Digital Commons Network^™

End-Permian (252 Mya) Deforestation, Wildfires And Flooding—An Ancient Biotic Crisis With Lessons For The Present, Vivi Vajda, Stephen Mcloughlin, Chris Mays, Tracy D. Frank, Christopher R. Fielding, Allen Tevyaw, Veiko Lehsten, Malcolm Bocking, Robert S. Nicoll

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Current large-scale deforestation poses a threat to ecosystems globally, and imposes substantial and prolonged changes on the hydrological and carbon cycles. The tropical forests of the Amazon and Indonesia are currently undergoing deforestation with catastrophic ecological consequences but widespread deforestation events have occurred several times in Earth’s history and these provide lessons for the future. The end-Permian mass-extinction event (EPE; ∼252 Ma) provides a global, deep-time analogue for modern deforestation and diversity loss. We undertook centimeter-resolution palynological, sedimentological, carbon stable-isotope and paleobotanical investigations of strata spanning the end- Permian event at the Frazer Beach and Snapper Point localities, in the …

Transcriptional Analysis Of Cleft Palate In Tgfβ3 Mutant Mice, J. Liu, S.K. Chanumolu, K.M. White, M. Albahrani, Hasan H. Otu, A. Nawshad

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Cleft palate (CP) is one of the most common craniofacial birth defects, impacting about 1 in 800 births in the USA. Tgf-β3 plays a critical role in regulating murine palate development, and Tgf-β3 null mutants develop cleft palate with 100% penetrance. In this study, we compared global palatal transcriptomes of wild type (WT) and Tgf-β3 −/− homozygous (HM) mouse embryos at the crucial palatogenesis stages of E14.5, and E16.5, using RNA-seq data. We found 1,809 and 2,127 differentially expressed genes at E16.5 vs. E14.5 in the WT and HM groups, respectively (adjusted p < 0.05; |fold change|> 2.0). We focused on the genes that …

Long-Term Tracking Of Group-Housed Livestock Using Keypoint Detection And Map Estimation For Individual Animal Identification, Eric T. Psota, Ty Schmidt, Benny Mote, Lance C. Pérez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Tracking individual animals in a group setting is a exigent task for computer vision and animal science researchers. When the objective is months of uninterrupted tracking and the targeted animals lack discernible differences in their physical characteristics, this task introduces significant challenges. To address these challenges, a probabilistic tracking-by-detection method is proposed. The tracking method uses, as input, visible keypoints of individual animals provided by a fully-convolutional detector. Individual animals are also equipped with ear tags that are used by a classification network to assign unique identification to instances. The fixed cardinality of the targets is leveraged to create a …

Ecosystem-Specific Growth Responses To Climate Pattern By A Temperate Freshwater Fish, Jonathan Spurgeon, Mark A. Pegg, Kevin L. Pope, Lin Xie

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Somatic growth patterns among animal populations are maintained through complex processes that vary among ecosystems. Changes in growth patterns may be concomitant with changes in climate; however, understanding how growth will manifest among ecosystems is limited. Information embedded within fish hard-parts (i.e., otoliths, spines, vertebrae) can account for variation in growth patterns resulting from changing climate conditions. Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus is a freshwater fish species widely distributed across North America with limited information regarding climate influences on growth and differences in climate-growth relations among ecological systems. We assessed growth (total length) response to changing climate conditions for channel catfish …

Donald J. Trump And The Rhetoric Of Ressentiment, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay contributes to and reframes the preliminary scholarly assessments of President Donald J. Trump’s appeals to rage, malice, and revenge by sketching the rhetorical dimensions of an underlying emotional-moral framework in which victimization, resentment, and revenge are inverted civic virtues. I elaborate on the concept of ressentiment (re-sentiment), a condition in which a subject is addled by rage and envy yet remains impotent, subjugated and unable to act on or adequately express frustration. Though anger and resentment capture part of Trump’s affective register, I suggest that ressentiment accounts for the unique intersection where powerful sentiments and self-serving morality are …

