Digital Commons Network^™

Functional Requirements For A Samd14-Capping Protein Complex In Stress Erythropoiesis, Suhita Ray, Linda Chee, Yichao Zhou, Meg A. Schaefer, Michael J. Naldrett, Sophie Alvarez, Nicholas T. Woods, Kyle J. Hewitt

Nebraska Center for Biotechnology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Acute anemia induces rapid expansion of erythroid precursors and accelerated differentiation to replenish erythrocytes. Paracrine signals—involving cooperation between stem cell factor (SCF)/Kit signaling and other signaling inputs—are required for the increased erythroid precursor activity in anemia. Our prior work revealed that the sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain 14 (Samd14) gene increases the regenerative capacity of the erythroid system in a mouse genetic model and promotes stress-dependent Kit signaling. However, the mechanism underlying Samd14’s role in stress erythropoiesis is unknown. We identified a protein-protein interaction between Samd14 and the α- and β-heterodimers of the F-actin capping protein (CP) complex. Knockdown of …

Exploring The Metabolic Landscape Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cells Using Genome-Scale Metabolic Modeling, Mohammad Mazharul Islam, Andrea Goertzen, Pankaj K. Singh, Rajib Saha

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a major research focus because of its poor therapy response and dismal prognosis. PDAC cells adapt their metabolism to the surrounding environment, often relying on diverse nutrient sources. Because traditional experimental techniques appear exhaustive to find a viable therapeutic strategy, a highly curated and omics-informed PDAC genome-scale metabolic model was reconstructed using patient-specific transcriptomics data. From the model-predictions, several new metabolic functions were explored as potential therapeutic targets in addition to the known metabolic hallmarks of PDAC. Significant downregulation in the peroxisomal beta oxidation pathway, flux modulation in the carnitine shuttle system, and upregulation in …

The Status Of Posidonia Oceanica At Tremiti Islands Marine Protected Area (Adriatic Sea), Andrea Tursi, Francesco Mastrototaro, Federica Montesanto, Francesco De Giosa, Anna Lisco, Antonella Bottalico, Giovanni Chimienti

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Simple Summary: The seagrass Posidonia oceanica is the most important marine phanerogam of the Mediterranean Sea due to its meadows’ complexity, persistence, and extension. These habitats provide a suite of ecosystem goods and services, being of primary importance in marine conservation. Despite their central role in the coastal ecology, P. oceanica meadows are undergoing overall deterioration and fragmentation in the basin mostly due to anthropogenic impacts at local to global scales. In the last decades, several management measures have been proposed aiming to improve the meadow health conditions, while the periodic monitoring of P. oceanica meadows allows for verifying their …

When Sarah Meets Lawrence: The Effects Of Coeducation On Women's College Major Choices, Avery Calkins, Ariel J. Binder, Dana Shaat, Brenden Timpe

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

We leverage variation in the adoption of coeducation by U.S. women's colleges to study how exposure to a mixed-gender collegiate environment affects women's human capital investments. Our event-study analyses of newly collected historical data find a 3.0-3.5 percentage-point (30-33%) decline in the share of women majoring in STEM. While coeducation caused a large influx of male peers and modest increase in male faculty, we find no evidence that it altered the composition of the female student body or other gender-neutral inputs. Extrapolation of our main estimate suggests that coeducational environments explain 36% of the current gender gap in STEM.

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

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

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

Gross Positioning Device And Related Systems And Methods, Mark A. Reichenbach, Shane M. Farritor

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Disclosed herein are gross positioning systems for use with robotic surgical devices to provide gross positioning of the robotic surgical devices. The gross positioning systems have a base, a first arm link operably coupled to the base, a second arm link operably coupled to the first arm link, a third arm link operably coupled to the second arm link, and a slidable coupling component slidably coupled to the third arm link.

