Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biology

Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 3601 - 3630 of 4682

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Circadian Disruption And Metabolic Disease: Findings From Animal Models, Deanna M. Arble, Kathryn Moynihan Ramsey, Joseph Bass, Fred W. Turek Oct 2010

Circadian Disruption And Metabolic Disease: Findings From Animal Models, Deanna M. Arble, Kathryn Moynihan Ramsey, Joseph Bass, Fred W. Turek

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Social opportunities and work demands have caused humans to become increasingly active during the late evening hours, leading to a shift from the predominantly diurnal lifestyle of our ancestors to a more nocturnal one. This voluntarily decision to stay awake long into the evening hours leads to circadian disruption at the system, tissue, and cellular levels. These derangements are in turn associated with clinical impairments in metabolic processes and physiology. The use of animal models for circadian disruption provides an important opportunity to determine mechanisms by which disorganization in the circadian system can lead to metabolic dysfunction in response to …

Go to article

Prolonged Space Flight-Induced Alterations In The Structure And Function Of Human Skeletal Muscle Fibres, Robert H. Fitts, S. W. Trappe, David R. Costill, Philip M. Gallagher, Andrew C. Creer, Patricia A. Colloton, Jim R. Peters, Janell Romatowski, J. L. Bain, Danny A. Riley Sep 2010

Prolonged Space Flight-Induced Alterations In The Structure And Function Of Human Skeletal Muscle Fibres, Robert H. Fitts, S. W. Trappe, David R. Costill, Philip M. Gallagher, Andrew C. Creer, Patricia A. Colloton, Jim R. Peters, Janell Romatowski, J. L. Bain, Danny A. Riley

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The primary goal of this study was to determine the effects of prolonged space flight (~180 days) on the structure and function of slow and fast fibres in human skeletal muscle. Biopsies were obtained from the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of nine International Space Station crew members ~45 days pre- and on landing day (R+0) postflight. The main findings were that prolonged weightlessness produced substantial loss of fibre mass, force, and power with the hierarchy of the effects being soleus type I > soleus type II > gastrocnemius type I > gastrocnemius type II. Structurally, the quantitatively most important adaptation was fibre atrophy …

Go to article

Glutamine Synthetase Partitioning In Native And Introduced Salt Marsh Grasses, Eric L.G. Hazelton, Thomas J. Knight Phd, Theresa A. Theodose Phd Sep 2010

Glutamine Synthetase Partitioning In Native And Introduced Salt Marsh Grasses, Eric L.G. Hazelton, Thomas J. Knight Phd, Theresa A. Theodose Phd

Faculty Publications

Plants with higher glutamine synthetase (GS) activity in photosynthetic tissues than below-ground structures (high leaf:root [L:R] GS activity) show growth advantages over plants with a low L:R GS activity ratio. The benefits of a high L:R GS activity ratio are well documented in agricultural systems, but little is known about the ecology of GS partitioning in natural systems. To determine the ecological significance of GS partitioning, we measured above- and below-ground GS activity in Spartina grasses field-collected from a Maine salt marsh and others raised in a growth chamber from seed. The more stress-tolerant, faster growing S. alterniflora had a …

