Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis And Regioselective Functionalization Of Perhalogenated Bodipys, Ning Zhao, Sunting Xuan, Brandon Byrd, Frank R. Fronczek, Kevin M. Smith, M. Graça H. Vicente

Faculty Publications

© The Royal Society of Chemistry. Three perhalogenated BODIPYs (1b-3b), bearing chloro and bromo groups at all carbon positions, were synthesized and characterized. The reactivity of BODIPY 3b was investigated under Stille cross-coupling reactions, and single crystal X-ray analysis was used to confirm the regioselectivity of the reactions. Further substitution at the boron atom produced nona-functionalized BODIPYs 7a,b, which show 676 and 739 nm emissions with 91 and 100 nm Stokes shifts, respectively.

Rletters: A Web-Based Application For Text Analysis Of Journal Articles, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

While textual analysis of the journal literature is a burgeoning field, there is still a profound lack of user-friendly software for accomplishing this task. RLetters is a free, open-source web application which provides researchers with an environment in which they can select sets of journal articles and analyze them with cutting-edge textual analysis tools. RLetters allows users without prior expertise in textual analysis to analyze word frequency, collocations, cooccurrences, term networks, and more. It is implemented in Ruby and scripts are provided to automate deployment.

Is Genetic Drift A Force?, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

One hotly debated philosophical question in the analysis of evolutionary theory concerns whether or not evolution and the various factors which constitute it (selection, drift, mutation, and so on) may profitably be considered as analogous to “forces” in the traditional, Newtonian sense. Several compelling arguments assert that the force picture is incoherent, due to the peculiar nature of genetic drift. I consider two of those arguments here—that drift lacks a predictable direction, and that drift is constitutive of evolutionary systems—and show that they both fail to demonstrate that a view of genetic drift as a force is untenable. I go …

Modulation Of Il-27 In Adipocytes During Inflammatory Stress, Heesun Nam, Bradley S. Ferguson, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Ron F. Morrison

Faculty Publications

© 2015 The Obesity Society. Objective While it is well established that adipose tissue-derived inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenic mechanisms linking obesity with metabolic dysfunction, the inflammatory mediators involved have not been fully elucidated. Here, we explored IL-12 family cytokines with a focus on IL-27 during obesity-induced inflammation in mice and cultured adipocytes (ADs) following exposure to inflammatory stimuli. Methods Relative mRNA abundance of IL-12 cytokines was assessed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in genetically obese B6-ob/ob mice as well as C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet and in ADs following exposure to inflammatory stimuli. …

Abstract Book: Papers And Posters, Conference Of Latin Americanist Geographers, New Orleans, January 3-5, 2017, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Research Matters Spring 2016, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

Research Matters & RNR Newsletters

Research Matters is a publication which highlights ongoing research, international travel experiences, classroom happenings and degree program developments of and for the School of Renewable Natural Resources' students and faculty.

In The Shadow Of Boone And Crockett: Race, Culture, And The Politics Of Representation In The Upland South, Andrea S. Watkins

Civil War Book Review

Legal Notions of Identity and Poverty Chased Imagined Categories of Antebellum Races

The issues of race, poverty, politics and culture in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries feature prominently in Ian C. Hartman’s In the Shadow of Boone and Crockett. Hartman, assistant profe....

Biology And Management Of The Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) In Rice In The United States, J. M. Beuzelin, B. E. Wilson, M. T. Vanweelden, A. Mészáros, M. O. Way, M. J. Stout, T. E. Reagan

Faculty Publications

© The Author, 2016. The Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), is an invasive pest of rice, Oryza sativa L., in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. This pest also damages sugarcane, Saccharum spp. hybrids; corn, Zea mays L.; and sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, and feeds on weedy noncrop grasses. Multiple aspects of integrated pest management including use of pheromone traps, manipulation of planting dates, harvest cutting height, stubble management, noncrop host management, soil fertility management, host plant resistance, use of insecticides, and biological control have been studied for Mexican rice borer management. However, the current management …

Obesity Impairs Skeletal Muscle Regeneration Through Inhibition Of Ampk, Xing Fu, Meijun Zhu, Shuming Zhang, Marc Foretz, Benoit Viollet, Min Du

