Digital Commons Network^™

Mastering Mycological Mysteries With Explorations Of Harpellales Associated With Culicidae And Other Dipterans In Idaho, Michael Mccormick

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Presented is the first field survey and laboratory-based study focused on Harpellales gut fungi found in Culicidae (mosquito) larvae collected from various parts of Idaho. Overall, 34 sites were sampled ranging from urban storm drains and irrigation puddles to pristine stream-side puddles. These sites yielded 17 different species of mosquitoes and three previously described species of gut fungi. Three species of mosquitoes were the first recorded observations as hosts of the following gut fungi: Culiseta alaskaensis was infested with Zancudomyces culisetae (from Renwyck Creek), Culex tarsalis with Smittium culicis (from Cottonwood Creek), and Ochleratus sp. with Smittium minutisporum (from Bear …

Co-Infection Of Zika And Dengue Virus In Aedes Aegypti And Aedes Albopictus Mosquitoes, Felicia Vazquez

Theses and Dissertations

The term co-infection describes an event when multiple pathogens infect a single host. For vector-borne diseases, a vector may become co-infected by feeding either on a single host that has multiple pathogens or feeding multiple hosts, each of which may be infected. Co-infection in non-vector hosts has been shown to influence immune response and eventual outcome of disease, and is likely to have a similar impact on vector species. With multiple vector-borne diseases circulating in South Texas, the potential for co-infection exists. We examined when mosquitoes are infected with one virus and subsequently infected with another. We hypothesized that the …

Backpack Pcr: A Point-Of-Collection Diagnostic Platform For The Rapid Detection Of Brugia Parasites In Mosquitoes, Weam I. Zaky, Francesca R. Tomaino, Nils Pilotte, Sandra J. Laney, Steven A. Williams

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Thermoregulation And Thermal Mismatches Influence Disease Dynamics In Amphibians, Erin Louise Sauer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amphibians are currently the most threatened vertebra taxa on the planet. Hundreds of species are thought to have gone extinct while thousands more have been listed as threatened or endangered over the past few decades. Habitat loss, invasive species, climate change, and disease are all thought to have partially contributed to these declines. Two pathogens in particular, infectious viruses in the genus Ranavirus (simply referred to as ranavirus) and the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), have been associated with global mass mortality events of amphibians. Virulent pathogens such as these tend to impose strong selective pressures on their hosts driving the …

Derivatives Of A Benzoquinone Acyl Hydrazone With Activity Against Toxoplasma Gondii, A. G. Sanford, T. T. Schulze, L. P. Potluri, G. F. Watson, E. B. Darner, S. J. Zach, R. M. Hemsley, A. I. Wallick, R. C. Warner, S. A. Charman, X. Wang, J. L. Vennerstrom, P. H. Davis

Biology Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite with global incidence. The acute infection, toxoplasmosis, is treatable but current regimens have poor host tolerance and no cure has been found for latent infections. This work builds upon a previous high throughput screen which identified benzoquinone acyl hydrazone (KG8) as the most promising compound; KG8 displayed potent in vitro activity against T. gondii but only marginal in vivoefficacy in a T. gondii animal model. To define the potential of this new lead compound, we now describe a baseline structure-activity relationship for this chemotype. Several derivatives displayed IC50's comparable …

A Physical And Genetic Map Of Cannabis Sativa Identifies Extensive Rearrangements At The Thc/Cbd Acid Synthase Loci, Kaitlin Laverty, Jake Stout, Mitchell Sullivan, Hardik Shah, Navdeep Gill, Larry Holbrook, Gintaras Deikus, Robert Sebra, Timothy Hughes, Jonathan Page, Harm Van Bakel

Biology Faculty Articles

Cannabis sativa is widely cultivated for medicinal, food, industrial, and recreational use, but much remains unknown regarding its genetics, including the molecular determinants of cannabinoid content. Here, we describe a combined physical and genetic map derived from a cross between the drug-type strain Purple Kush and the hemp variety “Finola.” The map reveals that cannabinoid biosynthesis genes are generally unlinked but that aromatic prenyltransferase (AP), which produces the substrate for THCA and CBDA synthases (THCAS and CBDAS), is tightly linked to a known marker for total cannabinoid content. We further identify the gene encoding CBCA synthase (CBCAS …

Water-Soluble Cranberry Extract Inhibits Vibrio Cholerae Biofilm Formation Possibly Through Modulating The Second Messenger 3’, 5’ - Cyclic Diguanylate Level, Daniel B. Pederson, Yuqing Dong, Levi B. Blue, Sara V. Smith, Min Cao

