Digital Commons Network^™

On Flavonoid Accumulation In Different Plant Parts: Variation Patterns Among Individuals And Populations In The Shore Campion (Silene Littorea), José C. Del Valle, Mª Luisa Buide, Inés Casimiro-Soriguer, Justen B. Whittall, Eduardo Narbona

Biology

The presence of anthocyanins in flowers and fruits is frequently attributed to attracting pollinators and dispersers. In vegetative organs, anthocyanins and other non-pigmented flavonoids such as flavones and flavonols may serve protective functions against UV radiation, cold, heat, drought, salinity, pathogens, and herbivores; thus, these compounds are usually produced as a plastic response to such stressors. Although, the independent accumulation of anthocyanins in reproductive and vegetative tissues is commonly postulated due to differential regulation, the accumulation of flavonoids within and among populations has never been thoroughly compared. Here, we investigated the shore campion (Silene littorea, Caryophyllaceae) which exhibits …

Transgenic Soybean Plants Expressing Asoybean Homolog Of Glycine-Rich Protein 7 (Grp7) And Exhibiting Improved Innate Immunity, James R. Alfano, Anna Joe, Thomas E. Clemente, Zhengqing Fu, Ming Guo, Byeong-Ryool Jeong, Thomas Elthon

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

This disclosure provides for transgenic Soybean plants expressing a soybean homolog of glycine-rich protein 7 (GRP7) and exhibiting improved innate immunity and meth ods of making Such plants.

Light Suppression Of Nitrate Reductase Activity In Seedling And Young Plant Tissues, Mark A. Schoenbeck, Bikash Shrestha, Melanie F. Mccormick, Timothy D. Kellner, Claudia M. Rauter

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Light is often reported to enhance plant nitrate reductase (NR) activity; we have identified a context in which light strongly suppresses NR activity. In vitro NR activity measurements of laboratory-grown seedlings showed strong suppression of nitrate-induced NR activity in cotyledon, hypocotyl, and root tissues of Ipomoea hederacea (L.) Jacquin; robust NR activity accumulated in nitrate-induced tissues in the dark, but was absent or significantly reduced in tissues exposed to light during the incubation. The suppressive mechanism appears to act at a point after nitrate perception; tissues pre-incubated with nitrate in the light were potentiated and developed NR activity more rapidly …

Mechanosensitive Channel Msl8 Regulates Osmotic Forces During Pollen Hydration And Germination, Eric S. Hamilton, Gregory S. Jensen, Grigory Maksaev, Andrew Katims, Ashley M. Sherp, Elizabeth S. Haswell

Biology Faculty Research

Pollen grains undergo dramatic changes in cellular water potential as they deliver the male germ line to female gametes, and it has been proposed that mechanosensitive ion channels may sense the resulting mechanical stress. Here, we identify and characterize MscS-like 8 (MSL8), a pollen-specific, membrane tension–gated ion channel required for pollen to survive the hypoosmotic shock of rehydration and for full male fertility. MSL8 negatively regulates pollen germination but is required for cellular integrity during germination and tube growth. MSL8 thus senses and responds to changes in membrane tension associated with pollen hydration and germination. These data further suggest that …

Community Seed Banks: Origins, Evolution, And Prospects, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

As a survey of contemporary community-level seed banks, this is an excellent compilation and instructive guide. The first section provides an overview of how seed banks originated, their varied goals and activities, several contrasting forms of management, and how they organize and perform to meet these goals. An intriguing claim in the book is that the concept of “seed banks is only some three decades old,” while in fact the practice of saving, preserving, and exchanging seed within a community is probably as old as human communities themselves.