Faculty Publications

© 2016 by the American Diabetes Association. Obesity is increasing rapidly worldwide and is accompanied by many complications, including impaired muscle regeneration. The obese condition is known to inhibit AMPK activity in multiple tissues. We hypothesized that the loss of AMPK activity is a major reason for hampered muscle regeneration in obese subjects. We found that obesity inhibits AMPK activity in regenerating muscle, which was associated with impeded satellite cell activation and impaired muscle regeneration. To test the mediatory role of AMPKα1, we knocked out AMPKα1 and found that both proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells are reduced after injury …

Deletion Of A Predicted Β-Sheet Domain Within The Amino Terminus Of Herpes Simplex Virus Glycoprotein K Conserved Among Alphaherpesviruses Prevents Virus Entry Into Neuronal Axons, Nithya Jambunathan, Anu Susan Charles, Ramesh Subramanian, Ahmad A. Saied, Misagh Naderi, Paul Rider, Michal Brylinski, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. We have shown previously that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) lacking expression of the entire glycoprotein K (gK) or expressing gK with a 38-amino-acid deletion (gKΔ31-68 mutation) failed to infect ganglionic neurons after ocular infection of mice. We constructed a new model for the predicted three-dimensional structure of gK, revealing that the gKΔ31-68 mutation spans a well-defined β-sheet structure within the amino terminus of gK, which is conserved among alphaherpesviruses. The HSV- 1(McKrae) gKΔ31-68 virus was tested for the ability to enter into ganglionic neuronal axons in cell culture of explanted rat ganglia using …

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Ul37 Protein Tyrosine Residues Conserved Among All Alphaherpesviruses Are Required For Interactions With Glycoprotein K, Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, And Infectious Virus Production, Dmitry V. Chouljenko, Nithya Jambunathan, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Misagh Naderi, Michal Brylinski, John R. Caskey, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) UL37 protein functions in virion envelopment at trans-Golgi membranes, as well as in retrograde and anterograde transport of virion capsids. Recently, we reported that UL37 interacts with glycoprotein K (gK) and its interacting partner protein UL20 (N. Jambunathan, D. Chouljenko, P. Desai, A. S. Charles, R. Subramanian, V. N. Chouljenko, and K. G. Kousoulas, J Virol 88:5927-5935, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00278-14), facilitating cytoplasmic virion envelopment. Alignment of UL37 homologs encoded by alphaherpesviruses revealed the presence of highly conserved residues in the central portion of the UL37 protein. …

Deletion Of A Predicted Β-Sheet Domain Within The Amino Terminus Of Herpes Simplex Virus Glycoprotein K Conserved Among Alphaherpesviruses Prevents Virus Entry Into Neuronal Axons, Nithya Jambunathan, Anu Susan Charles, Ramesh Subramanian, Ahmad A. Saied, Misagh Naderi, Paul Rider, Michal Brylinski, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. We have shown previously that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) lacking expression of the entire glycoprotein K (gK) or expressing gK with a 38-amino-acid deletion (gKΔ31-68 mutation) failed to infect ganglionic neurons after ocular infection of mice. We constructed a new model for the predicted three-dimensional structure of gK, revealing that the gKΔ31-68 mutation spans a well-defined β-sheet structure within the amino terminus of gK, which is conserved among alphaherpesviruses. The HSV- 1(McKrae) gKΔ31-68 virus was tested for the ability to enter into ganglionic neuronal axons in cell culture of explanted rat ganglia using …

Louisiana Agriculture Winter, 2016

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Radiotherapy-Induced Late Effects Research After Advanced Technology Treatments, Wayne D. Newhauser, Amy Berrington De Gonzalez, Reinhard Schulte, Choonsik Lee

Faculty Publications

The number of incident cancers and long-term cancer survivors is expected to increase substantially for at least a decade. Advanced technology radiotherapies, e.g., using beams of protons and photons, offer dosimetric advantages that theoretically yield better outcomes. In general, evidence from controlled clinical trials and epidemiology studies are lacking. To conduct these studies, new research methods and infrastructure will be needed. In the paper, we review several key research methods of relevance to late effects after advanced technology proton-beam and photon-beam radiotherapies. In particular, we focus on the determination of exposures to therapeutic and stray radiation and related uncertainties, with …