Publications

Quorum sensing (QS) and nucleotide-based second messengers are vital signaling systems that regulate bacterial physiology in response to changing environments. Disrupting bacterial signal transduction is a promising direction to combat infectious diseases, and QS and the second messengers are undoubtedly potential targets. In Vibrio cholerae, both QS and the second messenger 3’, 5’—cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) play a central role in controlling motility, motile-to-sessile life transition, and virulence. In this study, we found that water-soluble extract from the North American cranberry could significantly inhibit V. cholerae biofilm formation during the development/maturation stage by reducing the biofilm matrix production and …

Estimating The Elimination Feasibility In The 'End Game' Of Control Efforts For Parasites Subjected To Regular Mass Drug Administration: Methods And Their Application To Schistosomiasis, Arathi Arakala, Christopher M. Hoover, John M. Marshall, Susanne H. Sokolow, Guilio A. De Leo, Jason R. Rohr, Justin V. Remais, Manoj Gambhir

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Progress towards controlling and eliminating parasitic worms, including schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis, is advancing rapidly as national governments, multinational NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies launch collaborative chemotherapeutic control campaigns. Critical questions remain regarding the potential for achieving elimination of these infections, and analytical methods can help to quickly estimate progress towards—and the probability of achieving—elimination over specific timeframes. Here, we propose the effective reproduction number, R_eff, as a proxy of elimination potential for sexually reproducing worms that are subject to poor mating success at very low abundance (positive density dependence, or Allee effects). R_eff is the …

Effects Of Evolution On Laboratory Sublines Of Myxococcus Xanthus Dk1622, Mackenzie Ryan, Francesca Scribano, Kimberly Murphy

Celebration of Learning

Microbes have served as effective models for studying evolution because of their ability to be easily replicated, stored, and manipulated. Myxococcus xanthus is a soil bacterium that has served as a model organism in many laboratories. The unique social and motile behaviors exhibited by this bacterium make it ideal for phenotypic assays. A wild-type strain of M. xanthus, DK1622, has been distributed to laboratories across the United States and therefore we now have DK1622 sublines. The genomes of a number of these sublines have been sequenced and their social and motile phenotypes have been analyzed. When nine of these sublines …

Proposed Interventions For The Containment Of Influenza In Boarding Schools And Small Colleges, Alexis Vittengl

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Fueling Defense: Effects Of Resources On The Ecology And Evolution Of Tolerance To Parasite Infection, Sarah A. Budischak, Clayton E. Cressler

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Resource availability is a key environmental constraint affecting the ecology and evolution of species. Resources have strong effects on disease resistance, but they can also affect the othermain parasite defense strategy, tolerance. A small but growing number of animal studies are beginning to investigate the effects of resources on tolerance phenotypes. Here, we review how resources affect tolerance strategies across animal taxa ranging from fruit flies to frogs to mice. Surprisingly, resources (quality and quantity) can increase or reduce tolerance, dependent upon the particular host-parasite system. To explore this seeming contradiction, we recast predictions of models of sterility tolerance and …

The Value Of Chemical Defense: The Effects Of Toxin Milking On The Physical, Physiological, And Behavioral Performance Of Cane Toads (Rhinella Marina), Ryann Blennerhassett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Amphibians have cutaneous glands on their skin which produce a number of toxic compounds that serve as protection against predators and microorganisms. Cane toads (Rhinella marina) have large parotoid glands located on their shoulders to store toxins, many of which are derived from lipids and are thus energetically expensive to produce. I used a combination of field and laboratory studies to investigate behavioral and physiological consequences of toxin loss and replenishment in cane toads. In a cross-sectional study, free-ranging toads were euthanized and dissected to identify correlations between toxin content and morphology /physiology. Experimental manipulations (manually expressing toxin from glands) …

View Point: Gaps In The Current Guidelines For The Prevention Of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Surgical Site Infections, Kevin T. Kavanagh, Said Abusalem, Lindsay E. Calderon

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The authors advocate the addition of two preventative strategies to the current United State’s guidelines for the prevention of surgical site infections. It is known that Staphylococcus aureus, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carriers are at a higher risk for the development of infections and they can easily transmit the organism. The carriage rate of Staph. aureus in the general population approximates 33%. The CDC estimates the carriage rate of MRSA in the United States is approximately 2%. The first strategy is preoperative screening of surgical patients for Staph. aureus, including MRSA. This recommendation is based upon the …

Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid Prevents Silica-Induced Development Of Pulmonary Ectopic Germinal Centers And Glomerulonephritis In The Lupus-Prone Nzbwf1 Mouse, Melissa A. Bates, Peyman Akbari, Kristen N. Gilley, James G. Wagner, Ning Li, Anna K. Kopec, Kathryn A. Wierenga, Daven Jackson-Humbles, Christina Brandenberger, Andrij Holian, Abby D. Benninghoff, Jack R. Harkema, James J. Pestka

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Ectopic lymphoid structures (ELS) consist of B-cell and T-cell aggregates that are initiated de novo in inflamed tissues outside of secondary lymphoid organs. When organized within follicular dendritic cell (FDC) networks, ELS contain functional germinal centers that can yield autoantibody-secreting plasma cells and promote autoimmune disease. Intranasal instillation of lupus-prone mice with crystalline silica (cSiO₂), a respirable particle linked to human lupus, triggers ELS formation in the lung, systemic autoantibodies, and early onset of glomerulonephritis. Here we tested the hypothesis that consumption of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid with anti-inflammatory properties, influences the temporal profile …

An Investigation Into Tetrodotoxin (Ttx) Levels Associated With The Red Dorsal Spots In Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus Viridescens) Efts And Adults, Mackenzie M. Spicer, James P. Strange, Trevor L. Chapman, Edmund D. Brodie Jr., Edmund D. Brodie Jr., Brian G. Gall

Biology Faculty Publications

We investigated the concentration of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in sections of skin containing and lacking red dorsal spots in both Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) efts and adults. Several other species, such as Pleurodeles waltl and Echinotriton andersoni, have granular glands concentrated in brightly pigmented regions on the dorsum, and thus we hypothesized that the red dorsal spots of Eastern newts may also possess higher levels of TTX than the surrounding skin. We found no difference between the concentrations of TTX in the red spots as compared to neighboring skin lacking these spots in either efts or adults. However, …

Phage Therapy And Development Of Delivery Systems For Gram-Positive Phage Endolysins, Jude Ajuebor

PhDs

This thesis focussed on Gram positive phages and their endolysins. Here, two similar kay-like staphylococcal phages B1 (vB_SauM_B1) and JA1 (vB_SauM_JA1) were isolated from a commercial therapeutic phage mix. Their host range was established on the Irish National MRSA bank, which included twenty one sequence types in addition relevant control strains. Based on this, distinct phages were identified and subjected to genome sequencing. The sequences were compared with the sequence of phage K (vB_SauM_K), which was also determined in this work. All three phages had a genome size of at least 139 kb, although some key differences were identified between …

Interferon Priming Is Essential For Human Cd34+ Cell-Derived Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Maturation And Function, A. Lausten, R. O. Bak, C. Krapp, L. Kjær, J. H. Egedahl, C. C. Petersen, S. Pillai, H. Q. Tang, N. Uldbjerg, M. Porteus, N. R. Roan, M. Nyegaard, Paul W. Denton, M. R. Jakobsen

Biology Faculty Publications

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are essential for immune competence. Here we show that pDC precursor differentiated from human CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) has low surface expression of pDC markers, and has limited induction of type I interferon (IFN) and IL-6 upon TLR7 and TLR9 agonists treatment; by contrast, cGAS or RIG-I agonists-mediated activation is not altered. Importantly, after priming with type I and II IFN, these precursor pDCs attain a phenotype and functional activity similar to that of peripheral blood-derived pDCs. Data from CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing of HSPCs further show that HSPC-pDCs with genetic modifications can be …

Cinnamoyl- Oxaborole Amides: Synthesis And Their In Vitro Biological Activity, Maureen Gumbo, Richard M. Beteck, Tawanda Mandizvo, Ronnett Seldon, Digby F. Warner, Heinrich C. Hoppe, Michelle Isaacs, Dustin Laming, Christina C. Tam, Luisa W. Cheng, Nicole Liu, Kirkwood M. Land, Setshaba D. Khanye

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

Due to the increased interest in their application in the treatment of infectious diseases, boron-containing compounds have received a significant coverage in the literature. Herein, a small set of novel cinnamoly-oxaborole amides were synthesized and screened against nagana Trypanosoma brucei brucei for antitrypanosomal activity. Compound 5g emerged as a new hit with an in vitro IC50 value of 0.086 μM against T. b. brucei without obvious inhibitory activity against HeLa cell lines. The same series was also screened against other human pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), for which moderate to weak activity (10 to >125 …