Organized seed banks often serve specific functions: preserving seeds, providing seed access …

Adding Genetically Distant Individuals To Training Populations Reduces Genomic Prediction Accuracy In Barley, Aaron Lorenz, Kevin P. Smith

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

One of the most important factors affecting genomic prediction accuracy appears to be training population (TP) composition. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of genomic relationship on genomic prediction accuracy and determine if adding increasingly unrelated individuals to a TP can reduce prediction accuracy. To accomplish this, a population of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) lines from the University of Minnesota (lines denoted as MN) and North Dakota State University (lines denoted as ND) breeding programs were used for model training. Predictions were validated using two independent sets of progenies derived from MN  MN crosses …

Switchgrass Germplasm Resources, Michael D. Casler, Kenneth P. Vogel, Melanie Harrison

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is an important native grass and dominant member of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. It is used for conservation, restoration, livestock feed production, and bioenergy feedstock production. The purpose of this review is to describe the biological and geographical basis for switchgrass germplasm diversity and to provide a resource for scientists and outreach personnel to find switchgrass germplasm to meet their needs. Upland and lowland ecotypes represent the most important polymorphism in switchgrass, with distinct but overlapping geographic distributions. Variation in ploidy exists within both ecotypes, with 2n = 4x = 36 the dominant ploidy …

The Khmer Software Package: Enabling Efficient Nucleotide Sequence Analysis, Michael R. Crusoe, Hussien F. Alameldin, Sherine Awad, Elmar Boucher, Adam Caldwell, Reed Cartwright, Amanda Charbonneau, Bede Constantinides, Greg Edvenson, Scott Fay, Jacob Fenton, Thomas Fenzl, Jordan Fish, Leonor Garcia-Gutierrez, Phillip Garland, Jonathan Gluck, Iván González, Sarah Guermond, Jiarong Guo, Aditi Gupta, Joshua R. Herr, Adina Howe, Alex Hyer, Andreas Härpfer, Luiz Irber, Rhys Kidd, David Lin, Justin Lippi, Tamer Mansour, Pamela Mca'nulty, Eric Mcdonald, Jessica Mizzi, Kevin D. Murray, Joshua R. Nahum, Kaben Nanlohy, Alexander Johan Nederbragt, Humberto Ortiz-Zuazaga, Jeramia Ory, Jason Pell, Charles Pepe-Ranney, Zachary N. Russ, Camille Scott, Josiah Seaman, Scott Sievert 38, Jared Simpson, Connor T. Skennerton, James Spencer, Ramakrishnan Srinivasan, Daniel Standage, James A. Stapleton, Susan R. Steinman, Joe Stein, Benjamin Taylor, Will Trimble, Heather L. Wiencko, Michael Wright, Brian Wyss, Qingpeng Zhang, En Zyme, C. Titus Brown, Erich Schwarz

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

The khmer package is a freely available software library for working efficiently with fixed length DNA words, or k-mers. khmer provides implementations of a probabilistic k-mer counting data structure, a compressible De Bruijn graph representation, De Bruijn graph partitioning, and digital normalization. khmer is implemented in C++ and Python, and is freely available under the BSD license at https://github.com/dib-lab/khmer.

Management Options For Water-Repellent Soils In Australian Dryland Agriculture, M. M. Roper, S. L. Davies, P. S. Blackwell, D. J. M. Hall, D. Bakker, R. Jongepier, P. R. Ward

Natural Resources Research Articles

Water-repellent (‘non-wetting’) soils are a major constraint to agricultural production in southern and south-west Australia, affecting >10 Mha of arable sandy soils. The major symptom is dry patches of surface soil, even after substantial rainfall, directly affecting agricultural production through uneven crop and pasture germination, and reduced nutrient availability. In addition, staggered weed germination impedes effective weed control, and delayed crop and pasture germination increases the risk of wind erosion. Water repellency is caused by waxy organic compounds derived from the breakdown of organic matter mostly of plant origin. It is more prevalent in soils with a sandy surface texture; …

The Biosynthesis Of Allelopathic Di-C-Glycosylflavones From The Roots Of Desmodium Incanum (G. Mey.) Dc, Bing Hao, John C. Caulfield, Mary L. Hamilton, John A. Pickett, Charles A.O. Midega, Zeyaur R. Khan, Junru R. Wang, Antony M. Hooper

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The allelopathic root exudate of the drought-tolerant subsistence cereal intercrop D. incanum, protecting against the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica, comprises a number of di-C-glycosylflavones specifically containing C-glucosyl, C-galactosyl and C-arabinosyl moieties. Here we demonstrate that the biosynthesis of all compounds containing a C-glucose involves C-glucosylation of 2-hydroxynaringenin with subsequent C-galactosylation, C-glucosylation or C-arabinosylation. In addition, the crude soluble enzyme extract converts two fluorinated 2-hydroxyflavanone analogues to corresponding mono- and di-C-glycosylflavones demonstrating that some differences in C-ring substitution can be tolerated by the plant enzymes. Elucidating the biosynthesis of these C-glycosylflavones (CGFs) has the potential to open up opportunities for transferring …

