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Articles 15241 - 15270 of 20441

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A Major Role For Mammals In The Ecology Of Mycobacterium Ulcerans, Janet A. Fyfe, Caroline J. Lavender, Kathrine A. Handasyde, Alistair R. Legione, Carolyn R. O'Brien, Timothy P. Stinear, Sacha J. Pidot, Torsten Seemann, Mark Eric Benbow, John R. Wallace, Christina Mccowan, Paul D. R. Johnson Aug 2010

A Major Role For Mammals In The Ecology Of Mycobacterium Ulcerans, Janet A. Fyfe, Caroline J. Lavender, Kathrine A. Handasyde, Alistair R. Legione, Carolyn R. O'Brien, Timothy P. Stinear, Sacha J. Pidot, Torsten Seemann, Mark Eric Benbow, John R. Wallace, Christina Mccowan, Paul D. R. Johnson

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer (BU), a destructive skin disease found predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and south-eastern Australia. The precise mode(s) of transmission and environmental reservoir(s) remain unknown, but several studies have explored the role of aquatic invertebrate species. The purpose of this study was to investigate the environmental distribution of M. ulcerans in south-eastern Australia.

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Population Structure Influences Sexual Conflict In Wild Populations Of Water Striders., Omar Tonsi Eldakar, Michael J. Dlugos, Galen P. Holt, David Sloan Wilson, John W. Pepper Aug 2010

Population Structure Influences Sexual Conflict In Wild Populations Of Water Striders., Omar Tonsi Eldakar, Michael J. Dlugos, Galen P. Holt, David Sloan Wilson, John W. Pepper

Biology Faculty Articles

In sexual conflict, aggressive males frequently diminish the long-term reproductive success of females in efforts to gain a short-term advantage over rival males. This short-term advantage can selectively favour high-exploitation males. However, just as the over-exploitation of resources can lead to local extinction, the over-exploitation of females in the form of harassment by aggressive males can yield similar consequences resulting in reduced female fecundity, increased female mortality and overall decline in mating activity. This outcome may often be prevented by selection acting at multiple levels of biological organization. Directional selection favouring aggressive exploitation within groups can be balanced by directional …

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Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh Aug 2010

Information Acquisition And Sociality Among Migratory Birds, Zoltán Németh

Dissertations

Information use is a key feature of adaptive behavior: the better informed an individual, the better it is able to adjust its behavior to meet the demands of a variable world. Therefore, most animals attempt to reduce environmental uncertainty by gathering information when it is available. However, tracking unpredictable ecological factors may carry costs as individuals invest valuable time and energy in the process of information acquisition. Social learning (i.e., use of social information inadvertently produced by other individuals) enables the individual to gain rapid and more complete assessment of its novel environment. This process may be particularly important for …

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Patterns Of Diversity, Zoogeography, And Ecological Gradients In Honduran Freshwater Fishes, Wilfredo Antonio Matamoros Aug 2010

Patterns Of Diversity, Zoogeography, And Ecological Gradients In Honduran Freshwater Fishes, Wilfredo Antonio Matamoros

Dissertations

Nineteen major river drainages across Honduras were sampled from 2005-2009 in order to understand Honduran geographical patterns of freshwater fish distribution, to delineate the Honduran freshwater fishes ichthyographical provinces, and to understand patterns of species assemblage at the drainage level. A total of 166 species of freshwater fishes were sampled, a 64% increase over previously published reports. Eight species belong to primary freshwater families, 47 to secondary, and 111 to peripherals. In order to understand the species-drainages relationships, a presence-absence matrix was built for the 19 major drainages and 55 primary and secondary freshwater fishes. Correspondence and cluster analysis clearly …

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Effects Of Old Nest Material On Occupancy And Reuse Of Artificial Burrows, And Breeding Dispersal By Burrowing Owls (Athene Cunicularia) In Southwestern Idaho, Corey S. Riding Aug 2010

Effects Of Old Nest Material On Occupancy And Reuse Of Artificial Burrows, And Breeding Dispersal By Burrowing Owls (Athene Cunicularia) In Southwestern Idaho, Corey S. Riding

