage in the Midsouth United States due in part to the presence of the endophytic fungus Neotyphodium coenophialum. The fungus, while conferring hardiness to tall fescue, contributes to decreased production efficiency in cow-calf operations. A previous genome-wide association study was performed using the Illumina 50k bovine SNP chip. Twenty-four SNP were found to be associated (P < 0.05) with adjusted birth weight and adjusted 205-day weights of calves from 48 beef cows at Ames Plantation. The first objective was to validate each SNP by testing associations with several additional phenotypes. Custom Taqman genotyping assays (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) were subsequently designed to genotype each SNP in beef cattle located at Tennessee Tech University (n = 654), to validate associations in a large, independent herd. The results yielded 15 associations that were significant (P < 0.05) with 6 phenotypes linked to those affected by fescue toxicosis. The second objective investigated the link between fescue toxicosis and the XK, Kell blood group complex subunit-related, member 4 …


Bioconfinement Of A Putatively Sterile Nicotiana Hybrid And Development Of Tools For Assessing Gene Flow, John Hollis Rice Aug 2013

Bioconfinement Of A Putatively Sterile Nicotiana Hybrid And Development Of Tools For Assessing Gene Flow, John Hollis Rice

Masters Theses

Production of transgenic crops in open field environments is an ongoing concern of due to the potential for gene flow. New transgenic crops, such as plant-made-pharmaceuticals may generate additional concerns about effects of adventitious transgenes. Use of a bioconfinement strategy may alleviate any consequences by preventing gene flow. The following chapters discuss previous and current research on gene flow, testing of a Nicotiana hybrid system for bioconfinement efficiency, and development of methods for transgene detection. The candidate ‘platform plant’ that was tested is a Nicotiana hybrid (Nicotiana tabacum ‘TN 90’ × Nicotiana glauca) previously identified to be sexually …


Characterization Of A Glycosyphosphatidylinositol Anchor Transamidase In Arabidopsis Thaliana And The Function Of Gpi Anchored Proteins In Stomatal Development, Mark Gerald Ronald Bundy Aug 2013

Characterization Of A Glycosyphosphatidylinositol Anchor Transamidase In Arabidopsis Thaliana And The Function Of Gpi Anchored Proteins In Stomatal Development, Mark Gerald Ronald Bundy

Masters Theses

In plants stomata play a vital role for survival by allowing the gas exchange of CO2 [carbon dioxide] and water vapor to occur. A stoma is a central pore flanked by two kidney shaped guard cells and in wild type there is at least one pavement cell between each stoma. The ERECTA (ER) gene family consisting of ER, ERL1, ERL2 is involved in regulation of stomata development, where a triple mutant of er erl1 erl2 displays an increased stomata index and clusters of stomata that disobey the one cell spacing rule. To better understand the pathway of stomata development, …


Studies On Solo Working Mechanism In The Meiosis Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Qian Ma Aug 2013

Studies On Solo Working Mechanism In The Meiosis Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Qian Ma

Masters Theses

In eukaryotes, sister chromatids are closely aligned due to cohesion, a process essential for chromosome pairing and segregation during both mitosis and meiosis. A conserved cohesin complex in a ring structure is composed of four subunits, including each of these four members or their homologs, SMC1, SMC3, SCC1/RAD21/REC8, and SCC3/SA. Up to now, no REC8 homolog has been identified in the meiosis of Drosophila. SOLO is a meiotic protein required for accurate chromosome segregation, centromere cohesion, and cohesin complex localization in Drosophila meiosis. In addition, SOLO is required for synapsis and recombination in Drosophila female meiosis.

In this study, …


Evolution Of The Toxins Muscarine And Psilocybin In A Family Of Mushroom-Forming Fungi, Pawel Kosentka, Sarah L. Sprague, Martin Ryberg, Jochen Gartz, Amanda L. May, Shawn R. Campagna, P Brandon Matheny May 2013

Evolution Of The Toxins Muscarine And Psilocybin In A Family Of Mushroom-Forming Fungi, Pawel Kosentka, Sarah L. Sprague, Martin Ryberg, Jochen Gartz, Amanda L. May, Shawn R. Campagna, P Brandon Matheny

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Mushroom-forming fungi produce a wide array of toxic alkaloids. However, evolutionary analyses aimed at exploring the evolution of muscarine, a toxin that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, and psilocybin, a hallucinogen, have never been performed. The known taxonomic distribution of muscarine within the Inocybaceae is limited, based only on assays of species from temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Here, we present a review of muscarine and psilocybin assays performed on species of Inocybaceae during the last fifty years. To supplement these results, we used liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) to determine whether muscarine was present in 30 new samples …


Application Of Computational Molecular Biophysics To Problems In Bacterial Chemotaxis, Davi Ortega May 2013

Application Of Computational Molecular Biophysics To Problems In Bacterial Chemotaxis, Davi Ortega

Doctoral Dissertations

The combination of physics, biology, chemistry, and computer science constitutes the promising field of computational molecular biophysics. This field studies the molecular properties of DNA, protein lipids and biomolecules using computational methods. For this dissertation, I approached four problems involving the chemotaxis pathway, the set of proteins that function as the navigation system of bacteria and lower eukaryotes.