Integrated Crop–Livestock Systems In Paddy Fields: New Strategies For Flooded Rice Nutrition, Luiz Gustavo De O. Denardin, Amanda P. Martins, Felipe De C. Carmona, Murilo G. Veloso, Gabriela I. Carmona, Paulo César De F. Carvalho, Ibanor Anghinoni

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Integrated crop–livestock systems (ICLSs) appear as a good alternative to increase nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in rice (Oryza sativa L.) through the improvement in nutrient cycling and soil chemical attributes in paddy fields. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an ICLS on soil chemical attributes and on the fertilization requirement of N, P, and K by flooded rice in the Brazilian subtropical region. Nutritional status, yield, and NUE of flooded rice were evaluated by fertilization trials through rice response to different fertilization rates of N, P, and K. Soil chemical attributes were evaluated at …

Polyanhydride Nanoparticles Induce Low Inflammatory Dendritic Cell Activation Resulting In Cd8+ T Cell Memory And Delayed Tumor Progression, Ross Darling, Sujata Senapati, John Christiansen, Luman Liu, Amanda E. Ramer-Tati, Balaji Narasimhan, Michael Wannemuehler

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Adjuvants and immunotherapies designed to activate adaptive immunity to eliminate infectious disease and tumors have become an area of interest aimed at providing a safe and effective strategy to prevent or eliminate disease. Existing approaches would benefit from the development of immunization regimens capable of inducing efficacious cell- mediated immunity directed toward CD8+ T cell-specific antigens. This goal is critically dependent upon appropriate activation of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) most notably dendritic cells (DCs). In this regard, polyanhydride particles have been shown to be effectively internalized by APCs and induce activation.

Methods: Here, a prophylactic vaccine regimen designed as a …

Desiccation Tolerance In Streptophyte Algae And The Algae To Land Plant Transition: Evolution Of Lea And Mip Protein Families Within The Viridiplantae, Burkhard Becker, Xuehuan Feng, Yanbin Yin, Andreas Holzinger

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The present review summarizes the effects of desiccation in streptophyte green algae, as numerous experimental studies have been performed over the past decade particularly in the early branching streptophyte Klebsormidium sp. and the late branching Zygnema circumcarinatum. The latter genus gives its name to the Zygenmatophyceae, the sister group to land plants. For both organisms, transcriptomic investigations of desiccation stress are available, and illustrate a high variability in the stress response depending on the conditions and the strains used. However, overall, the responses of both organisms to desiccation stress are very similar to that of land plants. We highlight the …

Identification Of Simplified Microbial Communities That Inhibit Clostridioides Difficile Infection Through Dilution/Extinction, Jennifer M. Auchtung, Eva C. Preisner, James Collins, Armando I. Lerma, Robert A. Britton

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The gastrointestinal microbiome plays an important role in limiting susceptibility to infection with Clostridioides difficile. To better understand the ecology of bacteria important for C. difficile colonization resistance, we developed an experimental platform to simplify complex communities of fecal bacteria through dilution and rapidly screen for their ability to resist C. difficile colonization after challenge, as measured by 􏰀100-fold reduction in levels of C. difficile in challenged communities. We screened 76 simplified communities diluted from cultures of six fecal donors and identified 24 simplified communities that inhibited C. difficile colonization in vitro. Sequencing revealed that simplified communities were composed of …

Fecal Short-Chain Fatty Acid Concentrations Increase In Newly Paired Male Marmosets (Callithrix Jacchus), Lifeng Zhu, Mallory J. Suhr Van Haute, Haley R. Hassenstab, Caroline Smith, Devin J. Rose, Aaryn C. Must, Andrew K. Benson, Jeffrey A. French

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The role by which the gut microbiome influences host health (e.g., energy equilibrium and immune system) may be partly mediated by short-chain fatty acids, which are bacterial fermentation products from the dietary fibers. However, little is known about longitudinal changes in gut microbiome metabolites during cohabitation alongside social contact. In common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), the gut microbiome community is influenced by social contact, as newly paired males and females develop convergent microbial profiles. Here, we monitored the dynamics of short-chain fatty acid concentrations in common marmoset feces from the prepairing (PRE) to postpairing (POST) stages. In males, we observed that …