Identification Of Bhlhe40 And Irg1 As Essential Regulators Of The Inflammatory Response To Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Jeremy Peter Huynh

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Protective immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) must induce bactericidal functions while minimizing damage to the lung. Such responses require precise control of pro- and anti-inflammatory factors to regulate the recruitment and function of protective immune cells but the mechanisms by which this control is exerted remain incompletely defined. Basic helix-loop-helix family, member e40 (Bhlhe40) is a transcription factor known to regulate production of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines that affect protective immunity to Mtb. Immune-responsive Gene 1 (Irg1) is an enzyme that generates itaconate, a metabolite with potential anti-inflammatory and antibacterial roles during Mtb infection. The impact of Bhlhe40 and …

Transcriptional Signatures Of Host Susceptibility In Urinary Tract Infections, Lu Yu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTI) caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are common and highly recurrent. Two important non-behavioral risk factors for UTI in women are genetics and history of two or more episodes of previous UTI. However, specific mechanisms of how these two factors modulate host susceptibility to UTI remain unclear. Concordantly, inbred mice of various genotypes and with different infection histories exhibit different susceptibilities to acute and chronic bladder infection (cystitis), which recapitulates a range of clinical UTI outcomes observed in women. Early host-pathogen interactions have been shown to determine UTI outcomes in mouse models. Here, we used two …

The Mechanism Of Hyper Daptomycin Resistance In Corynebacterium Striatum And Daptomycinճ Mechanism Of Action, Nicholas Kevork Goldner

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Daptomycin, a last line-of-defense antibiotic for treating Gram-positive infections, is experiencing clinical failure against important infectious agents, including Corynebacterium striatum. The recent transition of daptomycin to generic antibiotic status is projected to dramatically increase availability, use, and clinical failure. Despite daptomycinճ more than 30-year history as an important antibiotic, four major questions were left unanswered. 1) How do bacteria become hyper-resistant to daptomycin? 2) What is the in vivo membrane target of daptomycin? 3) How does daptomycin interact with the membrane? 4) What is daptomycinճ mechanism of killing? These four questions have plagued the daptomycin field, and even now conflicting …

Breath Biomarkers And An Expanded Role For Isoprenoids In Plasmodium Falciparum, Chad Louis Schaber

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Malaria remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide, and efforts to combat it require novel insights into diagnostics, vector transmission, and drug inhibitor targets. Previous studies suggest that malaria infection causes hosts to preferentially attract the transmission vector, the Anopheles mosquito, but the mechanism and wider implication of these findings were not known. By analyzing the headspace above malaria parasite cultures, we identified several molecules that might engender mosquito attraction. We demonstrated that several of these molecules activate mosquito odorant receptors, including the known plant-emitted mosquito attractant _-pinene. During patient studies involving two independent pediatric clinical populations from Malawi, …

Management Implications Of Sex-Specific Habitat Use By Nycticeius Humeralis In North-Central Arkansas, Megan Lynn Buckley

Student Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to evaluate evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis) habitat use and provide a proxy strategy to evaluate habitat use by other species. I used the software Maximum Entropy to evaluate habitat suitability models for evening bats using three different modeling strategies; percent variable contribution, the jackknife test, and variable response curves. The predictors included in the models were 10 land use land cover classes, four forest management strategies, slope, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The results of this research showed that distance to burned stands and proximity to edge habitat are the most important …

Yardwork: A Biography Of An Urban Place By Daniel Coleman, Vivian M. Hansen

The Goose

Review of Daniel Coleman's Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place.

Effect Of Torpor On Host Transcriptomic Responses To A Fungal Pathogen In Hibernating Bats, Kenneth A. Field, Brent J. Sewall, Jenni M. Prokkola, Gregory G. Turner, Marianne Gagnon, Thomas M. Lilley, J Paul White, Joseph S. Johnson, Christopher L. Hauer, Deeann M. Reeder

Faculty Journal Articles

Hibernation, the use of prolonged torpor to depress metabolism, is employed by mammals to conserve resources during extended periods of extreme temperatures and/or resource limitation. Mammalian hibernators arouse to euthermy periodically during torpor for reasons that are not well understood and these arousals may facilitate immune processes. To determine if arousals enable host responses to pathogens, we used dual RNA‐Seq and a paired sampling approach to examine gene expression in a hibernating bat, the little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus). During torpor, transcript levels differed in only a few genes between uninfected wing tissue and adjacent tissue infected with …