Assessing Multiple-Herbicide Resistance In A 2,4-D Resistant Waterhemp (Amaranthus Tuberculatus) Biotype From Nebraska: Student Research, Roberto Crespo

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

A waterhemp biotype was recently reported resistant to 2,4-D in Nebraska. In addition to the repeated use of 2,4-D, atrazine and imazathapyr were reported to be frequently used to control broadleaf weeds. Greenhouse experiments were conducted to confirm 2,4-D resistance and test for resistance to growth regulator herbicides and other herbicide modes-of-action (MoA). A single dose-response experiment showed reduced sensitivity in all three waterhemp biotypes to atrazine, imazethapyr and lactofen; therefore, they were generally considered resistant to those three herbicide MoA. None of the biotypes contained the Ser264 target-site mutation. Since the ametryn dose-response experiment resulted in all susceptible biotypes, …

Traversing Swanton Road, 21st Ed., James A. West

Academic, Government & Associated Organizational Research Resources

Situated at the northwest end of Santa Cruz County and occupying circa 30 square miles of sharply contrasted terrain, the Scott Creek Watershed concentrates within its geomorphological boundaries, at least 10-12% of California's flora, both native and introduced. Paradoxically, the use/abuse that the watershed has sustained over the past 140+ years, has not necessarily diminished the biodiversity and perhaps parallels the naturally disruptive but biologically energizing processes (fire, flooding, landslides and erosion), which have also been historically documented for the area for +60 years. This is an early edition of an extensive document by James A. West. Please visit the …

Analysis Of Environmental Effects On Leaf Temperature Under Sunlight, High Pressure Sodium And Light Emitting Diodes, Jacob A. Nelson, Bruce Bugbee

Publications

The use of LED technology is commonly assumed to result in significantly cooler leaf temperatures than high pressure sodium technology. To evaluate the magnitude of this effect, we measured radiation incident to and absorbed by a leaf under four radiation sources: clear sky sunlight in the field, sunlight in a glass greenhouse, and indoor plants under either high pressure sodium or light emitting diodes. We then applied a common mechanistic energy-balance model to compare leaf to air temperature difference among the radiation sources and environments. At equal photosynthetic photon flux, our results indicate that the effect of plant water status …

Introduction To The Toxins Special Issue On Ergot Alkaloids, Christopher L. Schardl

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arboretum Annual Report 2014-2015, Glenn Dreyer

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Economic Contribution Of Agriculture And Food To Arkansas' Gross Domestic Product 1997-2013, Leah English, Jennie Popp, Wayne Miller

AAES Research Reports and Research Bulletins

Agricultural production, processing, and retail industries are major contributors to the Arkansas economy in terms of GDP. Agriculture contributes to the economy through direct agricultural production, value-added processing, and agricultural retail activities, and it also plays an important role through its interactions with other sectors. The use of non-agricultural goods and services as inputs into the agricultural sector promotes diversified growth in Arkansas’ economy; thus agriculture remains a vital part of Arkansas’ economy. This report: 1) compares the relative size of the Agriculture and Food Sector in Arkansas with those of neighboring states; 2) provides an overview of Arkansas’ economy …

When An Invasive Plant Fails To Invade, Stephen L. Young

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

In 2012, much of the US Midwest was gripped in one of the most severe droughts on record. While conducting experimental fieldwork at a site in Nebraska during June of that year, I noticed a single musk thistle (Carduus nutans; Figure 1) that appeared to be in the bolt or early flowering stage, which is typical for the species at that time. Here, however, two things were unusual: this plant was less than 1 meter tall (with adequate moisture and light, musk thistle typically grows to heights of 1–2.5 meters before flowering), and was only 3 months old (the bolt …

Status Of Plants In Virginia, Michael H. Renfroe

Virginia Journal of Science

OVERVIEW OF BOTANICAL DIVERSITY

Virginia possesses a unique and varied assemblage of plant life. There are 3,164 species, subspecies and varieties of plants in Virginia (Weakley et al. 2012). As classified by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH), they form some 94 ecological groups and 317 community types across five distinct physiographic provinces: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Appalachian Plateau. The state extends 469 miles from east to west and 201 miles north to south at the widest points, enclosing 42,326 square miles of territory. This diverse range of environmental …

Tallgrass Prairie Center News, Fall 2015, University Of Northern Iowa. Tallgrass Prairie Center.