Go to article

The Biopax Community Standard For Pathway Data Sharing, E. Demir, M. P. Cary, S. Paley, K. Fukuda, C. Lemer, I. Vastrik, G. Wu, P. D’Eustachio, C. Schaefer, J. Luciano, F. Schacherer, I. Martinez-Flores, Z. Hu, V. Jimenez-Jacinto, G. Joshi-Tope, K. Kandasamy, A. C. Lopez-Fuentes, H. Mi, E. Pichler, I. Rodchenkov, A. Splendiani, S. Tkachev, J. Zucker, G. Gopinath, H. Rajasimha, R. Ramakrishnan, I. Shah, M. Syed, N. Anwar, O. Babur, M. Blinov, E. Brauner, D. Corwin, S. Donaldson, F. Gibbons, R. Goldberg, R. Hornbeck, A. Luna, P. Murray-Rust, E. Neumann, O. Reubenacker, M. Samwald, M. Van Iersel, S. Wimalaratne, K. Allen, B. Braun, M. Whirl-Carrillo, K. H. Cheung, Kam D. Dahlquist, A. Finney, M. Gillespie, E. Glass, L. Gong, M. Honig, O. Hubaut, D. Kane, S. Krupa, M. Kutmon, J. Leonard, D. Marks, D. Merberg, V. Petri, A. Pico, D. Ravenscroft, L. Ren, N. Shah, M. Sunshine, R. Tang, R. Whaley, S. Letovksi, K. H. Buetow, A. Rzhetsky, V. Schachter, B. S. Sobral, U. Dogrusoz, S. Mcweeney, M. Aladjem, E. Birney, J. Collado-Vides, S. Goto, M. Hucka, N. Le Novère, N. Maltsev, A. Pandey, P. Thomas, E. Wingender, P. D. Karp, C. Sander, G. D. Bader Sep 2010

The Biopax Community Standard For Pathway Data Sharing, E. Demir, M. P. Cary, S. Paley, K. Fukuda, C. Lemer, I. Vastrik, G. Wu, P. D’Eustachio, C. Schaefer, J. Luciano, F. Schacherer, I. Martinez-Flores, Z. Hu, V. Jimenez-Jacinto, G. Joshi-Tope, K. Kandasamy, A. C. Lopez-Fuentes, H. Mi, E. Pichler, I. Rodchenkov, A. Splendiani, S. Tkachev, J. Zucker, G. Gopinath, H. Rajasimha, R. Ramakrishnan, I. Shah, M. Syed, N. Anwar, O. Babur, M. Blinov, E. Brauner, D. Corwin, S. Donaldson, F. Gibbons, R. Goldberg, R. Hornbeck, A. Luna, P. Murray-Rust, E. Neumann, O. Reubenacker, M. Samwald, M. Van Iersel, S. Wimalaratne, K. Allen, B. Braun, M. Whirl-Carrillo, K. H. Cheung, Kam D. Dahlquist, A. Finney, M. Gillespie, E. Glass, L. Gong, M. Honig, O. Hubaut, D. Kane, S. Krupa, M. Kutmon, J. Leonard, D. Marks, D. Merberg, V. Petri, A. Pico, D. Ravenscroft, L. Ren, N. Shah, M. Sunshine, R. Tang, R. Whaley, S. Letovksi, K. H. Buetow, A. Rzhetsky, V. Schachter, B. S. Sobral, U. Dogrusoz, S. Mcweeney, M. Aladjem, E. Birney, J. Collado-Vides, S. Goto, M. Hucka, N. Le Novère, N. Maltsev, A. Pandey, P. Thomas, E. Wingender, P. D. Karp, C. Sander, G. D. Bader

Biology Faculty Works

Biological Pathway Exchange (BioPAX) is a standard language to represent biological pathways at the molecular and cellular level and to facilitate the exchange of pathway data. The rapid growth of the volume of pathway data has spurred the development of databases and computational tools to aid interpretation; however, use of these data is hampered by the current fragmentation of pathway information across many databases with incompatible formats. BioPAX, which was created through a community process, solves this problem by making pathway data substantially easier to collect, index, interpret and share. BioPAX can represent metabolic and signaling pathways, molecular and genetic …

Go to article

Bioluminescent Escherichia Coli Strains For The Quantitative Detection Of Phosphate And Ammonia In Coastal And Suburban Watersheds, Cristina V. Cardemil , '01, D. R. Smulski, R. A. Larossa, Amy Cheng Vollmer Sep 2010

Bioluminescent Escherichia Coli Strains For The Quantitative Detection Of Phosphate And Ammonia In Coastal And Suburban Watersheds, Cristina V. Cardemil , '01, D. R. Smulski, R. A. Larossa, Amy Cheng Vollmer