Solid-State Nmr Investigations Of Cellulose Structure And Interactions With Matrix Polysaccharides In Plant Primary Cell Walls, Tuo Wang, Mei Hong

Faculty Publications

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. Until recently, the 3D architecture of plant cell walls was poorly understood due to the lack of high-resolution techniques for characterizing the molecular structure, dynamics, and intermolecular interactions of the wall polysaccharides in these insoluble biomolecular mixtures. We introduced multidimensional solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectroscopy, coupled with 13C labelling of whole plants, to determine the spatial arrangements of macromolecules in near-native plant cell walls. Here we review key evidence from 2D and 3D correlation NMR spectra that show relatively few cellulose-hemicellulose cross peaks but …

Peptidines: Glycine-Amidine-Based Oligomers For Solution- And Solid-Phase Synthesis, Julian Vastl, Rendy Kartika, Kichul Park, Art E. Cho, David A. Spiegel

Faculty Publications

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. Efforts to emulate biological oligomers have given rise to a host of useful technologies, ranging from solid-phase peptide and nucleic acid synthesis to various peptidomimetic platforms. Herein we introduce a novel class of peptide-like oligomers called "peptidines" wherein each carbonyl O-atom within poly-N-alkyl glycine oligomers is replaced with a functionalized N-atom. Compared to peptoids or peptides, the presence of this amidine N-substituent in peptidines effectively doubles the number of diversification sites per monomeric unit, and can decrease their overall conformational flexibility. We have developed iterative solution- and solid-phase protocols for the straightforward assembly …

Tip Enhanced Laser Ablation Sample Transfer For Mass Spectrometry, Kermit K. Murray, Suman Ghorai, Chinthaka A. Seneviratne

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Materials Research Society. Mass spectrometry is one of the primary analysis techniques for biological analysis but there are technological barriers in sampling scale that must be overcome for it to be used to its full potential on the size scale of single cells. Current mass spectrometry imaging methods are limited in spatial resolution when analyzing large biomolecules. The goal of this project is to use atomic force microscope (AFM) tip enhanced laser ablation to remove material from cells and tissue and capture it for subsequent mass spectrometry analysis. The laser ablation sample transfer system uses an AFM stage …

Ionic Liquid Crosslinkers For Chiral Imprinted Nanogumbos, Suzana Hamdan, Leonard Moore, Jason Lejeune, Farhana Hasan, Trevor K. Carlisle, Jason E. Bara, D. L. Gin, Andrew L. Lafrate, R. D. Noble, David A. Spivak, Isiah M. Warner

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are an important class of selective materials for molecular specific sensors and separations. Molecular imprinting using non-covalent interactions in aqueous conditions still remains a difficult challenge due to interruption of hydrogen-bonding or electrostatic interactions water. Newly developed crosslinking ionic liquids are demonstrated herein to overcome problems of synthesizing aqueous MIPs, adding to previous examples of ionic liquids used as monomers in non-aqueous conditions or used as MIP solvents. Vinylimidazole ionic liquid crosslinkers were synthesized and subsequently explored as matrix supports for fabrication of molecularly imprinted polymeric nanoGUMBOS (nanoparticles derived from a group …

Helicopter-Borne Transient Electromagnetics In High-Latitude Environments: An Application In The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Neil Foley, Slawek Tulaczyk, Esben Auken, Cyril Schamper, Hilary Dugan, Jill Mikucki, Ross Virginia, Peter Doran

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a polar desert in coastal Antarctica, where glaciers, permafrost, ice-covered lakes, and ephemeral summer streams coexist. Liquid water is found at the surface only in lakes and in the temporary streams that feed them. Past geophysical exploration has yielded ambiguous results regarding the presence of subsurface water. In 2011, we used a helicopterborne, time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) sensor to map resistivity in the subsurface across the Dry Valleys. The airborne electromagnetic (AEM) method excels at finding subsurface liquid water in polar deserts, where water remains liquid under cold conditions if …

Comparison Of Electrophysiological Auditory Measures In Fishes, Karen P. Maruska, Joseph A. Sisneros