Acrfinder: Genome Mining Anti-Crispr Operons In Prokaryotes And Their Viruses, Haidong Yi, Le Huang, Bowen Yang, Javi Gomez, Han Zhang, Yanbin Yin

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Anti-CRISPR (Acr) proteins encoded by (pro)phages/(pro)viruses have a great potential to enable a more controllable genome editing. However, genome mining new Acr proteins is challenging due to the lack of a conserved functional domain and the low sequence similarity among experimentally char- acterized Acr proteins. We introduce here AcrFinder, a web server (http://bcb.unl.edu/AcrFinder) that combines three well-accepted ideas used by pre- vious experimental studies to pre-screen genomic data for Acr candidates. These ideas include ho- mology search, guilt-by-association (GBA), and CRISPR-Cas self-targeting spacers. Compared to existing bioinformatics tools, AcrFinder has the following unique functions: (i) it is the first online …

Wild Primate Microbiomes Prevent Weight Gain In Germ-Free Mice, Dimitrios N. Sidiropoulos, Gabriel A. Al-Ghalith, Robin R. Shields-Cutler, Tonya L. Ward, Abigail J. Johnson, Pajau Vangay, Dan Knights, Purna C. Kashyap, Yibo Xian, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Jonathan B. Clayton

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background: The gut microbiome harbors trillions of bacteria that play a major role in dietary nutrient extraction and host metabolism. Metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes are associated with shifts in microbiome composition and have been on the rise in Westernized or highly industrialized countries. At the same time, Westernized diets low in dietary fiber have been shown to cause loss of gut microbial diversity. However, the link between microbiome composition, loss of dietary fiber, and obesity has not been well defined.

Results: To study the interactions between gut microbiota, dietary fiber, and weight gain, we transplanted captive and …

The International Scientific Association For Probiotics And Prebiotics (Isapp) Consensus Statement On The Definition And Scope Of Synbiotics, Kelly S. Swanson, Glenn R. Gibson, Robert W. Hutkins, Raylene A. Reimer, Gregor Reid, Kristin Verbeke, Karen P. Scott, Hannah D. Holscher, Meghan B. Azad, Nathalie M. Delzenne, Mary Ellen Sanders

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

In May 2019, the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) convened a panel of nutritionists, physiologists and microbiologists to review the definition and scope of synbiotics. The panel updated the definition of a synbiotic to “a mixture comprising live microorganisms and substrate(s) selectively utilized by host microorganisms that confers a health benefit on the host”. The panel concluded that defining synbiotics as simply a mixture of probiotics and prebiotics could suppress the innovation of synbiotics that are designed to function cooperatively. Requiring that each component must meet the evidence and dose requirements for probiotics and prebiotics individually could …

Stearidonic-Enriched Soybean Oil Modulates Obesity, Glucose Metabolism, And Fatty Acid Profiles Independently Of Akkermansia Muciniphila, Rafael R. Segura Munoz, Truyen Quach, João C. Gomes-Neto, Yibo Xian, Pamela A. Pena, Steven Weier, Michael A. Pellizzon, Hatem Kittana, Liz A. Cody, Abby L. Geis, Kari Heck, Robert J. Schmaltz, Laure B. Bindels, Edgar B. Cahoon, Andrew K. Benson, Tom Elmo Clemente, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Scope: Previous studies have suggested that diets rich in omega-3 and low in omega-6 long- longchain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can limit the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Transgenic soybeans yielding oils enriched for omega-3 PUFAs represent a new and readily-available option for incorporating omega-3 PUFAs into diets to provide health benefits. Methods and Results: Transgenic soybean oils, enriched for either stearidonic acid (SDA) or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are incorporated into diets to test their effects on limiting the development of MetS in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity. Supplementation with SDA- but not EPA-enriched oils improved features …