Biology Faculty Works

Accumulation of phosphate and ammonia in estuarine systems and subsequent dinoflagellate and algal blooms has been implicated in fish kills and in health risks for fishermen. Analytic chemistry kits are used to measure phosphate and ammonia levels in water samples, but their sensitivity is limited due to specificity for inorganic forms of these moieties. An Escherichia coli bioluminescent reporter system measured the bioavailability of inorganic nutrients through fusion of E. coli promoters (phoA or glnAp2) to the luxCDABE operon of Vibrio fischeri carried either on the chromosome or on a multicopy plasmid vector, resulting in emission of light in response …

Go to article

Demographics And Terrestrial Ecology Of An Amphibian Community In A Large Ephemeral Pond In The Ozark Mountains, Corey Lynn Shaffer Aug 2010

Demographics And Terrestrial Ecology Of An Amphibian Community In A Large Ephemeral Pond In The Ozark Mountains, Corey Lynn Shaffer

Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the aquatic and terrestrial ecology of an amphibian community at an ephemeral pond in the Ozark Mountains. Literature on amphibian community assemblage is reviewed, and reasons for species abundance at the pond (hydrology, interspecific interactions, and terrestrial habitat requirements) are inferred. Sixteen species were observed using Stout Pond. Emigration orientation, distance of migration, and terrestrial macrohabitat use are assessed for some species. Emigration was concentrated in the south and southwest toward northeastern hillsides. Species avoided pine forests in the southeast and younger forests in the northwest. On average, species migrated from 80-200 m to reach terrestrial home …

Go to article

Potential Biases In Estimating The Rate Parameter Of Sigmoid Growth Functions, Robert Ricklefs, Suzanne Austin, Tara Robinson, W. Robinson Aug 2010

Potential Biases In Estimating The Rate Parameter Of Sigmoid Growth Functions, Robert Ricklefs, Suzanne Austin, Tara Robinson, W. Robinson

Biology Department Faculty Works

1. We compare biases in estimates of the rate constant of the logistic and Gompertz functions applied to avian growth using three methods of parameter estimation. The methods differ in how the asymptote is determined, and consist of either floating asymptotes estimated from the full data (floating A) or data truncated at 70% of the adult mass (70%A), or fixing the asymptote at the adult mass (fixed A).2. First, using data for two passerine species exhibiting different growth patterns, we truncated mass measurements at different ages to explore how each method of growth rate estimation responded to simulated differences in …

Go to article

The Perilipin Homologue, Lipid Storage Droplet 2, Regulates Sleep Homeostasis And Prevents Learning Impairments Following Sleep Loss, Matthew S. Thimgan, Yasuko Suzuki, Laurent Seugnet, Laura Gottschalk, Paul J. Shaw Aug 2010

The Perilipin Homologue, Lipid Storage Droplet 2, Regulates Sleep Homeostasis And Prevents Learning Impairments Following Sleep Loss, Matthew S. Thimgan, Yasuko Suzuki, Laurent Seugnet, Laura Gottschalk, Paul J. Shaw

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Extended periods of waking result in physiological impairments in humans, rats, and flies. Sleep homeostasis, the increase in sleep observed following sleep loss, is believed to counter the negative effects of prolonged waking by restoring vital biological processes that are degraded during sleep deprivation. Sleep homeostasis, as with other behaviors, is influenced by both genes and environment. We report here that during periods of starvation, flies remain spontaneously awake but, in contrast to sleep deprivation, do not accrue any of the negative consequences of prolonged waking. Specifically, the homeostatic response and learning impairments that are a characteristic of sleep loss …

Go to article

Agolohymena Aspidocauda Nov. Gen., Nov. Spec., A Histophagous Freshwater Tetrahymenid Ciliate In The Family Deltopylidae (Ciliophora, Hymenostomatia), From Idaho (Northwest U.S.A.): Morphology, Ontogenesis And Molecular Phylogeny, William A. Bourland, Michaela C. Strüder-Kypke Aug 2010

