Digital Commons Network^™

Non-Destructive Classification And Quality Evaluation Of Proso Millet Cultivars Using Nir Hyperspectral Imaging With Machine Learning, Laruen E. Doyle, Julia R. Loeb, Nader Ekramirad, Dipak K. Santra, Akinbode A. Adedeji

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Millet is a small-seeded cereal crop with big potential and remarkable characteristics such as high drought resistance, short growing time, low water footprint, and the ability to grow in acidic soil. There is a need to develop nondestructive methods for differentiation and evaluation of the quality attributes of different of proso millet cultivars grown in the U.S. Current methods of cultivar classification are either subjective or destructive, time consuming, not allowing for the whole population to be tested, and requiring trained operators and special equipment. In this study, the feasibility of using near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging (900-1700 nm) to predict …

Genetic And Biochemical Investigation Of Seed Fatty Acid Accumulation In Arabidopsis, Chinedu Charles Nwafor, Delin Li, Ping Qin, Long Li, Wei Zhang, Yuanwei Zhou, Jingjing Xu, Yongtai Yin, Jianbo Cao, Limin He, Fu Xiang, Chao Liu, Liang Guo, Yongming Zhou, Edgar B. Cahoon, Chunyu Zhang

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

As a vegetable oil, consisting principally of triacylglycerols, is the major storage form of photosynthetically-fixed carbon in oilseeds which are of significant agricultural and industrial value. Photosynthesis in chlorophyll-containing green seeds, along with photosynthesis in leaves and other green organs, generates ATP and reductant (NADPH and NADH) needed for seed fatty acid production. However, contribution of seed photosynthesis to fatty acid accumulation in seeds have not been well-defined. Here, we report the contribution of seed-photosynthesis to fatty acid production by probing segregating green (photosynthetically-competent) and non-green or yellow (photosynthetically-non-competent) seeds in siliques of an Arabidopsis chlorophyll synthase mutant. Using this …

Insect Pest Management With Sex Pheromone Precursors From Engineered Oilseed Plants, Hong-Lei Wang, Bao-Jian Ding, Jian-Qing Dai, Tara J. Nazarenus, Rafael Borges, Agenor Mafra-Neto, Edgar B. Cahoon, Per Hofvander, Sten Stymne, Christer Löfstedt

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Pheromones have become an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional insecticides for pest control. Most current pheromone-based pest control products target lepidopteran pests of high-value crops, as today’s manufacturing processes cannot yet produce pheromones at low enough costs to enable their use for lower-value crops, especially commodity crops. Camelina sativa seeds genetically modified to express (Z)-11-hexadecenoic acid, a sex pheromone precursor of several moth species, provided the oil from which the precursor was isolated, purified and transformed into the final pheromone. Trap lures containing this pheromone were then assessed for their capacity to manage moth pests in the field. Plant-derived pheromone …

The Importance Of Co2 Recapture In The Co2 Concentrating Mechanism Of Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Ashwani Rai

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the CO₂ concentrating mechanism (CCM) of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and to develop a quick method for estimating the activity of carbonic anhydrases (CAs). The first project demonstrates that there are two almost identical mitochondrial CAs in C. reinhardtii, CAH4 and CAH5, that help to maintain photosynthesis and minimize the leak of CO₂ generated by respiration and photorespiration. We used an RNAi approach to reduce the expression of CAH4 and CAH5 so that their physiological functions could be studied. RNAi mutants with low expression of CAH4 and CAH5 have impaired rates …

Optimization Of Nozzle, Application Height, And Speed For Uass Pesticide Applications, Trenton Houston

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Unmanned aerial spray systems (UASS) applications have the potential to be efficient pesticide application platforms under conditions that are not accessible or fit for typical pesticide application equipment. Although this type of application is still under development in the United States, UASS pesticide applications are common in Asia, as they have replaced backpack sprayers. There is limited literature on the optimization of UASS applications and many parameters need to be investigated to identify the best combination of application variables such as flight height, flight speed, and nozzle selection. The objectives were to identify the deposition patterns of a four rotor …

