Research Methods in Life Sciences Commons^™

Transcriptomics Of Learning, Pablo Iturralde

Theses

Learning is a basic and important component of behavior yet we have very little empirical information about the interaction between mechanisms of learning and evolution. In our work, we are testing hypotheses about the neurogenetic mechanisms through which animal learning abilities evolve. We are able to test this directly by using experimentally evolved populations of flies, which differ in learning ability. These populations were previously evolved within the lab by creating worlds with different patterns of change following theoretically predicted effects on which enhanced learning will evolve. How has evolution acted to modulate genes and gene expression in the brain …

Isolation, Sequencing, And Characterization Of Four Transmissible Antibiotic Resistance Plasmids Captured From Bacteria In Stream Sediments, Curtis J. Kapsak

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Self-transmissible plasmids are key vectors in the transfer of resistance, catabolic, and other genes among bacteria native to environments such as streams and wetlands. The evolution of antibiotic resistance in particular is known to be powerfully affected by conjugative plasmid transfer due to the ease in which some plasmids can be horizontally transferred into a broad range of host bacteria and their ability to exchange mobile genetic elements that often contain antibiotic resistance genes.

In this study, we captured tetracycline resistance plasmids from stream sediments impacted by agricultural runoff. We selected for resistance plasmids using tetracycline, an antibiotic commonly used …