Faculty Publications

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Sounds provide fishes with important information used to mediate behaviors such as predator avoidance, prey detection, and social communication. How we measure auditory capabilities in fishes, therefore, has crucial implications for interpreting how individual species use acoustic information in their natural habitat. Recent analyses have highlighted differences between behavioral and electrophysiologically determined hearing thresholds, but less is known about how physiological measures at different auditory processing levels compare within a single species. Here we provide one of the first comparisons of auditory threshold curves determined by different recording methods in a single fish species, …

A Member Of The Phosphate Transporter 1 (Pht1) Family From The Arsenic-Hyperaccumulating Fern Pteris Vittata Is A High-Affinity Arsenate Transporter, Sandra Feuer Ditusa, Elena B. Fontenot, Robert W. Wallace, Molly A. Silvers, Thomas N. Steele, Alia H. Elnagar, Kelsey M. Dearman, Aaron P. Smith

Faculty Publications

© 2015 New Phytologist Trust. Pteris vittata exhibits enhanced arsenic uptake, but the corresponding mechanisms are not well known. The prevalent form of arsenic in most soils is arsenate, which is a phosphate analog and a substrate for Phosphate transporter 1 (Pht1) transporters. Herein we identify and characterize three P. vittata Pht1 transporters. Pteris vittata Pht1 cDNAs were isolated and characterized via heterologous expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) and Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Expression of the PvPht1 loci in P. vittata gametophytes was also examined in response to phosphate deficiency and arsenate exposure. Expression of each of the PvPht1 cDNAs complemented …

Coloration In The Polymorphic Frog Oophaga Pumilio Associates With Level Of Aggressiveness In Intraspecific And Interspecific Behavioral Interactions, Sandra P. Galeano, Kyle E. Harms

Faculty Publications

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Intraspecific morphological variation may correspond to behavioral variation that helps determine the nature of species interactions. Color variation among populations of variably toxic organisms has been shown to associate with alternative anti-predator behaviors. However, the effects of these alternative behavioral tendencies on the outcomes of interspecific interactions other than predator–prey remain largely unexplored. We investigated how coloration and body size variation in Oophaga pumilio, one of the most phenotypically diverse amphibians known, associated with territorial aggressiveness and how this association influenced the outcome of agonistic male–male interactions with conspecifics and heterospecifics of two sympatric species …

Liposomes With Diverse Compositions Are Protected During Desiccation By Lea Proteins From Artemia Franciscana And Trehalose, Daniel S. Moore, Richard Hansen, Steven C. Hand

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. Intracellular accumulation of Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins and the disaccharide trehalose is associated with cellular desiccation tolerance in a number of animal species. Two LEA proteins from anhydrobiotic embryos of the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana were tested for the ability to protect liposomes of various compositions against desiccation-induced damage in the presence and absence of trehalose. Damage was assessed by carboxyfluorescein leakage after drying and rehydration. Further, using a cytoplasmic-localized (AfrLEA2) and a mitochondrial-targeted (AfrLEA3m) LEA protein allowed us to evaluate whether each may preferentially stabilize membranes of a particular lipid composition based …

Isolation And Characterization Of Extremely Halophilic Co-Oxidizing Euryarchaeota From Hypersaline Cinders, Sediments And Soils And Description Of A Novel Co Oxidizer, Haloferax Namakaokahaiae Mke2.3T, Sp. Nov., S. Mcduff, G. M. King, S. Neupane, M. R. Myers

Faculty Publications

© FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. phylogenetic affiliations of organisms responsible for aerobic CO oxidation in hypersaline soils and sediments were assessed using media containing 3.8 M NaCl. CO-oxidizing strains of the euryarchaeotes, Haloarcula, Halorubrum, Haloterrigena and Natronorubrum, were isolated from the Bonneville Salt Flats (UT) and Atacama Desert salterns (Chile). A halophilic euryarchaeote, Haloferax strain Mke2.3T, was isolated from Hawai'i Island saline cinders. Haloferax strain Mke2.3T was most closely related to Haloferax larsenii JCM 13917T (97.0% 16S rRNA sequence identity). It grew with a limited range of substrates, and oxidized CO at a headspace concentration of 0.1%. However, it …

Two New Species Of Siphocampylus (Campanulaceae, Lobelioideae) From The Central Andes, Laura P. Lagomarsino, Daniel Santamaría-Aguilar

Faculty Publications

© L.P. Lagomarsino, D. Santamaría-Aguilar. Two species of Siphocampylus (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae) from the Central Andes of Peru and Bolivia are described, illustrated, and discussed with reference to related species. One species, Siphocampylus antonellii, is endemic to high elevation grasslands of Calca, Peru, while the second, S. siberiensis, is endemic to cloud forests of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Both species are robust shrubs that produce tubular pink flowers that are likely pollinated by hummingbirds.