Neuropilin-2 Regulates Androgen-Receptor Transcriptional Activity In Advanced Prostate Cancer, Samikshan Dutta, Navatha Shree Polavaram, Ridwan Islam, Sreyashi Bhattacharya, Sanika Bodas, Thomas Mayr, Sohini Roy, Sophie Alvarez, Marieta I. Toma, Anza Darehshouri, Angelika Borkowetz, Stefanie Conrad, Susanne Fuessel, Manfred Wirth, Gustavo B. Baretton, Paramita Ghosh, Kenneth J. Pienta, David L. Klinkebiel, Surinder K. Batra, Michael H. Muders, Kaustubh Datta

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Aberrant transcriptional activity of androgen receptor (AR) is one of the dominant mechanisms for developing of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Analyzing AR-transcriptional complex related to CRPC is therefore important towards understanding the mechanism of therapy-resistance. While studying its mechanism, we observed that a transmembrane protein called neuropilin-2 (NRP2) plays a contributory role in forming a novel AR-transcriptional complex containing nuclear pore proteins. Using immunogold electron microscopy, high-resolution confocal microscopy, chromatin immunoprecipitation, proteomics, and other biochemical techniques, we delineated the molecular mechanism of how a specific splice variant of NRP2 becomes sumoylated upon ligand stimulation and translocates to the inner nuclear …

Differential Regulation Of Flower Transpiration During Abiotic Stress In Annual Plants, Ranjita Sinha, Sara I. Zandalinas, Yosef Fichman, Sidharth Sen, Shuai Zeng, Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas, Trupti Joshi, Felix B. Fritschi, Ron Mittler

Biomedical Sciences

Heat waves occurring during droughts can have a devastating impact on yield, especially if they happen during the flowering and seed set stages of the crop cycle. Global warming and climate change are driving an alarming increase in the frequency and intensity of combined drought and heat stress episodes, critically threatening global food security. Because high temperature is detrimental to reproductive processes, essential for plant yield, we measured the inner temperature, transpiration, sepal stomatal aperture, hormone concentrations and transcriptomic response of closed soybean flowers developing on plants subjected to a combination of drought and heat stress. Here, we report that, …

Increased Signal-To-Noise Ratios Within Experimental Field Trials By Regressing Spatially Distributed Soil Properties As Principal Components, Jeffrey C. Berry, Mingsheng Qi, Balasaheb V. Sonawane, Amy Sheflin, Asaph Cousins, Jessica Prenni, Daniel P. Schachtman, Peng Liu, Rebecca S. Bart

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Environmental variability poses a major challenge to any field study. Researchers attempt to mitigate this challenge through replication. Thus, the ability to detect experimental signals is deter-mined by the degree of replication and the amount of environmental variation, noise, within the experimental system. A major source of noise in field studies comes from the natural heterogeneity of soil properties which create microtreatments throughout the field. In addition, the variation within different soil properties is often nonrandomly distributed across a field. We explore this challenge through a sorghum field trial dataset with accompanying plant, microbiome, and soil property data. Diverse sorghum …

Expression Of Atwri1 And Atdgat1 During Soybean Embryo Development Influences Oil And Carbohydrate Metabolism, Cintia Lucía Arias, Truyen Quach, Tu Huynh, Hanh Nguyen, Ademar Moretti, Yu Shi, Ming Guo, Amira Rasoul, Kyujung Van, Leah Mchale, Thomas E. Clemente, Ana Paula Alonso, Chi Zhang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Soybean oil is one of the most consumed vegetable oils worldwide. Genetic improvement of its concentration in seeds has been historically pursued due to its direct association with its market value. Engineering attempts aiming to increase soybean seed oil presented different degrees of success that varied with the genetic design and the specific variety considered. Understanding the embryo’s responses to the genetic modifications introduced, is a critical step to successful approaches. In this work, the metabolic and transcriptional responses to AtWRI1 and AtDGAT1 expression in soybean seeds were evaluated. AtWRI1 is a master regulator of fatty acid (FA) biosynthesis, and …

The Reconstruction Of The Late Pleistocene And Holocene Vegetation Dynamics In Lake Eyasi Basin, Northern Tanzania, Pastory M. Bushozi, Cassian T. Mumbi, Veronica M. Muiruri, Musa S. Mwitondi

