Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Functional Significance Of Branch Points In Mirtrons, Britton A. Strickland

Honors Theses

MicroRNAs are a heterogeneous group of small regulatory RNAs generated by many pathways. Mirtrons (miR) are a class of microRNAs produced by splicing, and some mirtrons contain a 3’ tail located downstream from the self-complementary hairpin. During RNA splicing, a loop-like “lariat” intermediate structure is created when the 5’ end of the RNA is attached to an adenine called the branch point. The goal of this project is to uncover the contribution of branch point location to the processing of tailed mirtrons into functional gene regulators. This project approaches this issue from two directions. First, branch points were identified by …

A Microbiomic Approach To The Characterization Of The Impacts And Influences Of Viral, Bacterial, And Harmful Algal Bloom Toxins On The Bottlenose Dolphin, Corey David Russo

Dissertations

As apex predators that display high site fidelity Tursiops truncatus (bottlenose dolphin) are indicators of marine ecosystem health. Bottlenose dolphins, additionally, display pathogenesis and immune response similar to that of humans. Humans and coastal bottlenose dolphins, in particular, are constantly exposed to the same industrial, agricultural and domestic toxins and pathogens, contaminants and pollutants. Thus, studies on the bottlenose dolphin are also valuable in bridging the gap between ocean and human health. Bottlenose dolphins are susceptible to viral bacterial and toxin infection. Infection in the bottlenose dolphin manifests itself in the form of mass stranding events, unusual mortality events, chronic …

Evolution In Light Of Mitonuclear Landscapes: An Examination Of Mitochondrial Replacement In Killifish (Fundulus Spp.), Stephen D. Flanagan

Dissertations

The mitochondria are responsible for the bulk of energy production in eukaryotes. They possess their own genome that works in conjunction with the nuclear genome to accomplish the extraordinarily important task of energy conversion. When species hybridize there will be a mismatch in evolutionary histories between these two genomes. The deleterious interactions of these genomes have been studied in great detail (i.e. hybrid breakdown). However, little work has been conducted to understand the population genetic, and morphological consequences of wide-ranging replacement. The Fundulus notatus complex is comprised of 3 species: F. notatus, F. olivaceus, and F. euryzonus. …

Investigating The Functional Role Of Tick Antioxidants In Hematophagy And Vector Competence, Deepak Kumar

Dissertations

Ticks are obligate hematophagous arthropods and harbor several pathogens which transmit various diseases to humans and their domesticated animals. Host blood- digestion in a tick midgut (MG) generates several reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are extremely toxic to essential macromolecules (e.g. DNA, proteins, and lipids) within the cell, resulting in high oxidative stress. Thus, this dissertation focuses on the questions of how tick homeostasis responds to high oxidative stress, and how ticks and their harbored pathogens survive the high surge of oxidative stress during blood digestion. We are specifically interested in the tick-pathogen, Rickettsia parkeri (R. parkeri, Rp), harbored by …

An Expanded Evaluation Of Protein Function Prediction Methods Shows An Improvement In Accuracy, Yuxiang Jiang, Tal Ronnen Oron, Wyatt T. Clark, Asma R. Bankapur, Daniel D'Andrea, Rosalba Lepore, Christopher S. Funk, Indika Kahanda, Karin M. Verspoor, Asa Ben-Hur, Da Chen Emily Koo, Duncan Penfold-Brown, Dennis Shasha, Noah Youngs, Richard Bonneau, Alexandra Lin, Sayed M.E. Sahraeian, Pier Luigi Martelli, Giuseppe Profiti, Rita Casadio, Renzhi Cao, Zhaolong Zhong, Jianlin Cheng, Adrian Altenhoff, Nives Skunca, Christophe Dessimoz, Tunca Dogan, Kai Hakala, Suwisa Kaewphan, Farrokh Mehryar, Tapio Salakoski, Filip Ginter, Hai Fang, Ben Smithers, Matt Oates, Julian Gough, Petri Törönen, Patrik Koskinen, Liisa Holm, Ching-Tai Chen, Wen-Lian Hsu, Kevin Bryson, Domenico Cozzetto, Federico Minneci, David T. Jones, Samuel Chapan, Dukka Bkc, Ishita K. Khan, Daisuke Kihara, Dan Ofer, Nadav Rappoport, Amos Stern, Elenia Cibrian-Uhalte, Paul Denny, Rebecca E. Foulger, Reija Hieta, Duncan Legge, Ruth C. Lovering, Michele Magrane, Anna N. Melidoni, Prudence Mutowo-Meullenet, Klemens Pichler, Aleksandra Shypitsyna, Biao Li, Pooya Zakeri, Sarah Elshal, Léon-Charles Tranchevent, Sayoni Das, Natalie L. Dawson, David Lee, Jonathan G. Lees, Ian Stilltoe, Prajwal Bhat, Tamás Nepusz, Alfonso E. Romero, Rajkumar Sasidharan, Haixuan Yang, Alberto Paccanaro, Jesse Gillis, Adriana E. Sedeño-Cortés, Paul Pavlidis, Shou Feng, Juan M. Cejuela, Tatyana Goldberg, Tobias Hamp, Lothar Richter, Asaf Salamov, Toni Gabaldon, Marina Marcet-Houben, Fran Supek, Qingtian Gong, Wei Ning, Yuanpeng Zhou, Weidong Tian, Marco Falda, Paolo Fontana, Enrico Lavezzo, Stefano Toppo, Carlo Ferrari, Manuel Giollo, Damiano Piovesan, Silvio C.E. Tosatto, Angela Del Pozo, José M. Fernández, Paolo Maietta, Alfonso Valencia, Michael L. Tress, Alfredo Benso, Stefano Di Carlo, Gianfranco Politano, Alessandro Savino, Hafeez Ur Rehman, Matteo Re, Marco Mesiti, Giorgio Valentini, Joachim W. Bargsten, Aalt D.J. Van Dijk, Branislava Gemovic, Sanja Glisic, Vladmir Perovic, Veljko Veljkovic, Nevena Veljkovic, Danillo C. Almeida-E-Silva, Ricardo Z.N. Vencio, Malvika Sharan, Jörg Vogel, Lakesh Kansakar, Shanshan Zhang, Slobodan Vucetic, Zheng Wang, Michael J.E. Sternberg, Mark N. Wass, Rachael P. Huntley, Maria J. Martin, Claire O'Donovan, Peter N. Robinson, Yves Moreau, Anna Tramontano, Patricia C. Babbitt, Steven E. Brenner, Michal Linial, Christine A. Orengo, Burkhard Rost, Casey S. Greene, Sean D. Mooney, Iddo Friedberg, Predrag Radivojac

