Digital Commons Network^™

Conservation And Conflict Between Endangered Desert Fishes, Jennifer M. Gumm, Jennifer L. Snekser, Murray Itzkowitz

Faculty Publications

Conservation of naturally sympatric endangered species requires unique considerations. While impacts of invasive species garner much attention, interactions between endangered species must also be managed. The endangered Leon Springs pupfish, Cyprinodon bovinus, has suffered a population decline due to decreasing natural habitat. As breeding habitat is lost, C. bovinus is also adversely affected by the sympatric, endangered Pecos gambusia, Gambusia nobilis. Here, we document interactions between these species, finding significantly more G. nobilis accumulated at pupfish spawning events than randomly distributed on breeding grounds in the absence of spawning. As a known egg predator, our results suggest that G. nobilis …

The Stallion's Mane: The Next Generation Of Horses In Mongolia, Amanda Hund

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Horses play a central role in Mongolian history and culture, yet there has been little academic research on breeding methods, either traditional or modern in Mongolia. The goal of good horse breeding is to maintain and improve the quality of the breed. By looking at the traditional breeding, we gain a better understanding of what Mongolian culture values in their horses and what they are hoping to pass on to the next generation. We can also learn how this information is passed on in an oral tradition from generation to generation of horse trainers and herders. In traditional Mongolian horse …

Heat-Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) Expression In Four Limpets Of The Genus Lottia: Interspecific Variation In Constitutive And Inducible Synthesis Correlates With In Situ Exposure To Heat Stress, Yunwei Dong, Luke Miller, Jon Sanders, George Somero

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Limpets of the genus Lottia occupy a broad vertical distribution on wave-exposed rocky shores, a range that encompasses gradients in the frequency and severity of thermal and desiccation stress brought on by aerial emersion. Using western blot analysis of levels of heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70), we examined the heat-shock responses of four Lottia congeners: Lottia scabra and L. austrodigitalis, which occur in the high-intertidal zone, and L. pelta and L. scutum, which are restricted to the low- and mid-intertidal zones. Our results suggest distinct strategies of Hsp70 expression in limpets occupying different heights and orientations in the rocky intertidal zone. …

Causes Of Mortality Of Wild Birds Submitted To The Charles Darwin Research Station, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador From 2002-2004, Patricia Parker, Nicole Gottdenker, Timothy Walsh, Gustavo Jiménez-Uzcátegui, Franklin Betancourt, Marilyn Cruz, Catherine Soos, R. Miller

Biology Department Faculty Works

Necropsy findings were reviewed from wild birds submitted to the Charles Darwin Research Station, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Archipelago between 2004 and 2006. One hundred and ninety cases from 27 different species were submitted, and 178 of these cases were evaluated grossly or histologically. Trauma and trauma-related deaths (n=141) dominated necropsy submissions. Infectious causes of avian mortality included myiasis due to Philornis sp. (n=6), avian pox (n=1), and schistosomosis (n=1).

Global Organization Of Replication Time Zones Of The Mouse Genome, Shlomit Farkash-Amar, Doron Lipson, Andreas Polten, Alon Goren, Charles E. Helmstetter, Zohar Yakhini, Simon Itamar

Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Faculty Publications

The division of genomes into distinct replication time zones has long been established. However, an in-depth understanding of their organization and their relationship to transcription is incomplete. Taking advantage of a novel synchronization method ("baby machine") and of genomic DNA microarrays, we have, for the first time, mapped replication times of the entire mouse genome at a high temporal resolution. Our data revealed that although most of the genome has a distinct time of replication either early, middle, or late S phase, a significant portion of the genome is replicated asynchronously. Analysis of the replication map revealed the genomic scale …

Glandular Secretions Of Male Pteropus (Flying Foxes): Preliminary Chemical Comparisons Among Species, Jamie Wagner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Chemosignaling – passing information by means of chemical compounds that can be detected by members of the same species – is a very important form of communication for most mammals. Flying fox males have odiferous marking secretions on their neck-ruffs that include a combination of secretion from the neck gland and from the urogenital tract; males use this substance to establish territory, especially during the mating season. The secretions of flying fox males from three Australian species – spectacled (Pteropus conspicillatus), grey-headed (P. poliocephalus), and black (P. alecto) – were compared using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC); two spectacled females …