In the first chapter, I used a special-purpose machine for molecular dynamics simulations, Anton, to simulate the signaling domain of the chemoreceptor in different signaling states for a total of 6 microseconds. Among other findings, this study provides enough evidence to propose …


Role Of Retinoids In The Regulation Of Hepatic Glucose And Lipid Metabolism, Rui Li May 2013

Role Of Retinoids In The Regulation Of Hepatic Glucose And Lipid Metabolism, Rui Li

Doctoral Dissertations

The liver plays an important role in controlling glucose and lipid homeostasis. Metabolic abnormalities such as obesity and type 2 diabetes are often associated with profound changes in the expression of genes involved in hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. Dietary nutrients provide us with macronutrients for energy and micronutrients for maintenance of general health. However, the effects of individual micronutrients on the development of metabolic diseases are unknown. Sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) is the master regulator of fatty acid synthesis, and glucokinase (GK) is the key enzyme in glucose metabolism. Based on the preliminary results from our laboratory …


Characterization Of Field Evolved Resistance To Transgenic Cry1fa Maize In Spodoptera Frugiperda (J. E. Smith), Siva Rama Krishna Jakka May 2013

Characterization Of Field Evolved Resistance To Transgenic Cry1fa Maize In Spodoptera Frugiperda (J. E. Smith), Siva Rama Krishna Jakka

Doctoral Dissertations

Transgenic Bt crops expressing Cry and Vip toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been increasingly planted to manage insect pest damage on agricultural crops. The high adoption of Bt-based insecticidal technologies suggests an increase selection pressure for the evolution of resistance in insect populations. So far, nine insect species have developed field evolved resistance to Bt crops, yet the mechanisms involved in field evolved resistance are unknown. In the present study, the resistance mechanism in field evolved resistance to maize producing Cry1Fa in Spodoptera frugiperda collected in fields from Puerto Rico was characterized. High levels of resistance to …


Experimental And Computational Analysis Of Chloroplast Transit Peptide Domain Architecture And Function, Prakitchai Chotewutmontri May 2013

Experimental And Computational Analysis Of Chloroplast Transit Peptide Domain Architecture And Function, Prakitchai Chotewutmontri

Doctoral Dissertations

The Majority of chloroplast proteins are nuclear-encoded and utilize an N-terminal transit peptide (TP) to target into chloroplasts via the general import pathway. Bioinformatic and proteomic analyses provide thousands of predicted TPs, which show low sequence similarity. How the common chloroplast translocon components recognize these diverse TPs is not well understood. Previous results support either sequence- or physicochemical-specific recognitions. To further address this question, a reverse sequence approach was utilized such that the reverse TP contains the same amino acid composition as wild-type TP but lack similar sequence motifs. Using both native and reverse TPs of the two well-studied precursors, …


Soybean Nodulin 26: A Channel For Water And Ammonia At The Symbiotic Interface Of Legumes And Nitrogen-Fixing Rhizobia Bacteria, Jin Ha Hwang May 2013

Soybean Nodulin 26: A Channel For Water And Ammonia At The Symbiotic Interface Of Legumes And Nitrogen-Fixing Rhizobia Bacteria, Jin Ha Hwang

Doctoral Dissertations

During the infection and nodulation of legume roots by soil bacteria of the Rhizobiaceae family, the invading endosymbiont becomes enclosed within a specialized nitrogen-fixing organelle known as the "symbiosome". In mature nodules the host infected cells are occupied by thousands of symbiosomes, which constitute the major organelle within this specialized cell type. The symbiosome membrane is the outer boundary of this organelle which controls the transport of metabolites between the symbiont and the plant host. These transport activities include the efflux of the primary metabolic product of nitrogen fixation and the uptake of dicarboxylates as an energy source to support …


Development And Application Of Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics To Generate And Navigate The Proteomes Of The Genus Populus, Paul Edward Abraham May 2013

Development And Application Of Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics To Generate And Navigate The Proteomes Of The Genus Populus, Paul Edward Abraham

Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, there has been tremendous synergy between biology and analytical technology, such that one drives the development of the other. Over the past two decades, their interrelatedness has catalyzed entirely new experimental approaches and unlocked new types of biological questions, as exemplified by the advancements of the field of mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics. MS-based proteomics, which provides a more complete measurement of all the proteins in a cell, has revolutionized a variety of scientific fields, ranging from characterizing proteins expressed by a microorganism to tracking cancer-related biomarkers. Though MS technology has advanced significantly, the analysis of complicated proteomes, such as …


