Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Gems Student: Can Improved Diet Quality Alleviate Harmful Effects Of Pesticides And Viruses In Honey Bees?, Brittney Bailey, Ed Hsieh, Adam Dolezal

PRECS student projects

This study investigates interacting effects of viruses and pesticides within honey bees and how improved diet quality can mitigate these effects. This experiment allows a multivariate problem which exists in natural conditions of the honey bee community to be observed in a controlled cage bioassay. • The virus used in this study is the Israeli acute-paralysis virus (IAPV). Neonicotinoid thiamethoxam is the pesticide used in both trials shown in the ‘Results’ section. This experiment has not begun the use of the pyrethroid at this time.

Determining The Causal Link Of Honey Bee Gut Microbial Composition On Behavioral Maturation, Thi Lan Anh Nguyen, Cassondra L. Vernier, Gene E. Robinson

PRECS student projects

Emerging studies have supported the association between gut microbiome and host behaviors. However, it is unclear whether changes in the gut microbiome cause changes in host behaviors or vice versa. The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, is an excellent animal model for identifying the causal link between microbiome and behavioral changes over the lifetime of the host as the honey bee gut contains a simple microbiome composed of only nine bacterial taxa clusters. In honey bees, division of labor occurs through behavioral maturation where age determines what task a bee does. For example, older bees forage while younger bees perform …

Effects Of Color Polymorphism And Lighting Environments On Male Bluefin Killifish Behavior, Elijah Davis, Ratna Karatgi, Becky Fuller

PRECS student projects

Polymorphism occurs when multiple, discrete phenotypes exist for a trait within the same species. Polyphenism, a form of phenotypic plasticity, occurs when the environment in which animals develop determines which discrete, morph is expressed. Color polymorphism occurs in male killifish anal fins where red, yellow, and blue color morphs are observed. Populations are found in both spring and swamp habitats. A polyphenism is present where males develop blue anal fins when raised in tea-stained water, which mimics swamps. My goal was to determine whether this plasticity is adaptive. Do blue males have an advantage in swamp water? Previous research involving …

Can In Vitro Phenotypes Of Fusarium Graminearum Indicate In Planta Aggressiveness?, Harrison Hall, Santiago Mideros

PRECS student projects

What is Fusarium graminearum and what does it do? Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum), causes Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) in wheat and barley. FHB results in crop destruction and toxins that are harmful for human and animal consumption. There are several populations of F. graminearum present in North America and rates of in planta aggressiveness and toxin levels vary by Population. Visually, it is difficult to determine the aggression or toxin levels of an infection. However, it may be possible to determine this through in vitro growth. By using in vitro growth, it may be possible to determine in planta aggressiveness …

Gems Student: Biofilm Production In Rhizobia Influences Clover Drought Response, Faith Smith, Kevin Ricks, Anthony Yannarell

PRECS student projects

Rhizobia serve as model system for examining how phenotypic changes in rhizobia influence the plant. Rhizobium-legume symbioses result in the formation of nodules on the root systems of host plants. Compositional and functional changes in microbial communities facilitate the host plants’ response to environmental stressors (i.e.; drought stress). Physiological effects of soil moisture on microbial communities result in specialized communities that can tolerate much low soil-moisture habitats while others are limited to high soil-moisture environments. This suggests microbial communities can assist in maintaining plant fitness when exposed to nonideal environmental conditions.

Bioinformatics Protocol For Assessing Contamination Level And Quality On Genomics Data Of Ensifer Meliloti, Soohyun Lee, Mario Ceròn Romero, Katy Heath

PRECS student projects

Nitrogen (N) fixing bacteria have a symbiotic relationship with host plants. The legume plants provide sugar, a product of its photosynthesis, to rhizobacteria. Rhizobacteria, one of the various N fixing bacteria, utilize the sugar for its energy source needed for conversion of N2into NH4+. The rhizobacteria would provide fixed nitrogen to legume plant for its growth in exchange of energy source. There are various symbiotic relationships between microbes and plants, and the Heath Lab is especially interested in relationship between rhizobacteria and legume plants. Various genomic methods to study rhizobacteria require sequence data in Heath Lab. However, there is high …

The Genetics Of Aggression In Unique Three-Spined Stickleback Populations, Megan Tucker, Colby Behrens, Alison M. Bell

PRECS student projects

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Forest Management Practices On Wild Bee Abundance And Functional Traits, Harvey Vela, Marissa H. Chase, Alexandra Harmon-Threatt

PRECS student projects

Both wild and managed bees are in decline due to the combined and interactive effects of anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat loss and pesticide use. This is concerning because bees are important not only for the pollination of agricultural lands, but also for plants in both natural and managed landscapes. North America is home to about 4000 native species of bees, all of which can be further classified by various characteristics such as body size, nesting strategy, diet breadth, and sociality. These traits are considered functional traits because they can impact the function – pollination – bees contribute to an …

Evaluating The Efficiency In The Application Of Transformation And Crispr/Cas9 Gene-Editing Technique On Pumpkins, Min Rung (Nicole) Hsu, Maria Malvino, Sarah R. Hind

PRECS student projects

With the simplicity of a unique genome engineering mechanism, CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technique has amazed scholars with its effectiveness and efficiency in manipulating gene sequences.[1] As this advanced technique develops, its applications on different species arise as prominent subjects yet to be determined. Due to the great economic value of pumpkins and the need for examining CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing efficiency, Casperita pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) is chosen as the subject to be investigated on. Through introducing CRISPR/Cas9 system —for modifying phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene— into pumpkin seeds with Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, we regenerate transgenic pumpkins and expect to observe albino leaves in the transformed …

Behavioral Plasticity In Response To Environmental Cues In Poison Frog Tadpoles, Samta Oza, Lisa Surber, Eva K. Fischer

PRECS student projects

Behavioral plasticity is the ability of an organism to detect cues in their environment and respond by modifying behavior. In the wild, dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) tadpoles are delivered by their dads to pools that vary in predation risk, resource availability, con-and hetero-specific density. Conspecific density is especially important as these tadpoles are aggressive and often cannibalistic. Behavioral plasticity in response to environmental cues may help tadpoles to compete for resources and survival.

Sometimes, When It Rains It Pours: How Does Flooding Alter Plant-Herbivore Relationships?, Lauren R. Urie, Erinn Dady, Esther N. Ngumbi

PRECS student projects

Flooding, an under-studied abiotic stressor, creates hostile soil conditions, including hypoxia, which hinder the growth and development of plants. Plants respond to abiotic and biotic stressors. A common response is the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which modulate stress responses and mediate plant and insect interactions. Flooding causes significant losses in crops of agricultural and economic importance including tomato. Understanding how flooding impacts plant growth, plant chemistry, caterpillar performance and chemical mediated plant-herbivore interactions will create fundamental knowledge to an emerging challenge brought about by climate change and inform pest management decisions post flooding events. This study investigated how …

Mapping Traits In A Soybean Recombinant Inbred Line Population, Gabriela Ortiz, Chris Montes, Lisa Ainsworth

PRECS student projects

What is SoyFACE?

• Soybean Free Air Concentration Enrichment
• Field conditions mimic the future's atmosphere, temperature, and soil
• Connect physiological responses of crops under these conditions to their genes (aka mapping)

What is a recombinant inbred line population?

Method for mapping traits

• Two parents with variance in a certain trait (in this case, response to elevated carbon dioxide)
• The parents used: HS93-4118 and Loda
• Allows understanding of what regions (quantitative trait loci) respond to atmospheric change