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comprises two chapters describing my investigations of the breeding ecology of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) in southwestern Idaho. The first chapter details two experimental studies where I examined the effects of old nest material, primarily mammal dung, on the occupancy and reuse of artificial burrows by burrowing owls in 2004 and 2005. For burrows that owls had not used previously for nesting, adding material from actual nests did not induce occupancy. Thus, old nest material does not appear to function as a cue for burrow suitability. Removing old material from burrows that owls had used for …

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A Metagenomic Study Of The Tick Midgut, Daniel T. Yuan Aug 2010

A Metagenomic Study Of The Tick Midgut, Daniel T. Yuan

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

A Metagenomic Study of the Tick Midgut
 Daniel Yuan, B.S.
Supervisory Professor : Steven J. Norris, Ph.D.
Southern tick–associated rash illness (STARI) or Master’s disease is a Lyme-like illness that occurs following bites by Amblyomma americanum, the lone-star tick. Clinical symptoms include a bull’s eye rash similar to the erythema migrans lesions of Lyme disease, as well as fever and joint pains. Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and related spirochetes. However, B. burgdorferi has not been detected in STARI patients, or in ticks in the South Central U.S. The causative agent of STARI has not been identified, …

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Modeling Sporadic Tumor Formation Driven By Telomere Dysfunction In The Gastrointestinal Tract, Suzanne S. Chan Aug 2010

Modeling Sporadic Tumor Formation Driven By Telomere Dysfunction In The Gastrointestinal Tract, Suzanne S. Chan

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Colorectal cancer is a complex disease that is thought to arise when cells accumulate mutations that allow for uncontrolled growth. There are several recognized mechanisms for generating such mutations in sporadic colon cancer; one of which is chromosomal instability (CIN). One hypothesized driver of CIN in cancer is the improper repair of dysfunctional telomeres. Telomeres comprise the linear ends of chromosomes and play a dual role in cancer. Its length is maintained by the ribonucleoprotein, telomerase, which is not a normally expressed in somatic cells and as cells divide, telomeres continuously shorten. Critically shortened telomeres are considered dysfunctional as they …

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Hnrnp A1 Interacts With The Genomic And Subgenomic Rna Promoters Of Sindbis Virus And Is Required For The Synthesis Of G And Sg Rna, Hongxing Gui, Chi Wei Lu, Sandra Adams, Victor Stollar, Mei Ling Li Jul 2010

Hnrnp A1 Interacts With The Genomic And Subgenomic Rna Promoters Of Sindbis Virus And Is Required For The Synthesis Of G And Sg Rna, Hongxing Gui, Chi Wei Lu, Sandra Adams, Victor Stollar, Mei Ling Li

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Background. Sindbis virus (SV) is the prototype of alphaviruses which are a group of widely distributed human and animal pathogens. Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A1 is an RNA-binding protein that shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Our recent studies found that hnRNP A1 relocates from nucleus to cytoplasm in Sindbis virus (SV)-infected cells. hnRNP A1 binds to the 5' UTR of SV RNA and facilitates the viral RNA replication and translation. Methods. Making use of standard molecular techniques, virology methods and an in vitro system developed by our lab to assess the role of hnRNP A1 in SV positive …

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Effects Of Alternative Prey As A Buffer To Predation Of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus) By Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides), Shelley Nellis Jul 2010

Effects Of Alternative Prey As A Buffer To Predation Of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus) By Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides), Shelley Nellis

Theses and Dissertations

Channel catfish have pectoral spines that lock to defend against gape-limited predators such as largemouth bass. Previous work indicated that spines increase survival of channel catfish exposed to bass but did not determine whether bass avoid catfish if less dangerous species are available. We presented bass with channel catfish and two alternatives, bluegill and goldfish, and compared order of ingestion, ingestion time, percent of successful strikes, and time spent chasing each prey species. We also presented the three species in a jar study that standardized position in the water column as well as in a net-pen study. The order of …