Corallivorous Reef Fishes As Potential Vectors Of Coral Disease Based On A Study Of Dietary Preferences, Tanya Rogers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The prevalence of coral disease appears to be increasing worldwide, although little is known about how these diseases are transmitted between coral colonies. To examine whether corallivorous fishes could potentially act as disease vectors, this study examined whether and which fish species feed on diseased coral, and whether these fishes actively target diseased coral sections. Branches of Acropora muricata with brown band disease were filmed in the field, and bites taken by fishes on different sections of the coral (live tissue, tissue margin, disease band, dead skeleton, and algae) were recorded. For each fish species, electivity indices were calculated for …

Cardioprotective Signal Transduction To Mitochondria, Casey Lee Quinlan

Dissertations and Theses

Intracellular responses to external stimuli require reception of the message at the plasma membrane followed by encoding and transmission of the message to its effectors downstream. In this process, diverse cellular responses are mediated by many redundant molecular players. The apparent generality and redundancy of many kinases, such as the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), suggests that signal transduction must gain specificity through tight regulation. Diffusion and random collisions of relevant signaling components seem insufficient to explain the multilayered complexity observed in cell signaling cascades. Emerging hypotheses suggest that signaling machinery may achieve enhanced specificity and control by exploiting the compartmentalization …

Evolution Of The Holozoan Ribosome Biogenesis Regulon, Seth J. Brown, Michael D. Cole, Albert J. Erives

Dartmouth Scholarship

The ribosome biogenesis (RiBi) genes encode a highly-conserved eukaryotic set of nucleolar proteins involved in rRNA transcription, assembly, processing, and export from the nucleus. While the mode of regulation of this suite of genes has been studied in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, how this gene set is coordinately regulated in the larger and more complex metazoan genomes is not understood. Here we present genome-wide analyses indicating that a distinct mode of RiBi regulation co-evolved with the E(CG)-binding, Myc:Max bHLH heterodimer complex in a stem-holozoan, the ancestor of both Metazoa and Choanoflagellata, the protozoan group most closely related to animals. These …

Lis1 And Ndel1 Influence The Timing Of Nuclear Envelope Breakdown In Neural Stem Cells, Sachin Hebbar, Mariano T. Mesngon, Aimee M. Guillotte, Bhavim Desai, Ramses Ayala, Deanna S. Smith

Faculty Publications

Lis1 and Ndel1 are essential for animal development. They interact directly with one another and with cytoplasmic dynein. The developing brain is especially sensitive to reduced Lis1 or Ndel1 levels, as both proteins influence spindle orientation, neural cell fate decisions, and neuronal migration. We report here that Lis1 and Ndel1 reduction in a mitotic cell line impairs prophase nuclear envelope (NE) invagination (PNEI). This dyneindependent process facilitates NE breakdown (NEBD) and occurs before the establishment of the bipolar spindle. Ndel1 phosphorylation is important for this function, regulating binding to both Lis1 and dynein. Prophase cells in the ventricular zone (VZ) …

To Love Your Neighbor: A Christian Perspective On The Study Of Microbiology And Immunology, Joy Doan

Faith Learning Integration Papers

I have been blessed with enough of a sense of adventure to have experienced the awe-inspiring beauty of a rain forest at night, the top of Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, the sheer cliffs and rushing waters of the Narrows at Zion National Park, Plateau Point—which seems suspended in the Grand Canyon, and the top of a 14,000-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. These are the types of places about which one of the characters in Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance observes, “This is the hardest stuff in the world to photograph. You …

Many Species In One: Dna Barcoding Overestimates The Number Of Species When Nuclear Mitochondrial Pseudogenes Are Coamplified, Michael F. Whiting, Hojun Song, Keith A. Crandall, Jennifer E. Buhay

Faculty Publications

Nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes (numts) are nonfunctional copies of mtDNA in the nucleus that have been found in major clades of eukaryotic organisms.