Agolohymena Aspidocauda Nov. Gen., Nov. Spec., A Histophagous Freshwater Tetrahymenid Ciliate In The Family Deltopylidae (Ciliophora, Hymenostomatia), From Idaho (Northwest U.S.A.): Morphology, Ontogenesis And Molecular Phylogeny, William A. Bourland, Michaela C. Strüder-Kypke

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Morphology, ontogeny and the molecular phylogeny of Agolohymena aspidocauda nov. gen., nov. spec., a new freshwater tetrahymenid ciliate from Idaho, U.S.A, are described. The ontogeny and histophagous mode of nutrition are similar to those of Deltopylum rhabdoides Fauré-Fremiet and Mugard, 1946. The new genus is placed with Deltopylum in the resurrected family Deltopylidae Song & Wilbert, 1989. We emend the diagnostic features of the family to include division by polytomy, right and left somatic kineties extending into the preoral suture, crook-shaped or sigmoid adoral membranelles 1 and 2, markedly reduced adoral membranelle 3 and a tetrahymenid silverline pattern. The main …

Go to article

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.

Go to article

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 …

Go to article

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 …

Go to article

Physiological Studies On Candida Albicans, Swetha Tati Jul 2010

Physiological Studies On Candida Albicans, Swetha Tati

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

Candida albicans is a common opportunistic, dimorphic human fungal pathogen. One of its virulence factors is the morphological switch between yeasts and hyphal or pseudohyphal forms, which can invade tissues and cause damage. Our studies focus on factors regulating pseudohyphae and epigenetic modifications of C. albicans. Regulating factors of pseudohyphae are aromatic alcohols and high phosphate. At low concentrations, exogenous aromatic alcohols induced pseudohyphae, as did high phosphate. For addressing the pathways involved in inducing pseudohyphae by aromatic alcohols or high phosphate, we used mutants defective in cAMP dependent PKA pathway (efg1/efg1), MAP kinase pathway (cph1/cph1), or both (cph1/cph1/efg1/efg1). …

Go to article

Probiotic Therapy - Recruiting Old Friends To Fight New Foes, Roy D. Sleator Jun 2010

Probiotic Therapy - Recruiting Old Friends To Fight New Foes, Roy D. Sleator

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Against a backdrop of increasing antibiotic resistance, and the emergence of new and evolving pathogens, clinicians are increasingly forced to consider alternative therapies - probiotics are one such alternative.

Go to article

The Evolution Of Seeds, Ada Linkies, Kai Graeber, Charles A. Knight, Gerhard Leubner-Metzger Jun 2010

The Evolution Of Seeds, Ada Linkies, Kai Graeber, Charles A. Knight, Gerhard Leubner-Metzger

Biological Sciences

The evolution of the seed represents a remarkable life-history transition for photosynthetic organisms. Here, we review the recent literature and historical understanding of how and why seeds evolved. Answering the 'how' question involves a detailed understanding of the developmental morphology and anatomy of seeds, as well as the genetic programs that determine seed size. We complement this with a special emphasis on the evolution of dormancy, the characteristic of seeds that allows for long 'distance' time travel. Answering the 'why' question involves proposed hypotheses of how natural selection has operated to favor the seed life-history phenomenon. The recent flurry of …

Go to article

Design And Implementation Of Marine Biology Lessons At The Avila Beach Sea Life Center, Heather L. Price Jun 2010

Design And Implementation Of Marine Biology Lessons At The Avila Beach Sea Life Center, Heather L. Price

Biological Sciences

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Chemical Inhibition Of Caax Protease Activity Disrupts Yeast Ras Localization, Surya P. Mandahar, Emily R. Hildebrandt, William H. Jacobsen, George M. Santangelo, Walter K. Schmidt Jun 2010