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The Role Of Multilevel Selection In The Evolution Of Sexual Conflict In The Water Strider Aquarius Remigis, Omar Tonsi Eldakar, David Sloan Wilson, Michael J. Dlugos, John W. Pepper Jul 2010

The Role Of Multilevel Selection In The Evolution Of Sexual Conflict In The Water Strider Aquarius Remigis, Omar Tonsi Eldakar, David Sloan Wilson, Michael J. Dlugos, John W. Pepper

Biology Faculty Articles

In evolution, exploitative strategies often create a paradox in which the most successful individual strategy “within” the group is also the most detrimental strategy “for” the group, potentially resulting in extinction. With regard to sexual conflict, the overexploitation of females by harmful males can yield similar consequences. Despite these evolutionary implications, little research has addressed why sexual conflict does not ultimately drive populations to extinction. One possibility is that groups experiencing less sexual conflict are more productive than groups with greater conflict. However, most studies of sexual conflict are conducted in a single isolated group, disregarding the potential for selection …

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Genomic Analysis Of Nematode-Environment Interaction, Bishwo Adhikari Jul 2010

Genomic Analysis Of Nematode-Environment Interaction, Bishwo Adhikari

Theses and Dissertations

The natural environments of organisms present a multitude of biotic and abiotic challenges that require both short-term ecological and long-term evolutionary responses. Though most environmental response studies have focused on effects at the ecosystem, community and organismal levels, the ultimate controls of these responses are located in the genome of the organism. Soil nematodes are highly responsive to, and display a wide variety of responses to changing environmental conditions, making them ideal models for the study of organismal interactions with their environment. In an attempt to examine responses to environmental stress (desiccation and freezing), genomic level analyses of gene expression …

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Pharmacological And Genetic Reversal Of Age-Dependent Cognitive Deficits Attributable To Decreased Presenilin Function, S. M.J. Mcbride, C. H. Choi, B. P. Schoenfeld, A. J. Bell, D. A. Liebelt, D. Ferreiro, R. J. Choi, P. Hinchey, M. Kollaros, A. M. Terlizzi, N. J. Ferrick, E. Koenigsberg, R. L. Rudominer, A. Sumida, S. Chiorean, Kathleen King Siwicki, H. T. Nguyen, M. E. Fortini, T. V. Mcdonald, T. A. Jongens Jul 2010

Pharmacological And Genetic Reversal Of Age-Dependent Cognitive Deficits Attributable To Decreased Presenilin Function, S. M.J. Mcbride, C. H. Choi, B. P. Schoenfeld, A. J. Bell, D. A. Liebelt, D. Ferreiro, R. J. Choi, P. Hinchey, M. Kollaros, A. M. Terlizzi, N. J. Ferrick, E. Koenigsberg, R. L. Rudominer, A. Sumida, S. Chiorean, Kathleen King Siwicki, H. T. Nguyen, M. E. Fortini, T. V. Mcdonald, T. A. Jongens

Biology Faculty Works

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of cognitive loss and neurodegeneration in the developed world. Although its genetic and environmental causes are not generally known, familial forms of the disease (FAD) are attributable to mutations in a single copy of the Presenilin (PS) and amyloid precursor protein genes. The dominant inheritance pattern of FAD indicates that it may be attributable to gain or change of function mutations. Studies of FAD-linked forms of presenilin (psn) in model organisms, however, indicate that they are loss of function, leading to the possibility that a reduction in PS activity might contribute to FAD …

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Factors Influencing The Abundance, Community Composition And Activity States Of Bacterioplankton From The Tidal Freshwater James River, Catherine Luria Jul 2010

Factors Influencing The Abundance, Community Composition And Activity States Of Bacterioplankton From The Tidal Freshwater James River, Catherine Luria

Theses and Dissertations

Aquatic bacteria respond to changing environmental conditions through a variety of mechanisms including changes in abundance, shifts in community composition and variable activity states. In the tidal-freshwater James River, variation in bacterial abundance was linked to nutrient availability and autochthonous production with highest bacterial densities associated with low-nutrient, high-chlorophyll a conditions. Laboratory experiments revealed that bacterial growth rates were nutrient limited at the low-nutrient site, while co-limitation (nutrients, glucose, light) was apparent at the high nutrient site. Despite large differences in abundance, community composition was similar based on TRFLP and 16S rDNA pyrosequencing. Community similarity was lower among rRNA libraries …