Application Of Shortest-Path Network Analysis To Identify Genes That Modulate Longevity In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Jr Managbanag

Theses and Dissertations

Shortest-path network analysis was employed to identify novel genes that modulate longevity in the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Based upon a set of previously reported genes associated with increased life span, a shortest path network algorithm was applied to a pre-existing protein-protein interaction dataset in order to construct a shortest-path longevity network. To validate this network, the replicative aging potential of 88 single gene deletion strains corresponding to predicted components of the shortest path longevity network was determined. The 88 single-gene deletion strains identified by a network approach are significantly enriched for mutation conferring both increased and decreased replicative life …

Population Structure Of Coyote (Canis Latrans) In The Urban Landscape Of The Cleveland, Ohio Area, Rebecca M. Rashleigh, Robert A. Krebs, Harry Van Keulen

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

To obtain information on the population structure of coyote (Canis latrans) in an urban setting, a non-invasive genetic sampling technique was applied that consisted of DNA isolation from scat collected around the Cleveland metropolitan area. Muscle tissue was provided from two other coyotes. Amplifying the mitochondrial D-loop or control region produced 33 haplotypes from just 57 coyote sequences and two additional dog sequences from putative coyote-dog hybrids. The mitochondrial DNA genetic diversity in the Cleveland area was high, π 0.02, and composed of six distinct haplotype lineages. In addition, Fst values ranged from 0.07 between collections east and west of …

Introduction To The Limnology And Oceanography Special Issue On Autonomous And Lagrangian Platforms And Sensors (Alps), Mark A. Moline, T. D. Dickey, E. C. Itsweire, M. J. Perry

Biological Sciences

This issue is devoted to recent developments of autonomous and Lagrangian platforms and sensors (ALPS) and their uses for solving a broad range of interdisciplinary aquatic problems. The collective papers treat a variety of problems that generally require measurements spanning a continuum of temporal and spatial scales. ALPS platforms in this issue include surface drifters, profiling and other types of subsurface floats, gliders, unmanned boats, autonomous underwater vehicles, and instrumented animals. ALPS platforms can provide access in difficult environments (e.g., under ice and in high-sea states). They are also important for emerging networked ocean and lake observing systems that require …

Genome Size Is A Strong Predictor Of Cell Size And Stomatal Density In Angiosperms, Jeremy M. Beaulieu, Ilia J. Leitch, Sunil Patil, Arjun Pendharkar, Charles A. Knight

Biological Sciences

• Across eukaryotes phenotypic correlations with genome size are thought to scale from genome size effects on cell size. However, for plants the genome/cell size link has only been thoroughly documented within ploidy series and small subsets of herbaceous species. • Here, the first large-scale comparative analysis is made of the relationship between genome size and cell size across 101 species of angiosperms of varying growth forms. Guard cell length and epidermal cell area were used as two metrics of cell size and, in addition, stomatal density was measured. • There was a significant positive relationship between genome size and …

Weed-Biocontrol Insects Reduce Native-Plant Recruitment Through Second-Order Apparent Competition, Dean E. Pearson, Ragan M. Callaway

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Small-mammal seed predation is an important force structuring native-plant communities that may also influence exotic-plant invasions. In the intermountain West, deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are prominent predators of native-plant seeds, but they avoid consuming seeds of certain widespread invasives like spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa). These mice also consume the biological-control insects Urophora spp. introduced to control C. maculosa, and this food resource substantially increases deer mouse populations. Thus, mice may play an important role in the invasion and management of C. maculosa through food-web interactions. We examined deer mouse seed predation and its effects on …

Sex- And Gonad-Affecting Scent Compounds And 3 Male Pheromones In The Rat, Jian-Xu Zhang, Lixing Sun, Jin-Hua Zhang, Zhi-Yong Feng

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

This study was aimed at identifying sex pheromones of the rat (Rattus norvegicus). We characterized the volatiles and semivolatiles of rat preputial gland and voided urine by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and quantified them by their GC areas (abundances) and percentage of GC areas (relative abundances). Although all the compounds other than 4-heptanone and phenol detected were shared by males and females, the quantities for some of these sex-common compounds exhibited sexual dimorphism and decreased with gonadectomy. Thus, these compounds might be sex pheromones. Among them, squalene from preputial glands and 2-heptanone and 4-ethyl phenol from urine …

Shifts In Southern Wisconsin Forest Canopy And Understory Richness, Composition, And Heterogeneity, David A. Rogers, Thomas P. Rooney, Daniel Olson, Donald M. Waller