Poultry And Beef Meat As Potential Seedbeds For Antimicrobial Resistant Enterotoxigenic Bacillus Species: A Materializing Epidemiological And Potential Severe Health Hazard, Kamelia M. Osman, Ahmed Orabi, Anthony D. Kappell, Khalid S. Al-Maary, Ayman S. Mubarak, Turki M. Dawoud, Ihab M.I. Moussa, Hassan A. Hemeg, Ashgan M. Hessain, Hend M.Y. Yousef, Krassimira R. Hristova

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Although Bacillus cereus is of particular concern in food safety and public health, the role of other Bacillus species was overlooked. Therefore, we investigated the presence of eight enterotoxigenic genes, a hemolytic gene and phenotypic antibiotic resistance profiles of Bacillusspecies in retail meat samples. From 255 samples, 124 Bacillus isolates were recovered, 27 belonged to B. cereusand 97 were non-B. cereus species. Interestingly, the non-B. cereus isolates carried the virulence genes and exhibited phenotypic virulence characteristics as the B. cereus. However, correlation matrix analysis revealed the B. cereus group positively …

Sodium Pyruvate Alters The Immune Response To Influenza A Virus Infection In Macrophages, Hazzar Abysalamah

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Pyruvate is the end product of glycolysis. It can either be transported into the mitochondria for use in the TCA cycle or be used to regenerate NAD⁺ during fermentation or aerobic glycolysis (also called the Warburg Effect). I recently discovered that addition of sodium pyruvate to the culture medium during infection of macrophages with influenza A virus affects the production of cytokines involved in immune signaling. While infection of macrophages with influenza A virus resulted in high levels of cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) in the absence of sodium pyruvate, the addition of sodium pyruvate significantly impaired cytokine …

Hemocyanin-Like 1 Protein, Unique To Planorbid Snails, Supports Reproductive Output Of Biomphalaria Glabrata, Vector Of Schistosomiasis, Janeth Julieta Peña

Biology ETDs

The Neotropical freshwater snail, Biomphalaria glabrata is a major intermediate host of the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, causative agent of human intestinal schistosomiasis. Disease control efforts consist mainly of mass drug treatment but it is recognized that targeting of the snail vector is essential to prevent parasite transmission that leads to rapid (re)infections. This dissertation combines the knowledge of basic snail biology with modern molecular techniques including protein analysis, next-generation sequencing, proteomics, qRT-PCR and RNA interference to: (1) characterize hemocyanin-like genes in B. glabrata, in particular with further description of the egg mass fluid (EMF) protein hemocyanin-like 1 (Hcl-1), (2) …

Ancylostoma Ceylanicum Hookworm In Myanmar Refugees, Thailand, 2012–2015, Elise M. O'Connell, Tarissa Mitchell, Marina Papaiakovou, Nils Pilotte, Deborah Lee, Michelle Weinberg, Potsawin Sakulrak, Dilok Tongsukh, Georgiette Oduro-Boateng, Sarah Harrison, Steven A. Williams, William M. Stauffer, Thomas B. Nutman

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

During 2012–2015, US-bound refugees living in Myanmar– Thailand border camps (n = 1,839) were surveyed for hookworm infection and treatment response by using quantitative PCR. Samples were collected at 3 time points: after each of 2 treatments with albendazole and after resettlement in the United States. Baseline prevalence of Necator americanus hookworm was 25.4%, Ancylostoma duodenale 0%, and Ancylostoma ceylanicum (a zoonosis) 5.4%. Compared with N. americanus prevalence, A. ceylanicum hookworm prevalence peaked in younger age groups, and blood eosinophil concentrations during A. ceylanicum infection were higher than those for N. americanus infection. Female sex was associated with a lower …

Immune Function And Metabolism Of Hibernating North American Bats With White-Nose Syndrome, Briana Nicole Anderson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

White-nose syndrome (WNS) causes substantial mortality in certain species of hibernating North American bats. The responsible agent is Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), a fungus which causes physiological complications such as increased arousals and energy depletion during the hibernation season. Tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) and northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) suffer extensive WNS mortality, while gray bats (Myotis grisescens) and big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) are infected, but mortality is rarely observed. It is hypothesized that there is a difference in immune responses and/or hibernation metabolism between these bat species, resulting in this …