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

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

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

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

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

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

Dj-1 Is Not A Deglycase And Makes A Modest Contribution To Cellular Defense Against Methylglyoxal Damage In Neurons, Melissa Conti Mazza, Sarah C. Shuck, Jiusheng Lin, Michael Moxley, John Termini, Mark R. Cookson, Mark A. Wilson

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Human DJ-1 is a cytoprotective protein whose absence causes Parkinson's disease and is also associated with other diseases. DJ-1 has an established role as a redox-regulated protein that defends against oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Multiple studies have suggested that DJ-1 is also a protein/nucleic acid deglycase that plays a key role in the repair of glycation damage caused by methylglyoxal (MG), a reactive α-keto aldehyde formed by central metabolism. Contradictory reports suggest that DJ-1 is a glyoxalase but not a deglycase and does not play a major role in glycation defense. Resolving this issue is important for understanding how …

Genes Involved In Feed Efficiency Identified In A Meta-Analysis Of Rumen Tissue From Two Populations Of Beef Steers, Amanda K. Lindholm-Perry, Allison M. Meyer, Rebecca J. Kern-Lunbery, Hannah C. Cunningham-Hollinger, Taran H. Funk, Brittney N. Keel

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

In cattle, the rumen is an important site for the absorption of feed by-products released by bacterial fermentation, and variation in ruminal function plays a role in cattle feed efficiency. Studies evaluating gene expression in the rumen tissue have been performed prior to this. However, validating the expression of genes identified in additional cattle populations has been challenging. The purpose of this study was to perform a meta-analysis of the ruminal transcriptome of two unrelated populations of animals to identify genes that are involved in feed efficiency across populations. RNAseq data from animals with high and low residual feed intake …

Genomic Tools Reveal Complex Social Organization Of An Invasive Large Mammal (Sus Scrofa), Chelsea L. Titus, Courtney F. Bowden, Timothy J. Smyser, Stephen L. Webb, James C. Beasley

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A comprehensive understanding of sociality in wildlife is vital to optimizing conservation and management efforts. However, sociality is complicated, especially for widely distributed species that exhibit substantive behavioral plasticity. Invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa), often representing hybrids of European wild boar and domestic pigs, are among the most adaptable and widely distributed large mammals. The social structure of wild pigs is believed to be similar to European wild boar, consisting of matriarchal groups (sounders) and solitary males. However, wild pig social structure is understudied and largely limited to visual observations. Using a hierarchical approach, we incorporated genomic tools …

The Dynamic Floor Of Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, Usa: The Last 14 K.Y. Of Hydrothermal Explosions, Venting, Doming, And Faulting, L. A. Morgan, W. C.P. Shanks, K. L. Pierce, N. Iverson, C. M. Schiller, S. R. Brown, P. Zahajska, R. Cartier, R. W. Cash, J. L. Best, C. Whitlock, Sherilyn C. Fritz, U.S. Geological Survey, H. Lowers, D. A. Lovalvo, J. M. Licciardi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Hydrothermal explosions are significant potential hazards in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA. The northern Yellowstone Lake area hosts the three largest hydrothermal explosion craters known on Earth empowered by the highest heat flow values in Yellowstone and active seismicity and deformation. Geological and geochemical studies of eighteen sublacustrine cores provide the first detailed synthesis of the age, sedimentary facies, and origin of multiple hydrothermal explosion deposits.New tephrochronology and radiocarbon results provide a four-dimensional view of recent geologic activity since recession at ca. 15–14.5 ka of the >1-km-thick Pinedale ice sheet.

The sedimentary record in Yellowstone Lake contains multiple hydrothermal explosion …

Grassy–Herbaceous Land Moderates Regional Climate Effects On Honey Bee Colonies In The Northcentral Us, Gabriela M. Quinlan, Douglas Sponsler, Hannah R. Gaines-Day, Harper B G Mcminn-Sauder, Clint R V Otto, Autumn H. Smart, Théotime Colin, Claudio Gratton, Rufus Isaacs, Reed Johnson, Meghan O. Milbrath, Christina M. Grozinger

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The lack of seasonally sustained floral resources (i.e. pollen and nectar) is considered a primary global threat to pollinator health. However, the ability to predict the abundance of flowering resources for pollinators based upon climate, weather, and land cover is difficult due to insufficient monitoring over adequate spatial and temporal scales. Here we use spatiotemporally distributed honey bee hive scales that continuously measure hive weights as a standardized method to assess nectar intake. We analyze late summer colony weight gain as the response variable in a random forest regression model to determine the importance of climate, weather, and land cover …