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We resurveyed the under- and overstory species composition of 94 upland forest stands in southern Wisconsin in 2002–2004 to assess shifts in canopy and understory richness, composition, and heterogeneity relative to the original surveys in 1949–1950. The canopy has shifted from mostly oaks (Quercus spp.) toward more mesic and shade-tolerant trees (primarily Acer spp.). Oak-dominated early-successional stands and those on coarse, nutrient-poor soils changed the most in canopy composition. Understories at most sites (80%) lost native species, with mean species density declining 25% at the 1-m² scale and 23.1% at the 20-m² scale. Woody species have increased …

The Indirect Effects Of Cheatgrass Invasion: Grasshopper Herbivory On Native Grasses Determined By Neighboring Cheatgrass, Julie Beckstead, Susan E. Meyer, Carol K. Augsperger

Biology Faculty Scholarship

Invasion biology has focused on the direct effects of plant invasion and has generally overlooked indirect interactions. Here we link theories of invasion biology and herbivory to explore an indirect effect of one invading species on associational herbivory (the effect of neighboring plants on herbivory) of native species. We studied a Great Basin shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia)-bunchgrass community in western Utah, U.S.A.This community is dominated by native bunchgrasses, invaded by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), and home to large populations of grasshoppers (Xanthippus corallipes and Melanoplus confusus). Observations of associational herbivory provided support for the attractant-source hypothesis for one of two native species …

The Effects Of Indirubin Derivitives On Gene Expression And Cellular Functions In The Murine Macrophage, Abigail Babcock

All Dissertations

Indirubin is the active ingredient in the ancient herbal remedy, Danggui Longhui Wan, which is used as an anti-leukemic, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification treatment. Indirubin-3'-monoxime (IO) is the most widely studied of the indirubin derivatives. Most have been shown to inhibit cyclin-dependent kinases and glycogen synthase kinases, triggering cell cycle arrest and apoptosis with different levels of activity depending on the particular structure. These kinases inhibited by indirubin(s) play key roles in cellular proliferation and immune functions, therefore synthetic indirubins may have significant applications as therapeutic agents for cancer, inflammation, and neurological diseases.
Indirubin is also a potent aryl hydrocarbon receptor …

Trypanosoma Cruzi In Wild Raccoons And Opossums From Kentucky, Brian Chad Groce

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Only 6 autochthonous cases of human Chagas disease have been documented in the U.S.A., however, as many as 5% of immigrants from Latin America may be infected with the etiologic agent, Trypanosoma cruzi. The parasite has been isolated from a variety of wild mammals, particularly in the southeastern region of the U.S.A. The goal of our study was to determine if the sylvatic cycle of T. cruzi infection occurs in Kentucky, and, if present, to assess the prevalence of infection in Warren and Barren counties. Raccoons and opossums were live-trapped between June and December, 2007. Animals were anesthetized with …

Conversion Of Traditional Observation-Based Botany Labs To Investigative Inquiry Learning, Hajara Mahmood

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

“Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” - Chinese Proverb. Involvement in learning implies possessing skills and attitudes that permit students to seek resolutions to questions and issues while constructing new knowledge.

Low enrollment in Plant Biology and Diversity and upper level plant science courses has been noticed at Western Kentucky University. In addition, graduating students performed below the national average on the senior assessment examination in the area of botany content knowledge offered by WKU’s Biology Department. This may be due to the fact that observation-based botany has been taught in …

Structure Of A Signal Transduction Regulator, Rack1, From Arabidopsis Thaliana, Hemayet Ullah

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

The receptor for activated C-kinase 1 (RACK1) is a highly conserved WD40 repeat scaffold protein found in a wide range of eukaryotic species from Chlamydymonas to plants and humans. In tissues of higher mammals, RACK1 is ubiquitously expressed and has been implicated in diverse signaling pathways involving neuropathology, cellular stress, protein translation, and developmental processes. RACK1 has established itself as a scaffold protein through physical interaction with a myriad of signaling proteins ranging from kinases, phosphatases, ion channels, membrane receptors, G proteins, IP3 receptor, and with widely conserved structural proteins associated with the ribosome. In the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, RACK1A …

Patterns Of Body And Tail Length And Body Mass In Sciuridae, Virginia Hayssen

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

For squirrels, physical size varies with ancestry, locomotion, and sex. Body length has little variation associated with subfamilies or tribes but varies significantly among genera within tribes. Thus, patterns in body size among genera represent more recent evolutionary pressures. Flying squirrels weigh less than similarly sized tree or ground squirrels but ecological profile and ancestry are confounded for flying squirrels. Tail length has clear relationships with ecological profile in squirrels. Tail length is shorter in ground squirrels, longer in tree squirrels, and longest in flying squirrels. In addition, in arboreal squirrels, females have longer tails, relative to body length, than …

