Digital Commons Network^™

Initial Studies On Sperm Cryopreservation Of A Live-Bearing Fish, The Green Swordtail Xiphophorus Helleri, Changjiang Huang, Qiaoxiang Dong, Ronald B. Walter, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

Swordtails and platyfish of the genus Xiphophorus are valuable models for biomedical research and are also commercially raised as ornamental fish valued by aquarists. While research use and commercial interest increases yearly in these fish, cryopreservation of sperm is unexplored in this genus. Xiphophorus are live-bearing fishes characterized by small body sizes, limited sperm volumes, and internal fertilization, an atypical reproductive mode for fish. These attributes make research involving cryopreservation of Xiphophorus germplasm challenging. To explore methods for sperm cryopreservation, this study evaluated the effect of different loading volumes of sperm suspension in 0.25-ml French straws, different dilution ratios of …

Soldier, Surgeon, Scholar: The Memoirs Of William Henry Corbusier 1844-1930, Michele Nacy

Civil War Book Review

Western expansion

Army life on the American frontier

Fanny Dunbar Corbusier: Recollections Of Her Army Life, 1869-1908, Michele Nacy

Civil War Book Review

Western expansion

Army life on the American frontier

Sperm Cryopreservation Of Green Swordtail Xiphophorus Helleri, A Fish With Internal Fertilization, Changjiang Huang, Qiaoxiang Dong, Ronald B. Walter, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

Sperm cryopreservation for fishes with internal fertilization is essentially unexplored although many species of these fishes are valuable biomedical research models. To explore methods for sperm cryopreservation within the live-bearing genus Xiphophorus, this study used X. helleri to evaluate the effects of cryoprotectant, osmotic pressure, cooling rate, equilibration time, and sperm-to-extender ratio. Sperm motility and survival duration after thawing showed significant differences among different cryoprotectants with the highest motility at 10min after thawing obtained with 14% glycerol. With subsequent use of 14% glycerol as the cryoprotectant, the highest motility after thawing was observed with Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS) at …

Identification Of A New Chloroplast Carbonic Anhydrase In Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Mautusi Mitra, Scott M. Lato, Ruby A. Ynalvez, Ying Xiao, James V. Moroney

Faculty Publications

Carbonic anhydrases (CA) are zinc-containing metalloenzymes that catalyze the reversible hydration of CO2. The three evolutionarily unrelated families of CAs are designated α-, β-, and γ-CA. Aquatic photosynthetic organisms have evolved different forms of CO2 concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) to aid Rubisco in capturing CO2 from the surrounding environment. One aspect of all CCMs is the critical roles played by various specially localized extracellular and intracellular CAs. Five CAs have previously been identified in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a green alga with a well-studied CCM. Here we identify a sixth gene encoding a β-type CA. This new β-CA, designated Cah6, is distinct from …

The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Ul20 Protein Modulates Membrane Fusion Events During Cytoplasmic Virion Morphogenesis And Virus-Induced Cell Fusion, Timothy P. Foster, Jeffrey M. Melancon, Joel D. Baines, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) UL20 protein is an important determinant for virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. A precise deletion of the UL20 gene in the HSV-1 KOS strain was constructed without affecting the adjacent UL20.5 gene. The resultant KOS/UL20-null virus produced small plaques of 8 to 15 cells in Vero cells while it produced wild-type plaques on the complementing cell line G5. Electron microscopic examination of infected cells revealed that the KOS/UL20-null virions predominantly accumulated capsids in the cytoplasm while a small percentage of virions were found as enveloped virions within cytoplasmic vacuoles. Recently, it was …

Informe Técnico De Los Trabajos De Campo Del Proyecto Arqueológico Huambacho-Temporada 2003, David Chicoine, Victor Pimentel

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Louisiana Agriculture Spring, 2004, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

Transport And Cryopreservation Of Sperm Of The Common Snook, Centropomus Undecimalis (Bloch), T. R. Tiersch, W. R. Wayman, D. P. Skapura, C. L. Neidig, H. J. Grier