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Molecular Evolution Of Glutamine Synthetase Ii: Phylogenetic Evidence Of A Non-Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer Event Early In Plant Evolution, Sohini Ghoshroy, Manfred Binder, Aurélien Tartar, Deborah L. Robertson Jul 2010

Molecular Evolution Of Glutamine Synthetase Ii: Phylogenetic Evidence Of A Non-Endosymbiotic Gene Transfer Event Early In Plant Evolution, Sohini Ghoshroy, Manfred Binder, Aurélien Tartar, Deborah L. Robertson

Biology

Background. Glutamine synthetase (GS) is essential for ammonium assimilation and the biosynthesis of glutamine. The three GS gene families (GSI, GSII, and GSIII) are represented in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In this study, we examined the evolutionary relationship of GSII from eubacterial and eukaryotic lineages and present robust phylogenetic evidence that GSII was transferred from -Proteobacteria (Eubacteria) to the Chloroplastida. Results. GSII sequences were isolated from four species of green algae (Trebouxiophyceae), and additional green algal (Chlorophyceae and Prasinophytae) and streptophyte (Charales, Desmidiales, Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Lycopodiophyta and Tracheophyta) sequences were obtained from public databases. In Bayesian and maximum likelihood …

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Acute Responses To Estradiol Replacement In The Olfactory System Of Apoe-Deficient And Wild-Type Mice, Britto P. Nathan, Michael Tonsor, Robert G. Struble Jul 2010

Acute Responses To Estradiol Replacement In The Olfactory System Of Apoe-Deficient And Wild-Type Mice, Britto P. Nathan, Michael Tonsor, Robert G. Struble

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Epidemiological studies suggest that estrogen therapy protects against clinical expression of chronic neurological diseases. These beneficial effects of estrogen therapy are highly modified by apolipoprotein E (apoE) through an unknown mechanism. We examined the short-term effects of estradiol replacement in ovariectomized mice on apoE expression and markers for cell proliferation, reactive gliosis, neuronal maturation, and synaptogenesis in the primary olfactory pathway of wild-type (WT) and apoE knockout (KO) mice. Three days of estradiol replacement increased apoE expression in the olfactory nerve and in the glomerular layer. Estradiol treatment also increased cell proliferation, total cell numbers, number of mature neurons in …

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Investigation Of Potential Trapping Bias In Malaise Traps Due To Mesh Gauge, In Two Habitats, David Jensen Betts Jul 2010

Investigation Of Potential Trapping Bias In Malaise Traps Due To Mesh Gauge, In Two Habitats, David Jensen Betts

Theses and Dissertations

Malaise traps are a common tool for collecting insects used by many researchers. Although there have been variations in the models and materials used for Malaise traps, the potential for sampling bias due to mesh gague has been explored inadequately. This study compared coarse and fine mesh Townes model Malaise traps in two habitats on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The two habitats next to the Lick Wash trailhead were defined by dominant vegetation type – sagebrush and grasses or Piñon-Juniper. We collected from three sites per habitat type, over three consecutive days in June in both 2006 and 2007. …

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Pcif1 Modulates Pdx1 Protein Stability And Pancreatic Β Cell Function And Survival In Mice, Kathryn C. Claiborn, Mira M. Sachdeva, Corey E. Cannon, David N. Groff, Jeffrey D. Singer, Doris A. Stoffers Jul 2010

Pcif1 Modulates Pdx1 Protein Stability And Pancreatic Β Cell Function And Survival In Mice, Kathryn C. Claiborn, Mira M. Sachdeva, Corey E. Cannon, David N. Groff, Jeffrey D. Singer, Doris A. Stoffers