Chemical Inhibition Of Caax Protease Activity Disrupts Yeast Ras Localization, Surya P. Mandahar, Emily R. Hildebrandt, William H. Jacobsen, George M. Santangelo, Walter K. Schmidt

Faculty Publications

Proteins possessing a C-terminal CaaX motif, such as the Ras GTPases, undergo extensive post-translational modification that includes attachment of an isoprenoid lipid, proteolytic processing and carboxylmethylation. Inhibition of the enzymes involved in these processes is considered a cancer-therapeutic strategy. We previously identified nine in vitro inhibitors of the yeast CaaX protease Rce1p in a chemical library screen (Manandhar et al., 2007). Here, we demonstrate that these agents disrupt the normal plasma membrane distribution of yeast GFP-Ras reporters in a manner that pharmacologically phenocopies effects observed upon genetic loss of CaaX protease function. Consistent with Rce1p being the in vivo target …

Go to article

Comparative Transcriptional Profiling Identifies Takeout As A Gene That Regulates Life Span, Johannes Bauer, Michael Antosh, Chengyi Chang, Christoph Schorl, Santharam Kolli, Nicola Neretti, Stephen L. Helfand May 2010

Comparative Transcriptional Profiling Identifies Takeout As A Gene That Regulates Life Span, Johannes Bauer, Michael Antosh, Chengyi Chang, Christoph Schorl, Santharam Kolli, Nicola Neretti, Stephen L. Helfand

Biosciences Research

A major challenge in translating the positive effects of dietary restriction (DR) for the improvement of human health is the development of therapeutic mimics. One approach to finding DR mimics is based upon identification of the proximal effectors of DR life span extension. Whole genome profiling of DR in Drosophila shows a large number of changes in gene expression, making it difficult to establish which changes are involved in life span determination as opposed to other unrelated physiological changes. We used comparative whole genome expression profiling to discover genes whose change in expression is shared between DR and two molecular …

Go to article

Investigation Of The Role Of Bam9 In Starch Metabolism In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Elizabeth Ann Steidle May 2010

Investigation Of The Role Of Bam9 In Starch Metabolism In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Elizabeth Ann Steidle

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Beta-amylases play an essential role in night time starch degradation in leaves. There are nine known beta-amylases (BAMs) in Arabidopsis thaliana. This research is focused on BAM9, which is localized in the chloroplasts but is unique compared to active BAM proteins. First, alignments of BAM9 orthologs and catalytically active paralogs suggest that BAM9 may not be catalytically active and may not bind to starch, but it may bind to another molecule at a remote site. Secondly, microarray data shows a peak of BAM9 expression at the dark/light transition which is contradictory to what one would expect for an active BAM …

Go to article

Mutation Of The Vesicular Monoamine Transporter-1 Gene Alters Its Protein Product, Abena Watson-Siriboe May 2010

Mutation Of The Vesicular Monoamine Transporter-1 Gene Alters Its Protein Product, Abena Watson-Siriboe

Theses and Dissertations

The vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) is essential for storage of monoamines, such as epinephrine and serotonin, in secretory vesicles of neuroendocrine cells. Recently the VMAT1 protein was detected in human and mouse brain, and mutations of the VMAT1 gene at single DNA nucleotides (single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs) were associated with schizophrenia. In this study, Chinese hamster ovarian cells were stably transfected with either human VMAT1 DNA (GenBank: #NM_003053.1 or DNA with the Thr4Pro SNP, which results in a threonine to proline change in amino acid number 4 of the VMAT1 protein. Western blot analysis revealed that cells with …

Go to article

Investigation Of High Salt Intake And Adipogenesis In Rats, May Yong May 2010

Investigation Of High Salt Intake And Adipogenesis In Rats, May Yong

Biological Sciences

Sodium chloride has been scrutinized of late, not only for its liberal use as a food preservative but for its contribution to disease states. The causal role of habitual high salt intake in increasing blood pressure and exacerbating hypertension has been established. A growing body of evidence strongly suggests that hypertension contributes to other conditions such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, stroke, and type II diabetes. Rates of hypertension are significantly higher in obese individuals. These comorbidities have been positively associated with the modern Western diet. Worldwide, many government and health organizations have called for public policy measures to mandate sodium …