Faculty Publications

Sperm were collected in Florida from wild common snook. Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch), and were shipped to Louisiana State University for analysis and cryopreservation. Threshold activation of sperm (10% motility) occurred at 370 mOsmol kg-1, and complete activation occurred at 680 mOsmol kg-1. These values were significantly different. Sperm samples stored at 1°C in Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS) or in 0.6% NaCl solution at 200 mOsmol kg-1 retained motility for as long as 22 days. Mean motility remained above 50% for 9 days for sperm stored in HBSS and for 7 days for sperm stored in NaCl solution. Sperm exposed …

Interferon Antagonist Proteins Of Influenza And Vaccinia Viruses Are Suppressors Of Rna Silencing, Wan Xiang Li, Hongwei Li, Rui Lu, Feng Li, Monica Dus, Peter Atkinson, Edward W.A. Brydon, Kyle L. Johnson, Adolfo García-Sastre, L. Andrew Ball, Peter Palese, Shou Wei Ding

Faculty Publications

Homology-dependent RNA silencing occurs in many eukaryotic cells. We reported recently that nodaviral infection triggers an RNA silencing-based antiviral response (RSAR) in Drosophila, which is capable of a rapid virus clearance in the absence of expression of a virus-encoded suppressor. Here, we present further evidence to show that the Drosophila RSAR is mediated by the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway, as the viral suppressor of RSAR inhibits experimental RNAi initiated by exogenous double-stranded RNA and RSAR requires the RNAi machinery. We demonstrate that RNAi also functions as a natural antiviral immunity in mosquito cells. We further show that vaccinia virus and …

Seawater Acclimation Causes Independent Alterations In Na +/Tk+- And H+-Atpase Activity In Isolated Mitochondria-Rich Cell Subtypes Of The Rainbow Trout Gill, Guy S. Hawkings, Fernando Galvez, Greg G. Goss

Faculty Publications

Mitochondria-rich cells (MR cells) of the gills of rainbow trout undergo changes in relative distribution and biochemical function during acclimation to partial-strength (10‰) and full-strength (30‰) seawater. In isolated total gill cells, Na+/K+-ATPase activity increased fivefold and H+-ATPase activity decreased fourfold when trout were acclimated to either 10‰ or 30‰ seawater. When total MR gill cells were separated based on differential binding to peanut lectin agglutinin (PNA), the PNA subtypes underwent a change in relative distribution in seawater-acclimated fish. In freshwater, the ratio of PNA-: PNA+ was 65:35 while in seawater the distribution changed to 20:80 PNA-:PNA+. Additionally, differential changes …

Gumbo Yearbook, Class Of 2004, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

Gumbo Yearbook

The Gumbo yearbook chronicles the entire academic year at LSU. In words and especially photos, the Gumbo shows the people, places, and events that make each year unique. In addition to formal portraits of schools and departments, the book contains hundreds of snapshots of students with their friends and dozens of pages showcasing organizations.

Control Of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Γ2 Stability And Activity By Sumoylation, Z. Elizabeth Floyd, Jacqueline M. Stephens

Faculty Publications

Objective: To determine whether small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)ylation of lysine 107 plays a role in regulating the activity of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). Research Methods and Procedures: Transient expression of wild-type and K107R-PPARγ2 in the NIH 3T3 fibroblast cell line was carried out in conjunction with half-life studies, luciferase activity assays, and indirect immunofluorescence localization studies. Additional in vitro analysis was carried out using recombinant SUMOylation pathway proteins along with in vitro transcribed and translated wild-type or K107R-PPARγ2 to examine the SUMO-1 modification state of wild-type and SUMO-deficient K107R-PPARγ2. Results: While examining PPARγ2 for potential ubiquitylation sites, we identified …

School Of Renewable Natural Resources Newsletter, Winter 2004, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

Research Matters & RNR Newsletters

The annual newsletter from the School of Renewable Natural Resources was a publication which aimed to update and entertain interested readers with the news and research from RNR faculty, students and staff.