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter

Inside This Issue:

-- Black Soil and Gold Hues: 29th Roadside Conference
-- In-Field of Dreams: Prairie Strips Will Come
-- Putting TPC expertise to work on Monarch and Pollinator Conservation
-- Paddy Woodworth, Irish Author Visits UNI
-- 2015 Iowa Prairie Conference: Working Prairies
-- Controlling Invasive Cattails by Fire, Herbicide, and Mowing
-- Iowa IRVM Story Map Project
-- A Sand Mound Prairie Attracts Butterflies...and Admirers
-- New Publications Available from the Tallgrass Prairie Center
-- Student Profiles: Jordan Young, Graduate Student, Biology
-- Student Profiles: Wynton Karanja, Global Health: Health Disparities

There's Much Left To Learn: Clethra's Chromosomes, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Many would argue that chromosomes, genes, and DNA form the ineluctable essence of modern biology. Not only do these fundamental components of living cells provide moment-to-moment instructions by which cells carry out basic life processes, they also control inheritance of characteristics from one generation to the next. These essential functions of DNA stem from its repetitive structure. Hugely long DNA molecules are built from just four components, referenced by their singleletter abbreviations, A, C, G, and T. It is the specific sequence of these As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that constitutes the coded information of DNA. Moreover, molecular biologists have …

Wildfire Disturbance And Productivity As Drivers Of Plant Species Diversity Across Spatial Scales, Laura A. Burkle, Jonathan A. Myers, R Travis Belote

Biology Faculty Research

Wildfires influence many temperate terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Historical environmental heterogeneity created by wildfires has been altered by human activities and will be impacted by future climate change. Our ability to predict the impact of wildfire-created heterogeneity on biodiversity is limited because few studies have investigated variation in community composition (beta-diversity) in response to fire. Wildfires may influence beta-diversity through several ecological mechanisms. First, high-severity fires may decrease beta-diversity by homogenizing species composition when they create landscapes dominated by disturbance-tolerant or rapidly colonizing species. In contrast, mixed-severity fires may increase beta-diversity by creating mosaic landscapes containing habitats that support species with …

Evaluation Of Concrete Grinding Residue (Cgr) Slurry Application On Vegetation And Soil Responses Along Nebraska State Highway 31, Martha Mamo, Dennis L. Mccallister, Walter H. Schacht

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Sfa Gardens Newsletter, Fall 2015, Sfa Gardens, Stephen F. Austin State University

SFA Gardens Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Growing South Dakota (Fall 2015), College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

[Page] 2 Internships Lead to Career Opportunities
[Page] 4 Pre-Professional Prep: Peer Mentors. Anatomy Lab, Networking Opportunities Provide Students Strong Start
[Page] 7 Difference Maker: Range Science Grad Strives To Inspire Native American Youth
[Page] 8 Profiles In Leadership: Preparing Students For A Lifetime Of Learning And Opportunities
[Page] 9 Investing In The Future: Scholarship Donors Share Commitment To Supporting Student Success
[Page] 10 College News
[Page] 12 Economic Buzz: Real-World Applications Gained Through New e-Trading Lab & Student Organizations
[Page] 14 Lessons In Leadership Student Organizations Help Hone Array Of Skills [Page] 15 Little I - 93 Years Of …

Groundwater Thresholds For Root Decomposition And The Relation To Barrier Island Ecological State Changes, Matthew Lee Smith