Go to article

Correlated Evolution Of Defensive And Nutritional Traits In Native And Non-Native Plants, Nicole Molinari, Charles A. Knight May 2010

Correlated Evolution Of Defensive And Nutritional Traits In Native And Non-Native Plants, Nicole Molinari, Charles A. Knight

Biological Sciences

We performed a comparative analysis of defensive and nutritional plant traits responsible for differential herbivory in a series of experimental feeding trials with generalist herbivores. We measured three defensive traits (leaf strength, leaf mass per unit area and endophytic fungal infection) and two nutritional traits (foliar nitrogen and water) for 26 native and eight non-native plant species from coastal California shrublands. Our feeding trials involved three species of generalist herbivore (beet armyworm, cabbage looper and the garden snail) in two types of laboratory feeding trial (single plant species and preference tests). All traits were significantly related to the amount of …

Go to article

Avoidance Of Skeletal Muscle Atrophy In Spontaneous And Facultative Hibernators, Clark Cotton, Henry J. Harlow May 2010

Avoidance Of Skeletal Muscle Atrophy In Spontaneous And Facultative Hibernators, Clark Cotton, Henry J. Harlow

Biology Faculty Publications

Smooth and skeletal muscle changes were compared from overwintering white-tailed prairie dogs, spontaneous hibernators that undergo regular, low-temperature torpor bouts, and black-tailed prairie dogs, facultative hibernators that use sporadic, moderate-temperature torpor bouts. The objectives were to assess the abilities of these two species with dramatically different torpor patterns (1) to conserve skeletal muscle morphology, protein, and strength and (2) to use labile protein in the small intestine and liver during the winter season of reduced activity and food intake. Mass and protein concentration of the extensor digitorum longus (EDL), soleus, liver, and small intestine, as well as skeletal muscle strength …

Go to article

The Fox In The Henhouse: Responses Of Chickens (Gallus Domesticus) To The Scent Of A Predator, Andrew C. Alba, Gregory B. Cunningham May 2010

The Fox In The Henhouse: Responses Of Chickens (Gallus Domesticus) To The Scent Of A Predator, Andrew C. Alba, Gregory B. Cunningham

Biology Faculty/Staff Publications

Domestic chickens (Gallus domesticus) are often used as a model species in testing bird olfaction. Previous studies have indicated that domestic chicks can discriminate between various odors, are attracted to familiar odors, and use olfactory cues during food selection. Additionally, studies have indicated that olfaction plays an important role in predator recognition in a variety of songbirds. It has yet to be demonstrated, however, whether chickens can detect predators using olfactory cues. To address this, we tested 1-2 day old naïve chicks with undiluted fox urine and found that they were able to detect this scent. This could …

Go to article

Production And In Vitro Investigation Of Vitamin B12-Based Bioprobes, Amy Rabideau May 2010

Production And In Vitro Investigation Of Vitamin B12-Based Bioprobes, Amy Rabideau

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Vitamin B12 (B12)-based bioprobes were produced and investigated in vitro for studying the B12 uptake pathway in certain cancer cell lines and their target-specific capabilities as imaging and/or contrast agents in vivo. An intrinsic factor (IF)-bound B12 conjugate (B12-ReBQBA) was produced containing rhenium(I) for in vitro analysis of the cubilin-expressing placental choriocarcinoma cell line. B12-ReBQBA has millimolar toxicity in vitro and excitation and emission wavelengths in the visible region, 488 nm and 560 nm, respectively. The rhenium metal in this bioprobe can be readily exchanged for the metastable radioactive metal technetium-99m …

Go to article

Habitat Variables, Mammal Interactions, And Recovery Approaches Important To A Rare, New Mexican Butterfly, Euphydryas Anicia Cloudcrofti (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Julie Lincoln Mcintyre May 2010