Special Issue: Native Food Production Knowledge Systems And Practices: Alternative Values And Outcomes-From The Guest Editors, Andrew Sluyter, Alfred H. Siemens

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Los Orígenes Ecológicos Y Las Consecuencias De La Ganadería En La Nueva España Durante El Siglo Xvi, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Dietary Phosphorus On Performance Of Lactating Dairy Cows: Milk Production And Cow Health, H. Lopez, F. D. Kanitz, V. R. Moreira, M. C. Wiltbank, L. D. Satter

Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to measure cow response to feeding of two dietary concentrations of P, one of which was close to recent National Research Council requirements, and the other of which was well in excess of the requirement. Diets containing 0.37 or 0.57% P (dry basis) were fed to Holstein cows for the first 165 d of lactation, and occasionally longer until cows were confirmed pregnant approximately 60 d after insemination. At calving, cows were randomly assigned to experimental diets. The number of cows completing a minimum of 165 d of lactation was 123 for the 0.37 …

Reproductive Performance Of Dairy Cows Fed Two Concentrations Of Phosphorus, H. Lopez, F. D. Kanitz, V. R. Moreira, L. D. Satter, M. C. Wiltbank

Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of dietary P concentrations of 0.37 (recommended) or 0.57% (excess; dry matter basis) on reproductive performance. At calving, Holstein cows were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments (n = 134 for 0.37% P and n = 133 for 0.57% P). Cows were fitted with a radiotelemetric transmitter (50 d in milk [DIM]) to record mounting activity during estrus and bred to natural estrus from 50 to 100 DIM, then to synchronized estrus (Ovsynch protocol) after 100 DIM. Weekly ultrasonography was performed from 50 DIM until pregnancy was diagnosed …

Comparison Of Conventional Linted Cottonseed And Mechanically Delinted Cottonseed In Diets For Dairy Cows, V. R. Moreira, L. D. Satter, B. Harding

Faculty Publications

Performance of lactating dairy cows fed diets containing either mechanically delinted whole cottonseed (DWCS; 3.7% lint) or linted whole cottonseed (LWCS; 11.7% lint) was measured. Forty primiparous (86 ± 39 d in milk) and 40 multiparous (88 ± 30 d in milk) cows were fed a total mixed ration containing 13% (dry matter basis) DWCS or LWCS in two blocks of 112 d (n = 53 and 27, respectively). Other total mixed ration ingredients (dry matter basis) were corn silage (28.1%), alfalfa silage (23%), high moisture shelled corn (27.8%), soybean meal (1.8%), expeller soybean meal (1.8%), blood meal (2%), and …

Effects Of Zinc And Sodium Monensin On Ruminal Degradation Of Lysine-Hci And Liquid 2-Hydroxy-4-Methylthiobutanoic Acid, H. G. Bateman, C. C. Williams, D. T. Gantt, Y. H. Chung, A. E. Beem, C. C. Stanley, G. E. Goodier, P. G. Hoyt, J. D. Ward, L. D. Bunting

Faculty Publications

Four nonlactating, mature, Holstein cows were fitted with ruminal cannula and used in a 4 x 4 Latin square-designed experiment to evaluate the impact of supplemental Zn and monensin on ruminal degradation of Lys and liquid 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutanoic acid (HMB). Cows were fed 4.54 kg (as fed) of alfalfa hay top-dressed with 4.54 kg (as fed) concentrate once daily. Concentrates were formulated to provide 0 or 500 mg/kg of Zn as ZnSO4 and 0 or 40 mg/kg of monensin in the total diet. Zinc supplementation provided approximately 22-fold greater dietary Zn than estimated by NRC requirements. On d 14 of each …

Effects Of Zinc And Sodium Monensin On Ruminal Degradation Of Lysine-Hci And Liquid 2-Hydroxy-4-Methylthiobutanoic Acid, H. G. Bateman, C. C. Williams, D. T. Gantt, Y. H. Chung, A. E. Beem, C. C. Stanley, G. E. Goodier, P. G. Hoyt, J. D. Ward, L. D. Bunting