Tanzania Journal of Science

Lake Eyasi Basin of northern Tanzania plays a pivotal role in the study of human-environment interactions and in understanding human flexibility and adaptability through technological innovations over time and space. In this study, phytoliths from ancient soils and fossil pollen proxies from radiocarbon-dated sequences from Kisimangeda on the north-eastern edge of the Lake Eyasi Basin, are used to interpret trends in climatic changes recorded since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present. We used pollen and phytolith abundances from a core that was recovered on the northern margin of saline Lake Eyasi at the depth of five metres. The …

Avian Use Of Habitat Patches Dominated By Exotic Leucaena Leucocephala Or Native Tree Species In Urban Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Chacha Werema, Charles Wilson

Tanzania Journal of Science

There has been an incursion of an exotic Leucaena leucocephala in disturbed areas and into habitat patches of native tree species in some areas in Tanzania. However, the impacts of this exotic tree on native biodiversity are not well understood. We assessed bird use of habitat patches dominated by L. leucocephala in comparison to patches of native tree species  at the University of Dar es Salaam main campus, Tanzania, by comparing bird species richness, abundance and diversity using mist netting. Based on the same mist netting efforts in each habitat patch type, patches of native trees had significantly higher overall …

Comparison On Vegetation Composition And Structure In Fire Prone Forest Of Ilunde And Fire Suppressed Forest Of Kitwe In Tanzania, Nyatwere D Mganga

Tanzania Journal of Science

Fire is among the factors influencing survival and development of plants in ecosystems. This study was conducted in frequently burnt and fire suppressed miombo woodlands of Ilunde and Kitwe, respectively. Tree stem density, basal area and composition of plants were determined. The methods used involved recording the numbers of tree stems, diameter at breast height and classifying vegetation to species level. In Kitwe forest, mean stem density of 582.7 ± 52.90 stems ha– was higher than 356.8 ± 38.98 stems ha– which was recorded in Ilunde forest (t = 15.98, df = 29, p < 0.05). Similarly, a higher mean tree basal area of 16.14 ± 1.32 m2 ha– was recorded in Kitwe forest, while 8.54 ± 0.94 m2 ha– being recorded in Ilunde forest (t = 3.34, df = 14, p < 0.05). Czekanowski’s similarity coefficients for trees, shrubs and saplings, and herbs and grasses were 0.46, 0.34 and 0.22, respectively. Fire adapted species were recorded in Ilunde forest. Fire prone miombo woodland had lower tree stem density, basal area and dominated by fire adapted species. Similarity coefficient between the two forests was also low. Prescribed burning is recommended in miombo woodlands for sustainable species composition and tree structure. Keywords: vegetation; composition, structure, fire prone, miombo

Effects Of Biochar On Soil Fertility And Crop Yields: Experience From The Southern Highlands Of Tanzania, Peter M. Rogers, Pius Z. Yanda, Noah M. Pauline, Simon Haikola, Anders Hansson, Mathias Fridahl

Tanzania Journal of Science

The world’s agricultural production is declining due to severe loss of soil fertility through natural processes or because of human activities. Biochar has been identified as a potential soil amendment to regain its fertility and increase crop productivity. This study aimed to assess the effects of biochar on soil nutrients and crop yields in the southern highlands of Tanzania. Data were collected through key informant and household interviews, and from sampling of soils in coffee farms where biochar of maize cobs origin was incorporated at the rate of 3 t ha-1. Purposive sampling approach was deployed to identify the villages …

Chemical Constituents And Antimicrobial Evaluation Of Selected Aloe Vera Branded Commercial Products In Tanzania, Stephen S Nyandoro, Bahati F Kyando, Joan Je Munissi

Tanzania Journal of Science

Chemical compositions and antimicrobial activities of twenty-two Aloe vera branded commercial products in Tanzania, a case of marketed soaps, creams, lotions, petroleum jelly, toothpastes and hair conditioner products in Dar es Salaam, were investigated. Chemical compositions were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) whereas antimicrobial activities were evaluated using agar dilution method against four bacteria species, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoneae and Salmonella typhi) and two fungal species Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of seven non-polar constituents, namely methyl palmitate, 9-octadecenoic acid methyl ester, methyl stearate, tetratetracontane, hexacosane, and pentacosane and methyl …

Effects Of Feed Moisture Content, Soybean Ratio And Barrel Temperature On Physical And Functional Properties Of Extruded Maize-Soybean Flour Blends, Robert Mugabi, Stellah Byakika, Ivan Muzira Mukisa