Autophagy Is Essential For Ultrafine Particle-Induced Inflammation And Mucus Hyperproduction In Airway Epithelium, Zhi Hua Chen, Yin Fang Wu, Ping Li Wang, Yan Ping Wu, Zhou Yang Li, Yun Zhao, Jie Sen Zhou, Chen Zhu, Chao Cao, Yuan Yuan Mao, Feng Xu, Bei Bei Wang, Stephania A. Cormier, Song Min Ying, Wen Li, Hua Hao Shen

Faculty Publications

© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Environmental ultrafine particulate matter (PM) is capable of inducing airway injury, while the detailed molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here, we demonstrate pivotal roles of autophagy in regulation of inflammation and mucus hyperproduction induced by PM containing environmentally persistent free radicals in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells and in mouse airways. PM was endocytosed by HBE cells and simultaneously triggered autophagosomes, which then engulfed the invading particles to form amphisomes and subsequent autolysosomes. Genetic blockage of autophagy markedly reduced PM-induced expression of inflammatory cytokines, e.g. IL8 and IL6, and MUC5AC in HBE cells. …

Plastic And Evolved Responses To Global Change: What Can We Learn From Comparative Transcriptomics?, Melissa B. Debiasse, Morgan W. Kelly

Faculty Publications

© The American Genetic Association. 2015. All rights reserved. Physiological plasticity and adaptive evolution may facilitate persistence in a changing environment. As a result, there is an interest in understanding species' capacities for plastic and evolved responses, and the mechanisms by which these responses occur. Transcriptome sequencing has become a powerful tool for addressing these questions, providing insight into otherwise unobserved effects of changing conditions on organismal physiology and variation in these effects among individuals and populations. Here, we review recent studies using comparative transcriptomics to understand plastic and evolutionary responses to changing environments. We focus on 2 areas where …

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Ul37 Protein Tyrosine Residues Conserved Among All Alphaherpesviruses Are Required For Interactions With Glycoprotein K, Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, And Infectious Virus Production, Dmitry V. Chouljenko, Nithya Jambunathan, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Misagh Naderi, Michal Brylinski, John R. Caskey, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) UL37 protein functions in virion envelopment at trans-Golgi membranes, as well as in retrograde and anterograde transport of virion capsids. Recently, we reported that UL37 interacts with glycoprotein K (gK) and its interacting partner protein UL20 (N. Jambunathan, D. Chouljenko, P. Desai, A. S. Charles, R. Subramanian, V. N. Chouljenko, and K. G. Kousoulas, J Virol 88:5927-5935, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00278-14), facilitating cytoplasmic virion envelopment. Alignment of UL37 homologs encoded by alphaherpesviruses revealed the presence of highly conserved residues in the central portion of the UL37 protein. …

2016 Annual Report, Louisiana Rice Research Board, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Rice Research Board Annual Report

No abstract provided.

Biological Control Activities Of Rice-Associated Bacillus Sp. Strains Against Sheath Blight And Bacterial Panicle Blight Of Rice, Bishnu K. Shrestha, Hari Sharan Karki, Donald E. Groth, Nootjarin Jungkhun, Jong Hyun Ham

Faculty Publications

Potential biological control agents for two major rice diseases, sheath blight and bacterial panicle blight, were isolated from rice plants in this study. Rice-associated bacteria (RABs) isolated from rice plants grown in the field were tested for their antagonistic activities against the rice pathogens, Rhizoctonia solani and Burkholderia glumae, which cause sheath blight and bacterial panicle blight, respectively. Twenty-nine RABs were initially screened based on their antagonistic activities against both R. solani and B. glumae. In follow-up retests, 26 RABs of the 29 RABs were confirmed to have antimicrobial activities, but the rest three RABs did not reproduce any observable …