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The homeodomain transcription factor pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 (Pdx1) is a major mediator of insulin transcription and a key regulator of the β cell phenotype. Heterozygous mutations in PDX1 are associated with the development of diabetes in humans. Understanding how Pdx1 expression levels are controlled is therefore of intense interest in the study and treatment of diabetes. Pdx1 C terminus–interacting factor-1 (Pcif1, also known as SPOP) is a nuclear protein that inhibits Pdx1 transactivation. Here, we show that Pcif1 targets Pdx1 for ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Silencing of Pcif1 increased Pdx1 protein levels in cultured mouse β cells, and Pcif1 …

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Grand Challenges In Comparative Physiology: Integration Across Disciplines And Across Levels Of Biological Organization, Donald L. Mykles, Cameron K. Galambor, Jonathon H. Stillman, Lars Tomanek Jul 2010

Grand Challenges In Comparative Physiology: Integration Across Disciplines And Across Levels Of Biological Organization, Donald L. Mykles, Cameron K. Galambor, Jonathon H. Stillman, Lars Tomanek

Biological Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Effects Of Testosterone And Captivity On Medial And Dorsal Cortex Volumes And Neurogenesis In Adult Male Western Fence Lizards, Sceloporus Occidentalis, D. R. Pfau, S. Y. Potter, D. F. Denardo, E. N. Taylor, C. R. Strand Jul 2010

Effects Of Testosterone And Captivity On Medial And Dorsal Cortex Volumes And Neurogenesis In Adult Male Western Fence Lizards, Sceloporus Occidentalis, D. R. Pfau, S. Y. Potter, D. F. Denardo, E. N. Taylor, C. R. Strand

Biological Sciences

In lizards, the medial cortex and dorsal cortex are thought to be homologous to the hippocampus in birds and mammals, in that these regions are functionally involved with spatial memory and learning. In birds and mammals, neurogenesis continues into adulthood in these regions and is associated with ability of spatial memory tasks. Little is known about whether adult neurogenesis contributes to memory formation or spatial memory in lizards. In some lizards, territory size is correlated with testosterone (T) levels. If T affects these brain regions to help with spatial navigation, manipulating T levels may influence the medial or dorsal cortex …

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Nonspecific Phospholipase C Npc4 Promotes Responses To Abscisic Acid And Tolerance To Hyperosmotic Stress In Arabidopsis, Xuemin Wang, Carlotta Peters, Maoyin Li, Rama Narasimhan, Mary Roth, Ruth Welti Jul 2010

Nonspecific Phospholipase C Npc4 Promotes Responses To Abscisic Acid And Tolerance To Hyperosmotic Stress In Arabidopsis, Xuemin Wang, Carlotta Peters, Maoyin Li, Rama Narasimhan, Mary Roth, Ruth Welti

Biology Department Faculty Works

Diacyglycerol (DAG) is an important class of cellular lipid messengers, but its function in plants remains elusive. Here, we show that knockout of the Arabidopsis thaliana nonspecific phospholipase C (NPC4) results in a decrease in DAG levels and compromises plant response to abscisic acid (ABA) and hyperosmotic stresses. NPC4 hydrolyzes various phospholipids in a calcium-independent manner, producing DAG and a phosphorylated head group. NPC4 knockout (KO) plants display decreased ABA sensitivity in seed germination, root elongation, and stomatal movement and had decreased tolerance to high salinity and water deficiency. Overexpression of NPC4 renders plants more sensitive to ABA and more …

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Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Summer 2010, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel Jul 2010

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Summer 2010, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

Survey of monitoring and management for conservation of rare plants, Roadside restoration techniques in Joshua Tree NP, and an update on renewable energy developments in the Southwestern deserts

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Loss Of Individual Micrornas Causes Mutant Phenotypes In Sensitized Genetic Backgrounds In C. Elegans, John L. Brenner, Kristen L. Jasiewicz, Alisha F. Fahley, Benedict J. Kemp, Allison L. Abbott Jul 2010

Loss Of Individual Micrornas Causes Mutant Phenotypes In Sensitized Genetic Backgrounds In C. Elegans, John L. Brenner, Kristen L. Jasiewicz, Alisha F. Fahley, Benedict J. Kemp, Allison L. Abbott