Axial Hypersensitivity Is Associated With Aberrant Nerve Sprouting In A Novel Model Of Disc Degeneration In Female Sprague Dawley Rats, David J. Lillyman, Fei San Lee, Evie C. Barnett, Tyler J. Miller, Moreno Lozano Alvaro, Henry C. Drvol, Rebecca A. Wachs

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Chronic low back pain is a global socioeconomic crisis and treatments are lacking in part due to inadequate models. Etiological research suggests that the predominant pathology associated with chronic low back pain is intervertebral disc degeneration. Various research teams have created rat models of disc degeneration, but the clinical translatability of these models has been limited by an absence of robust chronic painlike behavior. To address this deficit, disc degeneration was induced via an artificial annular tear in female Sprague Dawley rats. The subsequent degeneration, which was allowed to progress for 18-weeks, caused a drastic reduction in disc volume. Furthermore, …

Sexual Compulsivity, Erectile Dysfunction, And Suicidality Among Male Survivors Of Military Sexual Violence, Rebecca K. Blais, Bingyu Xu, Tim Hoyt, Tierney K. Lorenz, Lindsey L. Monteith

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although military sexual trauma (MST) is associated with an increased risk of suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal ideation among service members and veterans, there is limited knowledge regarding the mechanisms of MST and suicidality among men. The current study examined whether MST was associated with sexual compulsivity and/or erectile dysfunction and if these, in turn, explained elevated suicidal thoughts and the likelihood of engaging in future suicidal behavior after accounting for mental health, military, and demographic characteristics. Servicemembers and veteranswho reported their gender as male (N = 508) were recruited via social media and completed online self-report measures assessing …

Noncanonical Amino Acid Mutagenesis In Response To Recoding Signal-Enhanced Quadruplet Codons, Yan Chen, Xinyuan He, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kun Liu, Tian Gao, Wei Niu, Jiantao Guo

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

While amber suppression is the most common approach to introduce noncanonical amino acids into proteins in live cells, quadruplet codon decoding has potential to enable a greatly expanded genetic code with up to 256 new codons for protein biosynthesis. Since triplet codons are the predominant form of genetic code in nature, quadruplet codon decoding often displays limited efficiency. In this work, we exploited a new approach to significantly improve quadruplet UAGN and AGGN (N = A, U, G, C) codon decoding efficiency by using recoding signals imbedded in mRNA. With representative recoding signals, the expression level of mutant proteins containing …

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

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

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

Fossils On The Floor Mosaics In The Rotunda Of The Nebraska State Capitol Second Edition, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

The idea for this project arose during a field trip to the Nebraska State Capitol led by my long-time friend and colleague, Joe Hannibal, of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, during the Geological Society of America’s North-Central Section Meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday, April 26, 2014. One of Joe’s interests is historical buildings and their building stones. He put together a very useful guidebook to the building and its decorative stones (Hannibal, 2014) that we used on our tour.

One of the many places that we visited was the State Capitol Archives, located in the basement, where the …

Age-Dependent White Matter Disruptions After Military Traumatic Brain Injury: Multivariate Analysis Results From Enigma Brain Injury, Heather C. Bouchard, Delin Sun, Emily L. Dennis, Mary R. Newsome, Seth G. Disner, Jeremy Elman, Annelise Silva, Carmen Velez, Andrei Irimia, Nicholas D. Davenport, Scott R. Sponheim, Carol E. Franz, William S. Kremen, Michael J. Coleman, M. Wright Williams, Elbert Geuze, Inga K. Koerte, Martha E. Shenton, Maheen M. Adamson, Raul Coimbra, Gerald Grant, Lori Shutter, Mark S. George, Ross D. Zafonte, Thomas W. Mcallister, Murray B. Stein, Paul M. Thompson, Elisabeth A. Wilde, David F. Tate, Aristeidis Sotiras, Rajendra A. Morey

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Mild Traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a signature wound in military personnel, and repetitive mTBI has been linked to age-related neurogenerative disorders that affect white matter (WM) in the brain. However, findings of injury to specific WM tracts have been variable and inconsistent. This may be due to the heterogeneity of mechanisms, etiology, and comorbid disorders related to mTBI. Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a data-driven approach that detects covarying patterns (components) within high-dimensional data. We applied NMF to diffusion imaging data from military Veterans with and without a self-reported TBI history. NMF identified 12 independent components derived from fractional …

