Cell Biology Commons^™

Drosophila Adult Eye Model To Teach Scanning Electron Microscopy In An Undergraduate Cell Biology Laboratory, Meghana Tare, Oorvashi Roy Puli, Sarah M. Oros, Amit Singh

Biology Faculty Publications

We have devised an undergraduate laboratory exercise to study tissue morphology using fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as the model organism. Drosophila can be reared in a cost effective manner in a short period of time. This experiment was a part of the undergraduate curriculum of the cell biology laboratory course aimed to demonstrate the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique to study the morphology of adult eye of Drosophila. The adult eye of Drosophila is a compound eye, which comprises of 800 unit eyes, and serves as an excellent model for SEM studies. We used flies that …

Phylogeography Of The Frog Leptodactylus Validus (Amphibia: Anura): Patterns And Timing Of Colonization Events In The Lesser Antilles, Arley Camargo, W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

The frog Leptodactylus validus occurs in northern South America, Trinidad and Tobago, and the southern Lesser Antilles (Grenada and St. Vincent). Mitochondrial DNA sequences were used to perform a nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA), to date colonization events, and to analyze colonization patterns using on a relaxed molecular clock and coalescent simulations. L. validus originated on the mainland and first colonized Trinidad with subsequent independent colonizations of Tobago and the Lesser Antilles from Trinidad. The NCPA suggests a historical vicariant event between populations in Trinidad and Tobago from those in the Lesser Antilles. The colonization of Trinidad occurred 1 million …

Rapid Evolution Of Sex-Pheromone-Producing Enzyme In Drosophila, Troy R. Shirangi, Héloïse D. Dufour, Thomas M. Williams, Sean B. Carroll

Biology Faculty Publications

A wide range of organisms use sex pheromones to communicate with each other and to identify appropriate mating partners. While the evolution of chemical communication has been suggested to cause sexual isolation and speciation, the mechanisms that govern evolutionary transitions in sex pheromone production are poorly understood. Here, we decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying the rapid evolution in the expression of a gene involved in sex pheromone production in Drosophilid flies. Long-chain cuticular hydrocarbons (e.g., dienes) are produced female-specifically, notably via the activity of the desaturase DESAT-F, and are potent pheromones for male courtship behavior in Drosophila melanogaster. We …

Common-Path Multimodal Optical Microscopy, Marla Tipping, Chandra S. Yelleswarapu, Sri-Rajasekhar Kothapalli, Alexey Veraksa, D.V.G.L.N. Rao

Biology Faculty Publications

We have developed a common-path multimodal optical microscopy system that is capable of using a single optical source and a single camera to image amplitude, phase, and fluorescence features of a biological specimen. This is achieved by varying either contrast enhancement filters at the Fourier plane and/or neutral density/fluorescence filters in front of the CCD camera. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated by obtaining brightfield, fluorescence, phase-contrast, spatially filtered, brightfield + fluorescence, phase +fluorescence, and edge-enhanced+fluorescence images of the same Drosophila embryo without the need for image registration and fusion. This comprehensive microscope has the capability of providing both …

Altered Regulation Of Aquaporin Gene Expression In Allergen And Il-13-Induced Mouse Models Of Asthma, Carissa M. Krane, Bijia Deng, Venkateshwar Mutyam, Casey A. Mcdonald, Stephen Pazdziorko, Lawrence Mason, Samuel Goldman, Marion Kasaian, Divya Chaudhary, Cara Williams, Melisa W.Y. Ho

Biology Faculty Publications

IL-13 is known to affect many processes that contribute to an asthmatic phenotype, including inflammation, fibrosis, and mucus production. Members of the aquaporin (AQP) family of transmembrane water channels are targets of regulation in models of lung injury and inflammation. Therefore, we examined AQP mRNA and protein expression in allergen and IL-13-induced mouse models of asthma. Lungs from ovalbumin sensitized and ovalbumin challenged (OVA/OVA) and IL-13 treated mice showed airway thickening, increased mucus production, and pulmonary eosinophilia. Pulmonary function tests showed a significant increase in methacholine-induced airway hyperreactivity in OVA/OVA and IL-13-treated mice as compared with controls. Quantitative PCR analysis …

Bibliography Of The Frogs Of The Leptodactylus Clade – Adenomera, Hydrolaetare, Leptodactylus, Lithodytes (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae) Volume 2. Indices, Miriam H. Heyer, W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

The bibliography (Volume 1) is organized alphabetically by last name of the first author. The Species Index, Keyword Index, and Geographic Index are organized by the unique number that EndNote® assigns to each record. To find a reference from the three indices, one must utilize the References by EndNote® Number, listed in numerical order. There is sufficient information associated with the EndNote® numerical order entry to find the specific reference involved in Volume 1 – References.

Complete authors names are used in the EndNote® Number index for the EndNote® records that contain such information. Note that there are some “missing” …

Patterning Defects In Silkworm Embryos Analysed Through Cuticle Preparations, Amit Singh, Madhuri Kango-Singh, K. P. Gopinathan

Biology Faculty Publications

The mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori, a holometabolous lepidopteran insect, has a metameric body plan. Due to its functional adaptation, B. mori presents some unique deviations in its pal/ern from the evolutionarily advanced dipteran insect, Drosophila melanogaster. Previous studies on mutant phenotype analysis in B. mori have been carried out in late stages of larval development. Here we employ, the cuticle preparation approach during embryonic development to study morphological landmarks associated with B. mori, Eri, another race a/silkworm, and pattern defects associated with Ekp mutant of B.mori. The homeotic mutant Ekp, generates ectopic abdominallegs, a feature …