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that regulate the translation and/or stability of their mRNA targets. Previous work showed that for most miRNA genes of C. elegans, single-gene knockouts did not result in detectable mutant phenotypes. This may be due, in part, to functional redundancy between miRNAs. However, in most cases, worms carrying deletions of all members of a miRNA family do not display strong mutant phenotypes. They may function together with unrelated miRNAs or with non-miRNA genes in regulatory networks, possibly to ensure the robustness of developmental mechanisms. To test this, we examined worms lacking individual miRNAs in …

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Lianas Suppress Tree Regeneration And Diversity In Treefall Gaps, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Walter P. Carson Jul 2010

Lianas Suppress Tree Regeneration And Diversity In Treefall Gaps, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Walter P. Carson

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Treefall gaps are hypothesized to maintain diversity by creating resource‐rich, heterogeneous habitats necessary for species coexistence. This hypothesis, however, is not supported empirically for shade‐tolerant trees, the dominant plant group in tropical forests. The failure of gaps to maintain shade‐tolerant trees remains puzzling, and the hypothesis implicated to date is dispersal limitation. In central Panama, we tested an alternative ‘biotic interference’ hypothesis: that competition between growth forms (lianas vs. trees) constrains shade‐tolerant tree recruitment, survival and diversity in gaps. We experimentally removed lianas from eight gaps and monitored them for 8 years, while also monitoring nine un‐manipulated control gaps. Removing …

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Regulation Of The G2/M Transition In Rodent Oocytes, Stephen M. Downs Jul 2010

Regulation Of The G2/M Transition In Rodent Oocytes, Stephen M. Downs

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Regulation of maturation in meiotically competent mammalian oocytes is a complex process involving the carefully coordinated exchange of signals between the somatic and germ cell compartments of the ovarian follicle via paracrine and cell–cell coupling pathways. This review highlights recent advances in our understanding of how such signaling controls both meiotic arrest and gonadotropin-triggered meiotic resumption in competent oocytes and relates them to the historical context. Emphasis will be on rodent systems, where many of these new findings have taken place. A regulatory scheme is then proposed that integrates this information into an overall framework for meiotic regulation that demonstrates …

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Diurnal Rhythms Of Behavior And Brain Mrna Expression For Arginine Vasotocin, Isotocin, And Their Receptors In Wild Amargosa Pupfish (Cyprinodon Nevadensis Amargosae), Sean C. Lema, Lauren J. Wagstaff, Nina M. Gardner Jul 2010

Diurnal Rhythms Of Behavior And Brain Mrna Expression For Arginine Vasotocin, Isotocin, And Their Receptors In Wild Amargosa Pupfish (Cyprinodon Nevadensis Amargosae), Sean C. Lema, Lauren J. Wagstaff, Nina M. Gardner

Biological Sciences

Amargosa pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae) occupy remote desert habitats that vary widely in environmental conditions from day to night. In this study, die! patterns of behavior were documented for pupfish in their natural habitat, and examined relative to changes in the abundance of mRNAs encoding prepro-arginine vasotocin (pro-VT), prepro-isotocin (pro-IT), three distinct vasotocin receptors (V1a1, V1a2, and V2), and an isotocin receptor (ITR) in the brain. The behavior of wild pupfish varied diurnally, with frequent aggression from 12:00 to 15:00 h and courtship and spawning most common between 15:00 and 19:00h. Transcript abundance for pro-VT in the brain …

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Pkcα And Cpi-17 Expression And Spatial-Temporal Distribution With Activation In Pig Stomach Antrum And Fundus, Yu Zhang Jul 2010

Pkcα And Cpi-17 Expression And Spatial-Temporal Distribution With Activation In Pig Stomach Antrum And Fundus, Yu Zhang

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Smooth muscle contraction is a complicated process coordinated by contractile, regulatory and cytoskeletal proteins. The force generation depends on the phosphorylation of Myosin Regulatory Light Chain (MLC20). Myosin Light Chain Kinase (MLCK) and Myosin Light Chain Phosphatase (MLCP) are the two main regulators of the MLC20 phosphorylation level. MLCP is further controlled by two known pathways including the G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)/ phospholipase C (PLC)/ diacylglycerol (DAG)/ protein kinase C (PKC)/ PKC-potentiated inhibitory protein for heterotrimeric myosin light chain phosphatase of 17 kDa (CPI-17) pathway. While messengers involved in this pathway have been proposed, studies on the details of …