Faculty Publications

Four nonlactating, mature, Holstein cows were fitted with ruminal cannula and used in a 4 x 4 Latin square-designed experiment to evaluate the impact of supplemental Zn and monensin on ruminal degradation of Lys and liquid 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutanoic acid (HMB). Cows were fed 4.54 kg (as fed) of alfalfa hay top-dressed with 4.54 kg (as fed) concentrate once daily. Concentrates were formulated to provide 0 or 500 mg/kg of Zn as ZnSO4 and 0 or 40 mg/kg of monensin in the total diet. Zinc supplementation provided approximately 22-fold greater dietary Zn than estimated by NRC requirements. On d 14 of each …

2004 Louisiana Summary: Agriculture And Natural Resources, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Summary: Agriculture and Natural Resources

This book gives an accounting of the value of agriculture in Louisiana in 2004. Agents and specialists of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, as well as other agencies – both private and public – compile this information. It focuses on the animal, forestry, fisheries, plant and wildlife commodities that comprise our vital agricultural industry. This industry continues to contribute significantly to the state’s economy with the potential for increased impacts through value-added processing.

In 2004, Louisiana farmers, foresters, fishermen and ranchers produced agricultural commodities valued at slightly more than $5 billion. When those commodities were processed, the value-added brought in …

Impaired Coordination Of Nutrient Intake And Substrate Oxidation In Melanocortin-4 Receptor Knockout Mice, Diana C. Albarado, Jennifer Mcclaine, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Randall L. Mynatt, Jianping Ye, Anthony W. Bannon, William G. Richards, Andrew A. Butler

Faculty Publications

Mutations in the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) are associated with obesity. The obesity syndrome observed in humans with MC4R haploinsufficiency is similar to that observed in MC4R knockout mice: increased longitudinal growth, hyperphagia, and fasting hyperinsulinemia. For comparison with other commonly investigated models of obesity and insulin resistance, we have backcrossed Mc4r-/- mice into the C57BL/6J (B6) background. Female obese Mc4r-/- mice exhibit reduced energy expenditure and an attenuated increase in fatty acid oxidation following exposure to high fat diets compared to obese Lep ob/Lepob mice. The reduced energy expenditure and fatty acid oxidation correlates with changes in hepatic gene expression. …

High-Latitude Tertiary Migrations Of An Exclusively Tropical Clade: Evidence From Malpighiaceae, Charles C. Davis, Peter W. Fritsch, Charles D. Bell, Sarah Mathews

Faculty Publications

Explanations of tropical intercontinental disjunctions involving South America and Africa typically invoke vicariance of western Gondwanan biotas or long-distance dispersal. However, many plant groups originated and diversified well after the last direct connection between Africa and South America (ca. 105 million years before the present [mybp]), and it is unlikely that long-distance dispersal accounts for the distribution of all of these. A less commonly invoked explanation, the boreotropics hypothesis, indicates that some tropical disjunctions arose during the Tertiary via high-latitude land connections when northern forests supported tropical vegetation. Malpighiaceae are widely distributed across Africa and South America and have been …

Variation In Small Sapling Density, Understory Cover, And Resource Availability In Four Neotropical Forests, Kyle E. Harms, Jennifer S. Powers, Rebecca A. Montgomery

Faculty Publications

Even though many forest plants spend all or a significant portion of their lives in the forest understoty, few studies have compared understory composition, structure, and resource availability among forests. We used standardized transect-based methods to compare small sapling densities (10-50 cm tall), understory vegetation cover, canopy openness, and nutrient availability in non-gap portions of four lowland Neotropical forests: La Selva, Costa Rica (LS), Barro Colorado Island, Panama (BCI), Cocha Cashu, Peru (CC), and north of Manaus, Brazil (KM41). Sites differed significantly in all variables except canopy openness. LS had high palm and non-fern herb cover and low density of …

Response Of A Gall-Forming Guild (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) To Stressed And Vigorous Prairie Roses, Mark A. Williams, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