Tanzania Journal of Science

The effects moisture content, temperature and soybean ratio on expanded product characteristics of extruded maize-soybean blends were studied. Response surface methodology was used to study the effects of extrusion conditions on extrudate properties taking barrel temperature (BT), feed moisture content (FM) and soybean flour ratio (SR) as factors. Expansion ratio (ER), water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), hardness and colour (b* - (+) yellowness) of the extrudates were determined. BT and FM had significant effects on ER (p < 0.05). At low FM levels, ER increased with BT. It was observed that both FM and BT significantly affected WAI and WSI. WAI increased as FM increased. Increasing FM to 20% resulted in a decrease in WSI, beyond which an increase was observed. Hardness increased significantly as feed moisture content increased. High SR content significantly increased the extrudate hardness. FM had no significant effect on colour. Colour increased as the SR and BT increased. Significant regression models explained the effects of SR, FM, and BT on all response variables. All of the response variables' R2, were higher than 0.89. Keywords: Maize, Soybean, moisture content, extrusion

Identification And Larvicidal Efficacy Of Mosquito-Repelling Plants Used In Malaria Vector Control In South-East Benin, Camille O Tante, Armel Djenontin, Saïd Chitou, Wilfried Sewade, Pierre Agbani, Martin Akogbeto, Daniel C Chougourou

Tanzania Journal of Science

After identifying issues posed by some synthetic insecticides, the scientific community is now looking for other natural products with insecticidal and/or insect repellent characteristics. This study aimed to identify the plants of the Beninese flora known for their insecticidal and/or insect repellent effects and the indigenous techniques of their use and to evaluate the combined efficacy of extracts of a few on mosquito larvae for the control of malaria vectors in the South-East of Benin. A survey was conducted and the insecticidal effects of three combinations made from Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon nardus and Hyptis suaveolens oils on Anopheles gambiae larvae …

Increasing The Resilience Of Plant Immunity To A Warming Climate, Jong Hum Kim, Christian Castroverde, Shuai Huang, Chao Li, Richard Hilleary, Adam Seroka, Reza Sohrabi, Diana Medina-Yerena, Bethany Huot, Jie Wang, Sharon Marr, Mary Wildermuth, Tao Chen, John Macmicking, Sheng Yang He

Biology Faculty Publications

Extreme weather conditions associated with climate change affect many aspects of plant and animal life, including the response to infectious diseases. Production of salicylic acid (SA), a central plant defence hormone, is particularly vulnerable to suppression by short periods of hot weather above the normal plant growth temperature range via an unknown mechanism. Here we show that suppression of SA production in Arabidopsis thaliana at 28 °C is independent of PHYTOCHROME B (phyB) and EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3), which regulate thermo-responsive plant growth and development. Instead, we found that formation of GUANYLATE BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE 3 (GBPL3) defence-activated biomolecular condensates (GDACs) …

Identification Of Putative Snp Markers Associated With Resistance To Egyptian Loose Smut Race(S) In Spring Barley, Kamal A.M. Abo-Elyousr, Amira M.I. Mourad, P. Stephen Baenziger, Abdelaal H.A. Shehata, Peter E. Eckstein, Aaron D. Beattie, Ahmed Sallam

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Loose smut (LS) disease is a serious problem that affects barley yield. Breeding of resistant cultivars and identifying new genes controlling LS has received very little attention. Therefore, it is important to understand the genetic basis of LS control in order to genetically improve LS resistance. To address this challenge, a set of 57 highly diverse barley genotypes were inoculated with Egyptian loose smut race(s) and the infected seeds/plants were evaluated in two growing seasons. Loose smut resistance (%) was scored on each genotype. High genetic variation was found among all tested genotypes indicating considerable differences in LS resistance that …

The Pho1;2a'-M1.1 Allele Of Phosphate1 Conditions Misregulation Of The Phosphorus Starvation Response In Maize (Zea Mays Ssp. Mays L.), Ana Laura Alonso-Nieves, M. Nancy Salazar-Vidal, J. Vladimir Torres-Rodríguez, Leonardo M. Pérez-Vázquez, Julio A. Massange-Sánchez, C. Stewart Gillmor, Ruairidh J. H. Sawers

