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Plant Sciences

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Full-Text Articles in Molecular Biology

Systematics Of Carex Section Laxiflorae (Cyperaceae), Jenna Dorey Sep 2019

Systematics Of Carex Section Laxiflorae (Cyperaceae), Jenna Dorey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Carex, with more than 2100 species, is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in temperate regions of the world. Members of the family Cyperaceae are colloquially known as sedges, and members of the genus Carex are called “true sedges.” Carex occur on every continent except for Antarctica, they thrive in a panoply of habitats, and are ecologically important as a forage source for wildlife, carbon sequestration, prevention of soil erosion, and providing habitat for fresh water invertebrates. Despite their importance many sedges are still poorly known, such as the woodland sedges in Carex section Laxiflorae, which is …


Lorelei Localization And Ovule Ultrastructure In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Juleen May Dickson Aug 2019

Lorelei Localization And Ovule Ultrastructure In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Juleen May Dickson

Theses and Dissertations

Communication between the male and female gametophyte is vital to successful fertilization during sexual reproduction in plants. One of the proteins known to be important for communication between the male and female gametophyte is LORELEI (LRE). Several studies have shown that there are defects in pollen tube guidance and synergid degeneration, however this is the first study that shows that cell wall thickness in the female gametophyte may also be affected. Previous confocal studies have documented that LRE is present both in the filiform apparatus and found in puncta throughout the cytoplasm. This study confirmed this, but our studies suggest …


Dissection Of Floral Organ Development And Sterility In Sorghum Bicolor, Ashley R. Smith Aug 2019

Dissection Of Floral Organ Development And Sterility In Sorghum Bicolor, Ashley R. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Sorghum bicolor is a drought resistant cereal grain commonly grown for use in food, feed, fiber, and fuel production. Due to its versatility and modest sized genome it is poised to become an increasingly important research organism within the C4 plants. Sorghum produces spikelet pairs with one fertile sessile spikelet and one to two sterile pedicellate spikelets. One major area of interest in sorghum production is maximizing seed yield. While the importance of the grain is obvious there are several large gaps in the study of sorghum that prevent researchers and growers from maximum productivity. The first gap is that …


Development Of A Lectin-Fc Fusion Protein With Antiviral And Anti-Cancer Activity., Matthew William Dent May 2019

Development Of A Lectin-Fc Fusion Protein With Antiviral And Anti-Cancer Activity., Matthew William Dent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the development of a novel lectin-Fc fusion protein and its antiviral and anti-cancer activity. The molecule, Avaren-Fc (AvFc), is a fusion of a variant of the actinomycete lectin actinohivin (Avaren) and the Fc region of human IgG1, and is selective for the terminal α1,2-mannose residues found at the ends of high-mannose-type glycans that can be found on the surface of certain heavily glycosylated viruses and cancer cells. Here, AvFc was found to be able to neutralize simian immunodeficiency virus as well as Hepatitis C virus with nanomolar IC50 values. Furthermore, AvFc recognizes a number of cell …


Disease Resistance In Wheat And Its Relatives, Ethan James Andersen Jan 2019

Disease Resistance In Wheat And Its Relatives, Ethan James Andersen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plants have evolved a complex defense system against pests and pathogens utilizing many types of receptors, signaling factors, and defense compounds to detect pathogen presence and respond effectively. Since many pathogens have evolved immunesuppressing effectors used to reduce plant resistance, plants have evolved a family of receptors that detect pathogenic effectors as a result of an evolutionary arms race. These receptors contain Nucleotide-Binding Site and Leucine-Rich Repeat domains and are called NBS-LRR or NLR proteins. Many grasses possess huge genomes with hundreds of NLR-encoding genes, often found in clusters at the extra-pericentromeric regions of chromosomes, where unequal crossing over causes …


A Seed Dormancy Gene-Mediated Biotechnology To Mitigate Transgene Flow Into Weedy Rice, Luai Nahar Muhammad Jan 2019