Blunted Cystine–Glutamate Antiporter Function In The Nucleus Accumbens Promotes Cocaine-Induced Drug Seeking, Kristen S. Kau, Aric Madayag, John R. Mantsch, Mark D. Grier, Omer Abdulhameed, David A. Baker

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Repeated cocaine alters glutamate neurotransmission, in part, by reducing cystine–glutamate exchange via system x_c−, which maintains glutamate levels and receptor stimulation in the extrasynaptic compartment. In the present study, we undertook two approaches to determine the significance of plasticity involving system x_c−. First, we examined whether the cysteine prodrug N-acetylcysteine attenuates cocaine-primed reinstatement by targeting system x_c−. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine (1 mg/kg/200 μl, i.v.) under extended access conditions (6 h/day). After extinction training, cocaine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) primed reinstatement was assessed in rats pretreated with N-acetylcysteine (0–60 mg/kg, i.p.) in the …

Nectar Secondary Compounds Affect Self-Pollen Transfer: Implications For Female And Male Reproduction, Rebecca E. Irwin, Lynn S. Adler

Dartmouth Scholarship

Pollen movement within and among plants affects inbreeding, plant fitness, and the spatial scale of genetic differentiation. Although a number of studies have assessed how plant and floral traits influence pollen movement via changes in pollinator behavior, few have explored how nectar chemical composition affects pollen transfer. As many as 55% of plants produce secondary compounds in their nectar, which is surprising given that nectar is typically thought to attract pollinators. We tested the hypothesis that nectar with secondary compounds may benefit plants by encouraging pollinators to leave plants after visiting only a few flowers, thus reducing self-pollen transfer. We …

Knowledge-Based Analysis Of Genomic Expression Data By Using Different Machine Learning Algorithms For The Purpose Of Diagnostic, Prognostic Or Therapeutic Application, Venkata Jagan Mohan Thodima

Dissertations

With more and more biological information generated, the most pressing task of bioinformatics has become to analyze and interpret various types of data, including nucleotide and amino acid sequences, protein structures, gene expression profiling and so on. In this dissertation, we apply the data mining techniques of feature generation, feature selection, and feature integration with learning algorithms to tackle the problems of disease phenotype classification, clinical outcome and patient survival prediction from gene expression profiles.

We analyzed the effect of batch noise in microarray data on the performance of classification. Batchmatch, a batch adjusting algorithm based on double scaling method …

Vibration Causes Acute Vascular Injury In A Two-Step Process: Vasoconstriction And Vacuole Disruption, Sandya R. Govindaraju, James L. W. Bain, Thomas J. Eddinger, Danny A. Riley

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Hand–arm vibration syndrome is a vasospastic and neurodegenerative occupational disease. In the current study, the mechanism of vibration- induced vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) injury was examined in a rat-tail vibration model. Tails of male Sprague Dawley rats were vibrated continuously for 4 hr at 60 Hz, 49 m/s2 with or without general anesthesia. Ventral tail arteries were aldehyde fixed and embedded in epoxy resin to enable morphological analysis. Vibration without anesthesia caused vasoconstriction and vacuoles in the SMC. Anesthetizing rats during vibration prevented vasoconstriction and vacuole formation. Exposing tail arteries in situ to 1 mM norepinephrine (NE) for 15 …

Cellular And Synaptic Actions Of Acetylcholine In The Lamprey Spinal Cord, Katharina A. Quinlan, James T. Buchanan

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

This study investigated cellular and synaptic mechanisms of cholinergic neuromodulation in the in vitro lamprey spinal cord. Most spinal neurons tested responded to local application of acetylcholine (ACh) with depolarization and decreased input resistance. The depolarization persisted in the presence of either tetrodotoxin or muscarinic antagonist scopolamine and was abolished with nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine, indicating a direct depolarization through nicotinic ACh receptors. Local application of muscarinic ACh agonists modulated synaptic strength in the spinal cord by decreasing the amplitude of unitary excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. The postsynaptic response to direct application of glutamate was unchanged by muscarinic agonists, suggesting …