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Plant PHO1 proteins play a central role in the translocation and sensing of inorganic phosphate. The maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) genome encodes two co-orthologs of the Arabidopsis PHO1 gene, designated ZmPho1;2a and ZmPho1;2b. Here, we report the characterization of the transposon footprint allele Zmpho1;2a'-m1.1, which we refer to hereafter as pho1;2a. The pho1;2a allele is a stable derivative formed by excision of an Activator transposable element from the ZmPho1;2a gene. The pho1;2a allele contains an 8-bp insertion at the point of transposon excision that disrupts the reading frame and is predicted to …

Divergent Evolution Of Extreme Production Of Variant Plant Monounsaturated Fatty Acids, Lu Gan, Kiyoul Park, Jin Chai, Evan M. Updike, Hyojin Kim, Adam Voshall, Sairam Behera, Xiao-Hong Yu, Yuanheng Cai, Chunyu Zhang, Mark A. Wilson, Jeffrey P. Mower, Etsuko Moriyama, Chi Zhang, Sireewan Kaewsuwan, Qun Liu, John Shanklin, Edgar B. Cahoon

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Metabolic extremes provide opportunities to understand enzymatic and metabolic plasticity and biotechnological tools for novel biomaterial production. We discovered that seed oils of many Thunbergia species contain up to 92% of the unusual monounsaturated petroselinic acid (18:1Δ6), one of the highest reported levels for a single fatty acid in plants. Supporting the biosynthetic origin of petroselinic acid, we identified a Δ6-stearoyl-acyl carrier protein (18:0-ACP) desaturase from Thunbergia laurifolia, closely related to a previously identified Δ6-palmitoyl-ACP desaturase that produces sapienic acid (16:1Δ6)- rich oils in Thunbergia alata seeds. Guided by a T. laurifolia desaturase crystal structure obtained in this study, …

Sorghum Association Panel Whole-Genome Sequencing Establishes Cornerstone Resource For Dissecting Genomic Diversity, J. Lucas Boatwright, Sirjan Sapkota, Hongyu Jin, James C. Schnable, Zachary Brenton, Richard Boyles, Stephen Kresovich

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Association mapping panels represent foundational resources for understanding the genetic basis of phenotypic diversity and serve to advance plant breeding by exploring genetic variation across diverse accessions. We report the whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of 400 sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) accessions from the Sorghum Association Panel (SAP) at an average coverage of 38× (25–72×), enabling the development of a high-density genomic marker set of 43 983 694 variants including single-nucleotide polymorphisms (approximately 38 million), insertions/deletions (indels) (approximately 5 million), and copy number variants (CNVs) (approximately 170 000). We observe slightly more deletions among indels and a much higher prevalence …

Water Quality, Carrier Volume And Droplet Size Effects On Herbicide Efficacy And Drift Potential, Barbara Houston

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Herbicide performance is directly related to the amount of active ingredient that has been deposited on the plant. Hence, spray solution characteristics and application parameters are crucial in determining the efficacy of an herbicide application. To maximize the effectiveness of chemical control, methods to deliver full chemical dose must be utilized: allowing the active ingredient to be readily absorbed once added to the carrier and mitigating off-target movement and low herbicide doses. Water is the most frequently used carrier in herbicide applications. Chemical parameters, such as water hardness and pH, can have a critical role in herbicide performance. It is …

Recombination Hotspots In Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merr.], Samantha J. Mcconaughy

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recombination allows for the exchange of genetic material between two parents which plant breeders exploit to make new and improved varieties. This recombination is not distributed evenly across the chromosome. In crops, it mostly occurs in the euchromatic regions of the genome and even then, recombination is focused into recombination hotspots flanked by recombination cold spots. Understanding the distribution of these hotspots along with the sequence motifs associated with them may lead to methods that enable breeders to better exploit recombination in breeding.