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Barrier islands off the eastern shore of Virginia exhibit distinct habitats that abruptly transition between periodically brackish/freshwater marshes, wooded swales, and sparsely vegetated dunes. There is strong evidence that the plant communities and ecosystem processes occurring in each habitat are primarily influenced by nutrient availability and the distance between two of the three free surfaces: land and freshwater. At the Virginia Coast Reserve-Long Term Ecological Research Site in Virginia, USA, thresholds to belowground decomposition rates were identified by measuring decay of native roots and rhizomes at 32 elevations in relation to mean annual groundwater levels (-0.356 – 1.937 m). Negative …

Distribution Of Indigenous Strains Of Atoxigenic And Toxigenic Aspergillus Flavus And Aspergillus Parasiticus In Maize And Peanuts Agro-Ecological Zones Of Kenya, Daniel O. Okun, Fathiya M. Khamis, Geoffrey M. Muluvi, Joseph J. Ngeranwa, Fidelis O. Ombura, Moses O. Yongo, Eucharia U. Kenya

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Background: Grains of important food and export crops in Africa are susceptible to contamination by toxin-producing moulds. Aflatoxins are mycotoxins associated with liver damage and cancer in humans and animals. These toxic substances are produced by fungi (such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus) in food and feed exposed to poor conditions during crop cultivation, storage or processing of harvest. The presence of aflatoxins in especially maize and peanuts in Kenya is of great concern. Recent developments in the application of atoxigenic strains of these fungi as biological control agents against toxigenic strains could be a solution to the problem. …

Explorations In Advancing Microalgae Productivity, Peter Neofotis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is part of an effort to advance microalgae cultivation for biofuel and high value products. The first chapters describe a large scale screening effort in which novel strains that hold great promise in large outdoor cultivation systems were isolated. Among these are strains of Scenedesmus obliquus, Borodinellopsis texensis, Chlorella sorokiniana, Ankistrodesmus, Coelastrella, and a previously uncharacterized species in the Chlamydomonadales. These species are characterized in terms of their phylogenetic relationship, biomass productivity, and, for some, lipid and carotenoid profiles under growth and stress conditions. Also discussed in regards to growth metabolism and oil …

[14C] Glucose Cell Wall Incorporation Assay For The Estimation Of Cellulose Biosynthesis, Chad Brabham, Jozsef Stork, Seth Debolt

Horticulture Faculty Publications

Cellulose is synthesized by Cellulose Synthase A proteins at the plasma membrane using the substrate UDP glucose. Herein, we provide a detailed method for measuring the incorporation of radiolabeled glucose into the cellulose fraction of the cell wall. In this method Arabidopsis seedlings are treated for 2 h with a cellulose biosynthesis inhibitor in the presence of radiolabeled glucose, and are subsequently boiled in acetic-nitric acid to solubilize non-cellulosic material. The radiolabeled glucose detected in the insoluble fraction indicates the amount of cellulose synthesized during the experimental timeframe. The short-term nature of this method is a useful tool in determining …

Methods For Increasing Renewable Oil Productions, David Hildebrand, Runzhi Li, Tomoko Hatanaka

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Patents

Methods of increasing renewable oil production are provided and include transforming a plant cell with an isolated nucleic acid encoding a Vernonia galamensis diacylglycerol acyltransferase (V gDGAT) polypeptide, where the expression of the V gDGAT polypeptide increases an amount of renewable oil in the plant. Transgenic plant cells comprising an isolated nucleic acid encoding a Vernonia galamensis diacylglycerol acyl transferase 1 (V gDGATl) polypeptide are further provided.

The Invasive American Weed Parthenium Hysterophorus Can Negatively Impact Malaria Control In Africa, Vincent O. Nyasembe, Xavier Cheseto, Fatma Kaplan, Woodbridge A. Foster, Peter E.A. Teal, James H. Tumlinson, Christian Borgemeister, Baldwyn Torto

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The direct negative effects of invasive plant species on agriculture and biodiversity are well known, but their indirect effects on human health, and particularly their interactions with disease-transmitting vectors, remains poorly explored. This study sought to investigate the impact of the invasive Neotropical weed Parthenium hysterophorus and its toxins on the survival and energy reserves of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. In this study, we compared the fitness of An. gambiae fed on three differentially attractive mosquito host plants and their major toxins; the highly aggressive invasive Neotropical weed Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae) in East Africa and two other adapted weeds, …