Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Molecular Evolution Of Numt, A Recent Transfer And Tandem Amplification Of Mitochondrial Dna Into The Nuclear Genome Of The Domestic Cat (Felis Catus), Jose V. Lopez

Oceanography Faculty Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are functional cytoplasmic chromosomes, tracing origins to a symbiotic infection of eukaryotic cells by bacterial progenitors. As prescribed by the Serial Endosymbiosis Theory, symbionts have gradually transferred their genes to the nuclear genome that enable functional interaction. In this dissertation, a 7.9 kb transposition of a typically 17.0 kb mitochondrial genome to a specific chromosomal position in the domestic cat is reported. The integrated mtDNA has amplified about 38-76 times and now occurs as a "macrosatellite"-like tandem repeat with multiple length alleles resolved by pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) segregating in cat populations. To examine the tempo …

The Natural Growth Records Of Reef-Building Corals, Richard E. Dodge

Oceanography Faculty Theses and Dissertations

Through analysis of hermatypic coral incremental growth features, it is possible to determine the response of recent corals to their environments. In this way I have attempted to obtain a tool not only to gain knowledge of recent growth processes but also for reconstructing aspects of past environmental conditions associated with fossil coral growth. The procedure has been first to determine time relationships and characteristics of coral skeletal density bands and to next use banding for investigations into areal growth rate patterns, coral population age distributions, and coral-climate interactions.

Density band couplets, visible X-radiographically in medial sections of coral skeletons, …