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Genetics and Genomics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics

Mysteries Of The Trypanosomatid Maxicircles: Characterization Of The Maxicircle Genomes And The Evolution Of Rna Editing In The Order Kinetoplastida, Preethi Ranganathan Iyengar Jan 2015

Mysteries Of The Trypanosomatid Maxicircles: Characterization Of The Maxicircle Genomes And The Evolution Of Rna Editing In The Order Kinetoplastida, Preethi Ranganathan Iyengar

Theses and Dissertations

The trypanosomatid protists belonging to Order Kinetoplastida are some of the most successful parasites ever known to mankind. Their extreme physiological diversity and adaptability to different environmental conditions and host systems make them some of the most widespread parasites, causing deadly diseases in humans and other vertebrates.

This project focuses on their unique mitochondrion, called the kinetoplast, and more specifically involves the characterization of a part of their mitochondrial DNA (also called kinetoplast DNA or kDNA), the maxicircles, which are functional homologs of eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA in the kinetoplastid protists. We have sequenced and characterized the maxicircle genomes of 20 …


Smoking Patterns Among Vcu Students, Jasmine Saini Jan 2015

Smoking Patterns Among Vcu Students, Jasmine Saini

Undergraduate Research Posters

For some individuals, college can be a high risk time for the development of problems associated with alcohol use and other substances. The purpose of this study is to examine these initiation and use patterns as they relate to nicotine use among college students 18 years of age and older enrolled in Spit for Science: The VCU Student Survey. The Spit for Science research project evaluates how genetic and environmental factors contribute to substance use and emotional health among college students at VCU. This study uses data from the Spit for Science 2011 cohort (n=2007) to investigate smoking patterns among …


Proof-Of-Concept Of Environmental Dna Tools For Atlantic Sturgeon Management, Jameson Hinkle Jan 2015

Proof-Of-Concept Of Environmental Dna Tools For Atlantic Sturgeon Management, Jameson Hinkle

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus, Mitchell) is an anadromous species that spawns in tidal freshwater rivers from Canada to Florida. Overfishing, river sedimentation and alteration of the river bottom have decreased Atlantic Sturgeon populations, and NOAA lists the species as endangered. Ecologists sometimes find it difficult to locate individuals of a species that is rare, endangered or invasive. The need for methods less invasive that can create more resolution of cryptic species presence is necessary. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a non-invasive means of detecting rare, endangered, or invasive species by isolating nuclear or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the …