A Seed Dormancy Gene-Mediated Biotechnology To Mitigate Transgene Flow Into Weedy Rice, Luai Nahar Muhammad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transgene flows into wild/weedy relatives may cause ecological and economic problems. Seed dormancy is an adaptive trait that distributes germination over time and promotes persistence of weeds in agroecosystems. Silencing natural genes controlling seed dormancy (SD) could promote germination and reduce weed adaptability. The goal of this project was to develop a transgenic mitigation (TM) technology by linking to a primary transgene with an SD gene-silencing structure, as a tandem construct for transformation, to reduce the risk of gene flow into weed populations. In this research, the Bar (Bialaphos) gene for resistance to the glufosinate herbicide was used as a …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


Investigation Of Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases In S. Homoeocarpa For Chlorothalonil Biotransformation, Robert Green Jul 2017

Investigation Of Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases In S. Homoeocarpa For Chlorothalonil Biotransformation, Robert Green

Masters Theses

Sclerotinia homoeocarpa (F.T. Bennett) is one of the most economically important pathogens on high amenity cool-season turfgrasses where it causes dollar spot. Due to decades of over-reliance and repeated chemical treatments, S. homoeocarpa has developed resistance and insensitivity to multiple classes of fungicides. To understand the genetic mechanisms of fungicide resistance, the whole genomes of two strains with varying resistance levels to fungicides, were sequenced. In unpublished data (Sang et al.), a RNA-sequencing analysis revealed three CYP450s that were validated to play a functional role in S. homoeocarpa’s resistance against different fungicide classes. We also identified CYP450 metabolic action …


The Key Question In Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation: How Does Host Maintain A Bacterial Symbiont?, Onur Oztas Jul 2017

The Key Question In Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation: How Does Host Maintain A Bacterial Symbiont?, Onur Oztas

Doctoral Dissertations

The fact that plants cannot use nitrogen in the gaseous form makes them dependent on the levels of usable nitrogen forms in the soil. Legumes overcome nitrogen limitation by entering a symbiotic association with rhizobia, soil bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable ammonia. In root nodules, bacteria are internalized by host plant cells inside an intracellular compartment called the symbiosome where they morphologically differentiate into nitrogen-fixing forms by symbiosome-secreted host proteins. In this project, I explained the host proteins required to maintain bacterial symbionts and described their delivery to the symbiosome. I showed that the SYNTAXIN 132 (SYP132) gene …


Gmmyb176 Interactome And Regulation Of Isoflavonoid Biosynthesis In Soybean, Arun Kumaran Anguraj Vadivel Jun 2017

Gmmyb176 Interactome And Regulation Of Isoflavonoid Biosynthesis In Soybean, Arun Kumaran Anguraj Vadivel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

MYB transcription factors are one of the largest transcription factor families characterized in plants. They are classified into four types: R1 MYB, R2R3 MYB, R3 MYB and R4 MYB. GmMYB176 is an R1MYB transcription factor that regulates Chalcone synthase (CHS8) gene expression and isoflavonoid biosynthesis in soybean. Silencing of GmMYB176 suppressed the expression of the GmCHS8 gene and reduced the accumulation of isoflavonoids in soybean hairy roots. However, overexpression of GmMYB176 does not alter either GmCHS8 gene expression or isoflavonoid levels suggesting that GmMYB176 alone is not sufficient for GmCHS8 gene regulation. I hypothesized that GmMYB176 acts cooperatively with another …


Myosin Xi-I Works In Tandem With A Microtubule-Associated Mechanism To Position The Nucleus In Arabidopsis Root Hairs, Ian Andrew Windham May 2017

Myosin Xi-I Works In Tandem With A Microtubule-Associated Mechanism To Position The Nucleus In Arabidopsis Root Hairs, Ian Andrew Windham

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Cytosolic Acetyl-Coa Promotes Histone H3 Lysine 27 Acetylation In Arabidopsis, Chen Chen Feb 2017