Phosphorylation Regulates Myosin Driven Organelle Movements, Peter Andrew Duden Mar 2013

Phosphorylation Regulates Myosin Driven Organelle Movements, Peter Andrew Duden

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells is the continuous flow of cytoplasm and organelles throughout the cell, with the first observation of cytoplasmic streaming being publicized in 1774. However, the mechanism of cytoplasmic streaming remained unclear until components of the cytoskeleton were researched. Research now supports that the motive force generating cytoplasmic streaming is the interaction of myosin XI motor proteins with organelles while sliding along actin filaments. From this, a key topic of interest is how myosin driven organelle movement is regulated. Our research focuses on whether phosphorylation affects the regulation of myosin XI motor proteins. Specifically, the goal of …


Angiotensinogen Gene Silencing Reduces Lipid Accumulation And Inflammation In Cultured 3t3-L1 Adipocytes, Wenting Xin Carroll Aug 2012

Angiotensinogen Gene Silencing Reduces Lipid Accumulation And Inflammation In Cultured 3t3-L1 Adipocytes, Wenting Xin Carroll

Masters Theses

Obesity is characterized by metabolic complications which are related to several life-threatening diseases. Dysregulated inflammatory adipokines secretion from adipose tissue is believed as the major contributor to obesity-associated local and systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and other metabolic dysfunctions.

Numerous studies in our lab and others pointed to the role of local adipose tissue renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the pathogenesis of obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance. We hypothesized that adipocytes-derived angiotensinogen (Agt) played a critical role in adipogenesis and/or lipogenesis as well as adipose inflammation. To test, we established 3T3-L1 preadipocytes stably transfected with Agt-shRNA or scrambled sequence (Sc-shRNA). Transfected preadipocytes …


Designing Protein Expression And Purification Systems For Recombinant Z Alpha1-Antitrypsin Using The Methylotrophic Yeast, Pichia Pastoris, Monique Jenaie Lemieux Aug 2012

Designing Protein Expression And Purification Systems For Recombinant Z Alpha1-Antitrypsin Using The Methylotrophic Yeast, Pichia Pastoris, Monique Jenaie Lemieux

Masters Theses

It is well established that improper protein folding often leads to the formation of aggregates whose consequences are cellular impairment and cell death. One example of this is the aggregation of the mutant Z Alpha1-Antitrypsin protein, which results in blocking of its secretion due to inclusion body formation. This can contribute not only to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but also to hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Current treatments are principally limited to intravenous Alpha1-Antitrypsin therapy and organ transplantation. In the scientific community though, it is widely thought that more effective forms of treatments lie within the polymerization …


Investigating The Flexibility Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins In Folding And Binding, Amanda Leilah Debuhr May 2012

Investigating The Flexibility Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins In Folding And Binding, Amanda Leilah Debuhr

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Elucidating The Mechanism Of Organelle Trafficking In Arabidopsis Thaliana: The Mya2 Globular Tail Interacts With Atrabc2a., Su Ji Jeong May 2012

Elucidating The Mechanism Of Organelle Trafficking In Arabidopsis Thaliana: The Mya2 Globular Tail Interacts With Atrabc2a., Su Ji Jeong

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Genetic Basis Of Flocculation In Azospirillum Brasilense., Priyanka Satish Mishra May 2012

Genetic Basis Of Flocculation In Azospirillum Brasilense., Priyanka Satish Mishra

Masters Theses

Azospirillum brasilense is a class of rhizobacteria capable of nitrogen fixation, root colonization and hence promoting host plant growth. The bacteria posses cell interaction behaviors like clumping and flocculation that contribute the survival of the organism in nutrient limited conditions. Change in the cell surface adhesive properties allows the cells to progress from free swimming to clumping and finally flocculation. Less is known about the genetic regulation of these processes with flcA being the only transcriptional regulator known so far to directly control flocculation. Recent evidence suggesting that Che1, a chemotaxis like signal transduction pathway controls the cell behavior clumping …


Elucidating The Effect Of Silver On Ethylene Signaling In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Brittany Kathleen Mcdaniel May 2012

Elucidating The Effect Of Silver On Ethylene Signaling In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Brittany Kathleen Mcdaniel

Masters Theses

Ethylene, a gaseous plant hormone, is involved in numerous plant developmental processes such as seed germination, senescence, and fruit ripening. In Arabidopsis thaliana, ethylene is perceived by a family of five membrane-bound receptors, which upon binding ethylene trigger downstream effects. At the receptor level, it is known that the coordination of a copper ion is necessary for ethylene to bind, resulting in a conformational change of the receptor and the initiation of the ethylene signal transduction pathway. Interestingly, silver ions are also able to support binding of ethylene but ethylene responses are blocked in the presence of silver. When …