In chapter 1 background information on recombination, recombination hotspots detection methods, landscape of recombination (describe recombination patterns …

Plectus Of The Prairie: A Case Study Of Taxonomic Resolution From A Nematode Biodiversity Survey, Abigail Borgmeier, Kaitlin Gattoni, Timothy Harris, Rebecca Higgins, Peter Mullin, Dorota Porazinska, Kirsten S. Powers, David A. Wedin, Tom Powers

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Taxonomic resolution is a critical component of biodiversity assessments. In this case study, we examined a single taxon within a larger study of nematode diversity to evaluate the taxonomic resolution of different diversity assessment methods. The selected taxon was the microbial-feeding genus Plectus, a group considered to include multiple cosmopolitan species. The methods included a morphological evaluation by light microscopy, Sanger sequencing of PCR amplicons of COI and 18S gene regions, and 18S metabarcoding sequencing. The study sites were 15 remnant tallgrass prairie plots in eastern Nebraska. In the morphological analysis, we observed two basic morphotypes, a short-tailed form …

Association Mapping Across A Multitude Of Traits Collected In Diverse Environments In Maize, Ravi V. Mural, Guangchao Sun, Marcin Grzybowski, Michael C. Tross, Hongyu Jin, Christine Smith, Linsey Newton, Carson M. Andorf, Margaret R. Woodhouse, Addie M. Thompson, Brandi Sigmon, James C. Schnable

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Classical genetic studies have identified many cases of pleiotropy where mutations in individual genes alter many different phenotypes. Quantitative genetic studies of natural genetic variants frequently examine one or a few traits, limiting their potential to identify pleiotropic effects of natural genetic variants. Widely adopted community association panels have been employed by plant genetics communities to study the genetic basis of naturally occurring phenotypic variation in a wide range of traits. High-density genetic marker data—18M markers—from 2 partially overlapping maize association panels comprising 1,014 unique genotypes grown in field trials across at least 7 US states and scored for 162 …

Genetically Explicit Model May Explain Multigenerational Control Of Emergent Turing Patterns In Hybrid Mimulus, Emily Simmons

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Sodium Mediates Developmentally Plastic Responses In Plants And Herbivores, Luis Santiago-Rosario

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sodium plays a crucial role in organismal performance, trophic-level interactions, and eco-evolutionary dynamics. For plants, sodium impacts osmoregulation, growth, and water uptake. For animals, sodium is essential influencing osmoregulatory processes, muscle and neural development, and blood regulation. My dissertation aims to disentangle why sodium mismatch affects resource-consumer interactions and its influence on morphological and behavioral plasticity. First, I identified how sodium impacts plant performance and sodium accumulation strategies. I initially focused my research on understanding how increasing substrate sodium affects plant growth and tissue sodium accumulation strategies in controlled settings using a systematic review approach. I found that saltier plants …

Procedures For Genetic Modification Of Miscanthus X Giganteus, A Biomass Crop, Anjali Arpan

Theses and Dissertations

Development of genetic improvement procedures for the bioenergy crop, Miscanthus × giganteus (M×g; triploid), are desired for trait improvement. Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been used in other Miscanthus spp. for genetic improvement, but not in M×g, nor have more than a few genes been introduced at a given time. Transformation procedures for M×g were developed; studies included use of A.tumefaciens (strain LBA4404) and A. rhizogenes (strain A4) for introduction of seven genes isolated (by other researchers) from Sorghum bicolor involved in sorgoleone biosynthesis (an allelopathic compound), and selectable marker gene neomycin phosphotransferase II. Procedural development included generation of …

Restoration Through Reassembly: Evaluating The Role Of Native Plants In Combatting Chinese Tallow, Olaniyi Ajala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-native, invasive species disrupt ecological processes and functions, posing a serious threat to natural ecosystems. By examining the growth metrics of the non-native, invasive tree, Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera [L.] Roxb.), hereafter tallow, across different flooding and light regimes, I investigated how restructuring native communities with valuable native species will prevent the reestablishment of tallow. I studied the changes in morphological and physiological traits of tallow when growing with water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.), sugarberry (Celtis occidentalis L.), and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall). I found that in the non-flooded and high irradiance treatments, tallow's growth …

Isolation Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Plants Homozygous For An Insertional Inactivation Mutation Within Atprp4., Sydney Raitz, Timothy D. Trott

Faculty Works

The AtPRP4 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana has been shown to function in several specific parts of the plant’s cell wall. It is shown to be expressed in the seeds, radicles, roots, leaves, inflorescences, and embryos of Arabidopsis thaliana. These patterns have suggested unique functions for ATPRP4 in determining cell-type-specific wall structure during the development of a plant as well as contributing to defense reactions against physical damage to the plant and pathogen infection within the plant. In this study, a simple DNA prep was performed on the true leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. Subsequent PCR reactions were performed using …