Cytosolic Acetyl-Coa Promotes Histone H3 Lysine 27 Acetylation In Arabidopsis, Chen Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) serves as a central metabolite in energy metabolism and biosynthesis. High level of acetyl-CoA can fuel the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle to generate energy and store excess energy in fatty acids. Meanwhile, it also provides acetyl groups for protein acetylation, which normally occurs at the lysine or arginine residues. Acetylation regulates protein functions largely due to the change of total charges. Acetylation of histones, for example, can lead to loss of the interaction between histone and DNA, thus relaxing chromatin structure and potentially promoting gene expression. However, whether and how acetyl-CoA regulates plant chromatin remains unexplored. Here, …


Examining The Role Of Grp And Lik1 In Wall Associated Kinase (Wak) Perception Of Pectin In The Plant Cell Wall, Jack Ryan Mitchell Jan 2017

Examining The Role Of Grp And Lik1 In Wall Associated Kinase (Wak) Perception Of Pectin In The Plant Cell Wall, Jack Ryan Mitchell

Honors Projects

Wall associated kinases (WAKs) are cell membrane bound receptor kinases that bind pectin and pectin fragments (OGs).The binding of WAKs to pectin sends a growth signal required for cell elongation and plant development. WAKs bind OGs with higher affinity than native pectin and instead activate a stress response. Glycine rich proteins (GRPs) are secreted cell wall proteins of unknown function. Seven GRPs with 65% sequence similarity are coded on a 90kb locus of Arabidopsis chromosome 2. GRP3 and WAK1 have been shown to bind in vitro, but single null mutations have no discernible phenotype, suggesting that the GRPs are redundant. …


Micro-Spectroscopy Of Bio-Assemblies At The Single Cell Level, Jeslin Kera Jan 2017

Micro-Spectroscopy Of Bio-Assemblies At The Single Cell Level, Jeslin Kera

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this thesis, we investigate biological molecules on a micron scale in the ultraviolet spectral region through the non-destructive confocal absorption microscopy. The setup involves a combination of confocal microscope with a UV light excitation beam to measure the optical absorption spectra with spatial resolution of 1.4 μm in the lateral and 3.6 μm in the axial direction. Confocal absorption microscopy has the benefits of requiring no labels and only low light intensity for excitation while providing a strong signal from the contrast generated by the attenuation of propagating light due to absorption. This enables spatially resolved measurements of single …


Regulation Of Arf16-2 By Microrna160 During Soybean Root Nodule Development, Spencer Schreier Jan 2017

Regulation Of Arf16-2 By Microrna160 During Soybean Root Nodule Development, Spencer Schreier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soybean is an excellent candidate for sustainable agriculture due to its production of nutritious, versatile beans and the ability to form symbiotic organs called root nodules that perform nitrogen fixation. As demand for both yield and sustainable agriculture continue to increase, root nodules offer an attractive alternative to expensive and environmentally harmful nitrogen fertilizers. Understanding root nodule formation may open genetic engineering avenues for optimizing nitrogen fixation performance and transferring the nodule-formation ability to other plants. A major determinant of nodule numbers and quality in soybean is microRNA 160 (miR160), which dictates developmental stage-specific auxin sensitivity by targeting repressor auxin …


Characterization Of Fusarium Species And Alternaria Alternata, And Their Effects On Switchgrass Health And Chemical Components, Sara Beth Collins Dec 2016

Characterization Of Fusarium Species And Alternaria Alternata, And Their Effects On Switchgrass Health And Chemical Components, Sara Beth Collins

Masters Theses

Panicum virgatum L., readily referred to as Switchgrass, is a perennial warm-season bunch grass, used as an alternative energy source for biofuel production. There is insufficient research on switchgrass pathogens, and is expected that an increase in disease pressure will result as more land is reserved for this perennial crop. The purpose of this research was to identify and characterize pathogenic Alternaria alternata and Fusarium species on Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and to evaluate their impact on stand establishment and plant health. Molecular identifications of fungal isolates obtained from infected commercial switchgrass seed yielded eight species (A. alternata, …


Rapid Molecular Detection And Population Genetics Of Pityophthorus Juglandis, A Vector Of Thousand Cankers Disease In Juglans Spp., Emel Oren Dec 2016

Rapid Molecular Detection And Population Genetics Of Pityophthorus Juglandis, A Vector Of Thousand Cankers Disease In Juglans Spp., Emel Oren