Two general hypotheses that describe the relationship between plant quality and host-plant preference of insect herbivores are the plant-stress and plant-vigor hypotheses. We examined the response of a gall-forming guild of insect herbivores associated with prairie rose, Rosa arkansana Porter (Rosaceae), to experimental manipulations of plant stress (addition of NaCl) and vigor (addition of nitrogen; NH4NO3). The most common members of the gall-forming guild on roses are Diplolepis ignota Osten Sacken, D. nodulosa Beutenmüller, and D. rosaefolii Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). The repeated application of nitrogen throughout the growing season to prairie plots resulted in significantly higher plant nitrogen levels and …

The Matrix Enhances The Effectiveness Of Corridors And Stepping Stones, Kristen A. Baum, Kyle J. Haynes, Forrest P. Dillemuth, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

Conservation strategies often call for the utilization of corridors and/or stepping stones to promote dispersal among fragmented populations. However, the extent to which these strategies increase connectivity for an organism may depend not only on the corridors and stepping stones themselves, but also on the composition of the surrounding matrix. Using an herbivore-host-plant system consisting of the planthopper Prokelisia crocea and its sole host plant, prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), we show that the effectiveness of corridors and stepping stones for promoting planthopper dispersal among patches depended strongly on the intervening matrix habitat. In a low-resistance matrix (one that facilitates high …

Positional Identification Of Hypertension Susceptibility Genes On Chromosome 2, Ruth Ann Barkley, Aravinda Chakravarti, Richard S. Cooper, R. Curtis Ellison, Steven C. Hunt, Michael A. Province, Stephen T. Turner, Alan B. Weder, Eric Boerwinkle

Faculty Publications

Chromosome 2 has been consistently identified as a genomic region with genetic linkage evidence suggesting that one or more loci contributes to blood pressure and hypertension status. As with all complex disease traits, following-up linkage evidence to identify the underlying susceptibility gene(s) is an arduous yet biologically and clinically important task. Using combined positional candidate gene methods, the Family Blood Pressure Program (FBPP) has concentrated efforts in narrowing a large region of chromosome 2, demonstrating evidence for linkage in several populations, and identifying underlying candidate hypertension susceptibility gene(s). Initial informatics efforts identified the boundaries of the region and the known …

Influence Of Drought Stress On Sweetpotato Resistance To Sweetpotato Weevil, Cylas Formicarius (Coleoptera: Apoinidae), And Storage Root Chemistry, Lixin Mao, Louis E. Jett, Richard N. Story, Abner M. Hammond, Joseph K. Peterson, Don R. Labonte

Faculty Publications

The effect of drought stress on the resistance of sweetpotato roots to sweetpotato weevil (SPW), Cylas formicarius (Fab.), was studied in 1997 and 1998 in two genotypes ("Beauregard" and "Excel") with different SPW susceptibility. Storage roots produced under drought or normal conditions were tested for adult feeding, oviposition, larval survival and pupal weight in the laboratory under no-choice and free-choice test conditions. The levels of sweetpotato resin glycoside and caffeic acid in the periderm tissue of the roots were also determined. Drought-stressed roots received significantly more SPW eggs under no-choice and free-choice conditions and more feeding punctures under free-choice conditions …

Population Genetic Structure Of The Prairie Skink (Eumeces Septentrionalis): Nested Clade Analysis Of Post Pleistocene Populations, Gregory S. Fuerst, Christopher C. Austin

Faculty Publications

We sequenced two regions of the mitochondrial genome, ND4 and d-loop, from 64 Eumeces septentrionales to assess intra- and interspecific population differentiation. We constructed haplotype genealogies for nine Eumeces septentrionalis septentrionalis populations in previously glaciated regions and used nested clade analysis to examine the role of vicariance and dispersal in shaping the population structure of E. s. septentrionalis in the northern part of its range following Pleistocene paleoclimatological events. In addition, we used DNA sequence data to compare populations of the northern subspecies (E. s. septentrionalis) with the southern subspecies (Eumeces septentrionalis obtusirostris) to determine whether specific level differentiation is …