Polyphenolic Fractions Isolated From Red Raspberry Whole Fruit, Pulp, And Seed Differentially Alter The Gut Microbiota Of Mice With Diet-Induced Obesity, Yibo Xian, Rong Fan, Jing Shao, Ashley Mulcahy Toney, Soonkyu Chung, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Polyphenol extracts from red raspberry (RR) whole fruit or pulp, but not seed, attenuate high-fat (HF) dietinduced obesity in mice. Because host metabolism is linked to the microbiota, we investigated the effects of polyphenols from RR fruit, pulp, and seed on the microbiome. RR polyphenols significantly decreased the abundance of specific taxa that were increased during HF feeding relative to a low-fat diet, including Ruminococcus and an unclassified genus from Clostridiales. Compared to a HF diet, pulp and seed polyphenols increased Roseburia abundance and decreased levels of an unclassified genus from Mogibacteriaceae. RR seed polyphenols uniquely increased Bifidobacterium compared …

Mothers’ And Fathers’ Self-Regulation Capacity, Dysfunctional Attributions And Hostile Parenting During Early Adolescence: A Process-Oriented Approach, Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Zhi Li, Meredith Martin, Hannah R. Jones-Gordils, Patrick T. Davies

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The parent-child relationship undergoes substantial reorganization over the transition to adolescence. Navigating this change is a challenge for parents because teens desire more behavioral autonomy as well as input in decision-making processes. Although it has been demonstrated that changes in parental socialization approaches facilitates adolescent adjustment, very little work has been devoted to understanding the underlying mechanisms supporting parents’ abilities to adjust caregiving during this period. Guided by self-regulation models of parenting, the present study examined how parental physiological and cognitive regulatory capacities were associated with hostile and insensitive parent conflict behavior over time. From a process-oriented perspective, we tested …

Mothers’ And Fathers’ Self-Regulation Capacity, Dysfunctional Attributions And Hostile Parenting During Early Adolescence: A Process-Oriented Approach, Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Zhi Li, Meredith J. Martin, Hannah R. Jones-Gordils, Patrick T. Davies

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The parent-child relationship undergoes substantial reorganization over the transition to adolescence. Navigating this change is a challenge for parents because teens desire more behavioral autonomy as well as input in decision-making processes. Although it has been demon- strated that changes in parental socialization approaches facilitates adolescent adjustment, very little work has been devoted to understand- ing the underlying mechanisms supporting parents’ abilities to adjust caregiving during this period. Guided by self-regulation models of parenting, the present study examined how parental physiological and cognitive regulatory capacities were associated with hostile and insen- sitive parent conflict behavior over time. From a process-oriented …

Electrospun Thymosin Beta-4 Loaded Plga/Pla Nanofiber/ Microfiber Hybrid Yarns For Tendon Tissue Engineering Application, Shaohua Wu, Rong Zhou, Fang Zhou, Philipp N. Streubel, Shaojuan Chen, Bin Duan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Microfiber yarns (MY) have been widely employed to construct tendon tissue grafts. However, suboptimal ultrastructure and inappropriate environments for cell interactions limit their clinical application. Herein, we designed a modified electrospinning device to coat poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) PLGA nanofibers onto polylactic acid (PLA) MY to generate PLGA/PLA hybrid yarns (HY), which had a well-aligned nanofibrous structure, resembling the ultrastructure of native tendon tissues and showed enhanced failure load compared to PLA MY. PLGA/PLA HY significantly improved the growth, proliferation, and tendon-specific gene expressions of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (HADMSC) compared to PLA MY. Moreover, thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4) loaded PLGA/PLA …

Additive Manufacturing Of Magnesium Alloys, Rakeshkumar Karunakaran, Sam Ortgies, Ali Tamayol, Florin Bobaru, Michael P. Sealy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Magnesium alloys are a promising new class of degradable biomaterials that have a similar stiffness to bone, which minimizes the harmful effects of stress shielding. Use of biodegradable magnesium implants eliminates the need for a second surgery for repair or removal. There is a growing interest to capitalize on additive manufacturing's unique design capabilities to advance the frontiers of medicine. However, magnesium alloys are difficult to 3D print due to the high chemical reactivity that poses a combustion risk. Furthermore, the low vaporization temperature of magnesium and common biocompatible alloying elements further increases the difficulty to print fully dense structures …