Masters Theses

Thousand Cankers Disease (TCD) is a disease complex involving the fungal pathogen Geosmithia morbida, an insect vector Pityophthorus juglandis, and the hosts, Juglans spp. and Pterocarya spp. Signs and symptoms of TCD include crown thinning due to branch dieback, yellowing and wilting of the leaves, appearance of epicormic shoots, numerous entrance/exit holes, gallery formation by P. juglandis, and the development of small, dark brown cankers underneath the bark. TCD originally described from western U.S., has now expanded to eastern U.S. and northwestern Italy. The disease complex is often difficult to diagnose due to the absence of symptoms …


Molecular Characterization Of Viruses Infecting Greenhouse Vegetables In Ontario, Bin Chen Oct 2016

Molecular Characterization Of Viruses Infecting Greenhouse Vegetables In Ontario, Bin Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Greenhouse vegetable production is a very important and successful agricultural sector in Ontario. However, newly emerging viral or virus-like diseases have become a major limiting factor in greenhouse vegetable production. To determine the identity of the viral pathogens in the three major greenhouse vegetables in Ontario, we conducted in-depth sequencing of small RNAs isolated from virally infected plants used next-generation sequencing technology. Subsequent bioinformatics analyses revealed six viral pathogens including Bell pepper endornavirus (BPEV), Parietaria mottle virus (PMoV), Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV), Tobacco streak virus (TSV), Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), and Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV). The full-length …


Modification Of Carbohydrate Active Enzymes In Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum L.) To Improve Saccharification And Biomass Yields For Biofuels, Jonathan Duran Willis Aug 2016

Modification Of Carbohydrate Active Enzymes In Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum L.) To Improve Saccharification And Biomass Yields For Biofuels, Jonathan Duran Willis

Doctoral Dissertations

The natural recalcitrance of plant cell walls is a major commercial hurdle for plant biomass to be converted into a viable energy source as alternative to fossil fuels. To circumvent this hurdle manipulation of carbohydrate enzymes active in the cellulose and hemicellulose portions of the plant cell wall can be utilized to improve feedstocks. Production of cellulolytic enzymes by plants have been evaluated for reducing the cost associated with lignocellulosic biofuels. Plants have successfully served as bioreactors producing bacterial and fungal glycosyl hydrolases, which have altered plant growth to improve saccharification. A bioprospecting opportunity lies with the utilization of insect …


Characterization Of An Ethylene Receptor In Synechocystis Sp. Pcc 6803, Randy Francis Lacey Aug 2016

Characterization Of An Ethylene Receptor In Synechocystis Sp. Pcc 6803, Randy Francis Lacey

Doctoral Dissertations

In plants, ethylene functions as a hormone regulating many growth and developmental processes. Ethylene receptors in plants resemble bacterial two-component signaling systems. Because of this it, ethylene receptors are thought to have been acquired by gene transfer from the cyanobacterial endosymbiont that lead to the development of the chloroplast. However, prior to this work, functional ethylene receptors were thought to only be found in green plants. Here, we show that the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (Synechocystis) contains a functional ethylene receptor, SynEtr1. SynEtr1 contains a predicted ethylene binding domain, a photosensory cyanobacteriochrome (CBCR) domain, and a histidine …


Nanocomposite Adhesive Of English Ivy (Hedera Helix): Bioproduction, Nanoparticle Isolation, And Molecular Analysis, Jason Neil Burris Aug 2016

Nanocomposite Adhesive Of English Ivy (Hedera Helix): Bioproduction, Nanoparticle Isolation, And Molecular Analysis, Jason Neil Burris

Doctoral Dissertations

English ivy naturally produces organic nanoparticles from its adventitious root hairs, and possesses characteristics that may allow them to replace metal-based nanoparticles in common applications, such as sunscreen. At the onset of the research, it was hypothesized that a physical mechanism of attachment, similar to the gecko footpad, was used to generate the adhesive force for attachment; however, through the results obtained from recent work, it is clear that a biochemical mechanism is involved in the generation of the strength of adhesion. Therefore, the goal of this research was to provide a better understanding of the genetic basis of nanoparticle …