Faculty Publications

Background: A major bottleneck in our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life is the assignment of function to proteins. While molecular experiments provide the most reliable annotation of proteins, their relatively low throughput and restricted purview have led to an increasing role for computational function prediction. However, assessing methods for protein function prediction and tracking progress in the field remain challenging.

Results: We conducted the second critical assessment of functional annotation (CAFA), a timed challenge to assess computational methods that automatically assign protein function. We evaluated 126 methods from 56 research groups for their ability to predict …

Development Of Genomic Resources For The Evaluation Of Red Snapper, An Emerging Species Candidate For Marine Aquaculture And Stock Enhancement, Adrienne Elise Norrell

Master's Theses

The northern red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) is a highly targeted reef fish candidate for marine aquaculture and stock enhancement in the southern United States. This work aimed to develop genomic resources for the genetic management of aquaculture programs and to investigate population structure using high-throughput sequencing technologies. Eighty-four new microsatellite markers were developed through screening of Illumina paired-end sequencing reads. Microsatellite loci and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) generated through Restriction Site Associated DNA (RAD) sequencing were assayed in 5 outbred full-sib families to construct a high-density linkage map of the red snapper genome. The map consists of 7,964 …

A Comparative Study Of K-Spectrum-Based Error Correction Methods For Next-Generation Sequencing Data Analysis, Isaac Akogwu, Nan Wang, Chaoyang Zhang, Ping Gong

Faculty Publications

Background: Innumerable opportunities for new genomic research have been stimulated by advancement in high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS). However, the pitfall of NGS data abundance is the complication of distinction between true biological variants and sequence error alterations during downstream analysis. Many error correction methods have been developed to correct erroneous NGS reads before further analysis, but independent evaluation of the impact of such dataset features as read length, genome size, and coverage depth on their performance is lacking. This comparative study aims to investigate the strength and weakness as well as limitations of some newest k-spectrum-based methods and …

Ecology And Genetics Of Lungless Salamanders (Family Plethodontidae) In The Gulf Coastal Plain, Jennifer Yasmin Lamb

Dissertations

During the last half century, lungless salamanders (Family Plethodontidae) have been the subject of numerous studies in the fields of ecology and genetics. While most works have focused on the species-rich Eastern Highlands region, there has been a recent shift towards plethodontid assemblages within the Coastal Plain. The research presented herein applies hierarchical occupancy models and both mitochondrial and nuclear genes to address questions pertinent to the biology and conservation of plethodontids within the Gulf Coastal Plain. The results of a multi-species Bayesian single-season occupancy model indicated that two environmental gradients, upstream drainage area and stream drying, influenced the probability …

A Comparative Study Of Isolation In Headwater Fishes, Bjorn Victor Schmidt

Dissertations

Headwater resident fishes may be prone to a high rate of population fragmentation within river networks because large streams have habitat conditions outside of their preferred ecological niche and may limit gene flow in the dendritic ecological network. To investigate patterns of population structure, asymmetrical gene flow, and influences on genetic distance and isolation from connecting habitat pathways, species specific ecological traits, and basin scale characteristics, a multi-species, multi-regional study was performed. Six headwater species of fish from four taxonomic groupings were sampled for genetic material in three regions of paired neighbor drainages and then genotyped for eight microsatellite loci. …

The Uas-Gal4 System In D. Melanogaster: An Insight Into The Influence Of Micrornas On The Developmental Pathways Of The Wing, Emily R. Wilson

Honors Theses

By examining genetic pathways in D. melanogaster, a better understanding of the homologous regulatory mechanisms in humans can be utilized to further enhance knowledge of the roles of microRNA within development. This study utilizes the UAS-Gal4 system in order to produce a mutant phenotype capable of being visually studied and analyzed, focusing on the developmental pathway of the wing in D. melanogaster. Dissections of the wandering third instar larvae yielded wing disc tissue expressing the downregulation of loquacious and CG17386.

Endohelminth Parasites Of Some Midwater And Benthopelagic Stomiiform Fishes From The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Michael J. Andres, Mark S. Peterson, Robin M. Overstreet

Gulf and Caribbean Research

: Mesopelagic fishes represent significant ecological links between mesozooplankton and the larger pelagic squids, fishes, and marine mammals. As such, these fishes also play a significant role as intermediate or paratenic hosts for parasites that require a crustacean intermediate host and mature in marine mammals or pelagic fishes. We examined a total of 208 individuals representing 5 species of Sternoptychidae and 88 individuals representing 2 species of Phosichthyidae from 20 locations in the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM). Six of the 7 species we examined are mesopelagic and one species was benthopelagic. We found the larval stages of Anisakis brevispiculata …