3d Printing Of Multilayered Scaffolds For Rotator Cuff Tendon Regeneration, Xiping Jiang, Shaohua Wu, Mitchell Kuss, Yunfan Kong, Wen Shi, Philipp N. Streubel, Tieshi Li, Bin Duan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Repairing massive rotator cuff tendon defects remains a challenge due to the high retear rate after surgical intervention. 3D printing has emerged as a promising technique that enables the fabrication of engineered tissues with heterogeneous structures and mechanical properties, as well as controllable microenvironments for tendon regeneration. In this study, we developed a new strategy for rotator cuff tendon repair by combining a 3D printed scaffold of polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) with cell-laden collagen-fibrin hydrogels. We designed and fabricated two types of scaffolds: one featuring a separate layer-by-layer structure and another with a tri-layered structure as a whole. Uniaxial tensile tests …

Fluid Mechanics Education Using Japanese Anime: Examples From “Castle In The Sky” By Hayao Miyazaki, Sangjin Ryu, Haipeng Zhang, Markeya S. Peteranetz, Tareq Daher

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Current K-12 and undergraduate student have grown up with constant exposure to visual popular culture (e.g., movies, TV programs, graphic novels, etc.). Because youth find pop culture references in the classroom to be engaging, many science and engineering instructors have shown that examples found in visual pop culture can be used to teach science and engineering concepts.1,2 One recent study on the efficay os using pop ulture for instruction found that high school studetns learning from graphic-novel styles comics acquired deeper understanding of complex subject matter and reported higher engagement with the instructional materials as compared to students learning from …

Energy Development And Production In The Great Plains: Implications And Mitigation Opportunities, Jacqueline P. Ott, Bruce B. Hanberry, Mona Khalil, Mark W. Paschke, Max Post Van Der Burg, A.J. Prenni

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Energy is an integral part of society. The major US energy sources of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas); biofuels (ethanol); and wind are concentrated in grassland ecosystems of the Great Plains. As energy de- mand continues to increase, mounting pressures will be placed on North American grassland systems. In this review, we present the ecological effects of energy development and production on grassland sys- tems. We then identify opportunities to mitigate these effects during the planning, construction, and pro- duction phases by using informed methodology and improved technology. Primary effects during energy development include small- and large-scale soil disturbance …

Temporospatial Shifts In Sandhill Crane Staging In The Central Platte River Valley In Response To Climatic Variation And Habitat Change, Andrew J. Caven, Emma M. Brinley Buckley, Kelsey C. King, Joshua Wiese, David M. Baasch, Greg D. Wright, Mary Harner, Aaron T. Pearse, Matt Raabe, Dana Varner, Brice Krohn, Nicole Arcilla, Kirk D. Schroeder, Kenneth F. Dinan

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Over 80% of the Mid-Continent Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) Population (MCP), estimated at over 660,000 individuals, stops in the Central Platte River Valley (CPRV) during spring migration from mid-February through mid-April. Research suggests that the MCP may be shifting its distribution spatially and temporally within the CPRV. From 2002 to 2017, we conducted weekly aerial surveys of Sandhill Cranes staging in the CPRV to examine temporal and spatial trends in their abundance and distribution. Then, we used winter temperature and drought severity measures from key wintering and early migratory stopover locations to assess the impacts of weather patterns …

The Kaposi’S Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (Kshv) Gh/Gl Complex Is The Predominant Neutralizing Antigenic Determinant In Kshv-Infected Individuals, Yasaman Mortazavi, Salum J. Lidenge, Tara Tran, John T. West, Charles Wood, For Yue Tso

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), one of the most prevalent cancers of people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. The seroprevalence for KSHV is high in the region, and no prophylactic vaccine against the virus is available. In this study, we characterized the antigenic targets of KSHV-specific neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) in asymptomatic KSHV-infected individuals and KS patients with high nAbs titers. We quantified the extent to which various KSHV envelope glycoproteins (gB, ORF28, ORF68, gH, gL, gM, gN and gpK8.1) adsorbed/removed KSHV-specific nAbs from the plasma of infected individuals. Our study revealed that …