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Getting Up To Speed: Acceleration Strategies In The Florida Scrub Lizard, Sceloporus Woodi, Eric J. Mcelroy, Lance D. Mcbrayer Jul 2010

Getting Up To Speed: Acceleration Strategies In The Florida Scrub Lizard, Sceloporus Woodi, Eric J. Mcelroy, Lance D. Mcbrayer

Biology: Faculty Publications

Small animals typically rely on quick bursts and intermittent pauses when moving in the wild. Hence, the study of acceleration capacity is important for understanding the ecology and evolution of locomotor performance. In this study, we investigate intraspecific variation in the acceleration capacity of a small lizard (Sceloporus woodi). To quantify animal acceleration performance, the momentum‐impulse theorem is applied to data collected from high‐speed video recordings of individuals accelerating from a standstill and over a subsequent distance of 0.4 m. Unlike earlier studies, the momentum‐impulse approach allows one to directly and precisely quantify the per step contribution to …

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Husbandry Of Monodelphis Domestica In The Study Of Mammalian Embryogenesis, Holly Rousmaniere, Rachel Silverman, Rachel A. White, Mark M. Sasaki, Siobhan D. Wilson, Jeremy T. Morrison, Yolanda P. Cruz Jul 2010

Husbandry Of Monodelphis Domestica In The Study Of Mammalian Embryogenesis, Holly Rousmaniere, Rachel Silverman, Rachel A. White, Mark M. Sasaki, Siobhan D. Wilson, Jeremy T. Morrison, Yolanda P. Cruz

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Monodelphis domestica, commonly called the laboratory opossum, is a useful laboratory animal for studying marsupial embryogenesis and mammalian development. Females breed year-round and the animals can be sustainably bred indoors. The authors draw on their own laboratory's experience to supplement previously published research on laboratory opossums. They describe a breeding protocol that reliably produces timed-pregnant M. domestica. Additionally, the authors discuss general laboratory opossum husbandry techniques and describe how to collect, handle and culture embryos.

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Lps-Induced Production Of Inflammatory Mediators In The Liver Of Postnatal Animals, Valerie P. Le Rouzic Jul 2010

Lps-Induced Production Of Inflammatory Mediators In The Liver Of Postnatal Animals, Valerie P. Le Rouzic

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the primary component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and is responsible for the majority of inflammatory effects of infections from Gram-negative bacteria. To gain better understanding of the effects that postnatal age has on the inflammatory response, pups were randomly assigned to be treated with 250 µg/kg of LPS or saline at postnatal day (P) 1, P21, and P70. Two hours post stimulation, the pups were sacrificed and their livers were harvested for total RN A extraction. Relative mRNA levels of inflammatory genes and �-actin were determined using RT-PCR analysis with appropriate rat sense and …

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Community Structure And Dynamics Of Monogenea And Trematoda In Three North American Cyprinid Species In The Salt Valley Watershed, Nebraska, Alaine Kathryn Knipes Jul 2010

Community Structure And Dynamics Of Monogenea And Trematoda In Three North American Cyprinid Species In The Salt Valley Watershed, Nebraska, Alaine Kathryn Knipes

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

An investigation was made of the communities of gill monogene genus Dactylogyrus (Platyhelminthes, Monogenea) and the populations of blackspot parasite (Platyhelminthes, Trematoda) of Pimephales promelas, Notropis stramineus, and Semotilus atromaculatus in 3 distinct sites along the 3 converging tributaries in southeastern Nebraska from 2004 to 2006. This work constitutes the first multi-site, multi-year study of a complex community of Dactylogyrus spp. and their reproductive activities on native North American cyprinid species. The biological hypothesis that closely related species with direct lifecycles respond differently to shared environmental conditions was tested. It was revealed that in this system that, Cyprinid …

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