Habitat Variables, Mammal Interactions, And Recovery Approaches Important To A Rare, New Mexican Butterfly, Euphydryas Anicia Cloudcrofti (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Julie Lincoln Mcintyre

Biology ETDs

This research investigated three study topics pertaining to the habitat and ecology of the Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas anicia cloudcrofti) with the goal of contributing to effective conservation for this rare species. In the first study, abiotic and biotic habitat variables were found to be different between occupied and unoccupied habitat. Connectivity, host plant resource concentration, and plant structural diversity corresponded with butterfly presence at the scales of landscape, meadow, host plant patch, and natal host plant. High habitat quality, low isolation, broad host plant patch area, and high host plant patch density were associated with occupied habitats. Adults …

Go to article

Identification Of Yeasts From The Gut Of Cotinis Nitida Using Its And Lsu Rrna D1/D2 Gene Sequences, Kevin Campbell May 2010

Identification Of Yeasts From The Gut Of Cotinis Nitida Using Its And Lsu Rrna D1/D2 Gene Sequences, Kevin Campbell

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Differential Gene Expression And Protein Abundance Evince Ontogenetic Bias Toward Castes In A Primitively Eusocial Wasp, James H. Hunt, Florian Wolschin, Michael T. Henshaw, Thomas C. Newman, Amy L. Toth, Gro V. Amdam May 2010

Differential Gene Expression And Protein Abundance Evince Ontogenetic Bias Toward Castes In A Primitively Eusocial Wasp, James H. Hunt, Florian Wolschin, Michael T. Henshaw, Thomas C. Newman, Amy L. Toth, Gro V. Amdam

Peer Reviewed Publications

Polistes paper wasps are models for understanding conditions that may have characterized the origin of worker and queen castes and, therefore, the origin of paper wasp sociality. Polistes is ‘‘primitively eusocial’’ by virtue of having contextdependent caste determination and no morphological differences between castes. Even so, Polistes colonies have a temporal pattern in which most female larvae reared by the foundress become workers, and most reared by workers become future-reproductive gynes. This pattern is hypothesized to reflect development onto two pathways, which may utilize mechanisms that regulate diapause in other insects. Using expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for Polistes metricus we …

Go to article

Acyl Homoserine Lactone Signaling In Pseudomonas Chlororaphis 06, Anna Hegsted May 2010

Acyl Homoserine Lactone Signaling In Pseudomonas Chlororaphis 06, Anna Hegsted

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Pseudomonas chlororaphis (PcO6), a rhizosphere bacterium, is important to agriculture because of its use as a biological control against fungus and other pests. This biological control correlates with production of phenazines; a process regulated by acyl homoserine lactones (AHSLs). Long chain AHSLs might also have an affect on the production of phenazines. My research showed that PcO6 produced long chain AHSLs and that production is affected by nutrition with more long chain AHSLs produced in rich medium than minimal medium. The nutritional studies and findings with different mutants of PcO6 altered in phenazine production suggest that control of these antifungal …

Go to article

Effects Of Pluronics On A Beneficial Soil Microbe Pseudomonas Putida Strain Kt2440, Priyanka Gajjar May 2010

Effects Of Pluronics On A Beneficial Soil Microbe Pseudomonas Putida Strain Kt2440, Priyanka Gajjar

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This report summarizes the effects of a range of Pluronics on cellular responses in bacterial and mammalian cells through a review of published findings. Effects of Pluronics on drug delivery, efflux systems, growth, and nutrition are reported for eukaryotic cells. For microbial cells, their effects on adhesion, movement, biofilm formation, energy status and secondary metabolism are discussed. Guided by findings in the literature, a series of experiments were conducted exploring the responses of a beneficial environmental soil microbe, Pseudomonas putida strain KT2440, to selected Pluronics. These results are presented. The report has four sections: an Introduction 4 that covers published …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last