Epstein Barr Virus-Immortalizedｂlymphocytes Exacerbate Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis In Xenograft Mice, Pascal Polepole, Alison Bartenslager, Yutong Liu, Thomas M. Petro, Samodha C. Fernando, Luwen Zhang

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common autoimmune disorder affecting the central nervous system. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a causative agent for infectious mononucleosis (IM) that is associated with MS pathogenesis. However, the exact mechanism by which EBV, specifically in IM, increases the risk for MS remains unknown. EBV immortalizes primary B lymphocytes in vitro and causes excessive B lymphocyte proliferation in IM in vivo. In asymptomatic carriers, EBV-infected B lymphocytes still proliferate to certain degrees, the process of which is tightly controlled by the host immune systems. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mimics key features of MS in humans and …

Recommendations For Measuring Hiv Reservoir Size In Cure- Directed Clinical Trials., Luis J. Montaner, Qingsheng Li

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Therapeutic strategies are being clinically tested either to eradicate the latent HIV reservoir or to achieve virologic control in the absence of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Attaining this goal will require a consensus on how best to measure the levels of persistently-infected cells with the potential to cause viral rebound upon ART cessation to assess the results of cure-directed strategies in vivo. Current measurements assess different aspects of the HIV provirus and its functionality, and produce divergent results. Here, we provide the collective insight and position from the BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory on which viral measurements to prioritize in HIV cure-directed …

Lessons Learned From Battling Covid-19: The Korean Experience, Sang M. Lee, Donhee Lee

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world like a gigantic tsunami, turning social and economic activities upside down. Methods: This paper presents some of the innovative response strategies implemented by the public health system, healthcare facilities, and government in South Korea, which has been hailed as the model country for its success in containing COVID-19. Korea reinvented its public health infrastructure with a sense of urgency. Results: Korea’s success rests on its readiness, with the capacity for massive testing and obtaining prompt test results, eective contact tracing based on its world-leading mobile technologies, timely provision of personal protective equipment …

Developing A Computer-Controlled Treat Dispenser For Canine Operant Conditioning, Walker Arce, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

When performing canine operant conditioning studies, the delivery of the reward can be a limiting factor of the study. While there are a few commercially available options for automatically delivering rewards, they generally require manual input, such as using a remote control, in accordance with the experiment script. This means that human reaction times and transmission distances can cause interruptions to the flow of the experiment. The potential for development of non-supervised conditioning studies is limited by this same factor. To remedy this, we retrofitted an off-the-shelf treat dispenser with new electronics that allow it to be remotely controllable as …

Obituary: Sydney Anderson (1927–2018), Scott Lyell Gardner, Robert M. Timm, Nancy Olds, Hugh H. Genoways

Scott L. Gardner Publications

On August 12, 2018, the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) lost one of its giants of the latter half of the 20th century when Sydney Anderson quietly passed away at his home in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of 91. “Syd,” to his many friends and colleagues, was born on January 11, 1927 in Topeka, Kansas, to Robert Grant and Evelyn Fern (Hunt) Anderson.

Anderson began his professional career at the University of Kansas, where for four years (1955–1959) he served as Assistant Curator in charge of mammals in the Museum of Natural History, and Instructor in the Department of …

Variation Profile Of The Orthotospovirus Genome, Deepti Nigam, Hernan Garcia Ruiz

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Orthotospoviruses are plant-infecting members of the family Tospoviridae (order Bunyavirales), have a broad host range and are vectored by polyphagous thrips in a circulative- propagative manner. Because diverse hosts and vectors impose heterogeneous selection constraints on viral genomes, the evolutionary arms races between hosts and their pathogens might be manifested as selection for rapid changes in key genes. These observations suggest that orthotospoviruses contain key genetic components that rapidly mutate to mediate host adaptation and vector transmission. Using complete genome sequences, we profiled genomic variation in orthotospoviruses. Results show that the three genomic segments contain hypervariable areas at homologous locations …