Timber Talk, Vol. 60, No. 2, June 2022

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber market reports

Hardwood lumber prices

Carbon sources for composting HPAI mortalities, by Amy Millmier Schmidt

Save the date! - "Managing Carbon Through HealthyForests in the Southern Great Plains"

"Science You Can Use: Biochar Basics"

Trading Post

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Edition 5, May/June 2022, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

The purpose of this L.I.N.K.S. newsletter is to provide a monthly update of opportunities and resources for K-12 schools to connect with the University of Nebraska's CASNR Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems (FEWS²) programs and partners.

Included in this issue:

Scientist Spotlights initiative

Eye on curriculum and resources

Teacher opportunities

Link to list of partnerships

Ask an expert

Eye on CASNR research: Sara Roberts

Student experiences

Sned your students to campus

Success stories

Subscription And Organization Information (June 2022)

Nebraska Bird Review

The Nebraska Bird Review is published quarterly by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc., as its official journal, and is sent to members not in arrears of dues. Annual subscription rates (on a calendar-year basis only): $25 in the United States and $35 in all other countries, payable in advance. Single copies are $7 each, postpaid, in the United States and $9 elsewhere. Send orders for back issues to Anita Breckbill, NOU Librarian, c/o Music Library, WMB 30, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0101 (or at the email address listed below). Memberships in the NOU (on a calendar-year basis only): Active …

Remembering Lanny Randolph, William Flack

Nebraska Bird Review

Nebraska's birding community suffered a great loss on June 17, 2022, with the death of Lanny Randolph, an enthusiastic birder and a good friend to all of us. ... Lanny ... resolutely continued birding. In May 2022, he was able to attend the NOU meeting in Gering, and to see many of his longtime friends for the first time since the COVID pandemic. But a month later, on June 17, he was taken from us. Lanny's no longer physically present among us. But for those of us who knew him, he'll always be there in our memories, an invisible presence …

Voiding The Federal Analogue Act, Andrew Fels

Nebraska Law Review

"Accordingly, [King Rex] announced to his subjects that he had written out a code and would henceforth be governed by it in deciding cases, but that for an indefinite future the contents of the code would remain an official state secret, known only to him and his scrivener. To Rex’s surprise this sensible plan was deeply resented by his subjects. They declared it was very unpleasant to have one’s case decided by rules when there was no way of knowing what those rules were."--LON L. FULLER, THE MORALITY OF LAW

If the Federal Analogue Act (Analog Act) is to be …

Spring Field Report, March-May 2022, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

This spring there was a large number of interesting reports generated by active field observers, particularly in the west, where our knowledge continues to be broadened in all aspects. The main takeaway this spring was the inordinate plethora of species that matched or exceeded early arrival dates listed in BONO. There were no fewer than 70 species in this category, involving most families and genera, suggesting some overall influence on migration timing. Perhaps exceptions to these early arrivals were some lingering waterfowl and gulls although terns arrived early. Fully 50 of the early arrivers were passerines, notably including nine species …

Remembering Rosalind Morris

Nebraska Bird Review

Longtime NOU member Mary Rosalind Morris passed away in Lincoln on March 26, 2022, at the age of 101. ... Her membership in the NOU spanned decades, and she held the offices of vice president (1960), president (1975), librarian (1988-1989) and NBR editor (1992-1997). She was also a member of the Friends of Wilderness Park, Lincoln Naturalist Club, Wachiska Audubon, and the Nature Conservancy. For many years while on walks with her dog she picked up litter in Lincoln parks and on campus and received several environmental stewardship awards for her efforts. She is remembered by those who knew her …

Nou Spring Field Days And Annual Meeting, Gering, May 20-22, 2022, Janis Paseka

Nebraska Bird Review

The NOU Annual Meeting and Spring Field Days, organized by Kathy DeLara, Robin Harding, Jan Johnson, Alice Kenitz and Ruthie Stearns, was held in Gering on May 20-22, 2022, with 64 in attendance. This was the first time the organization had been able to get together since the meeting in Imperial in September of 2019. Our spring and fall meetings in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our meetings and meals took place in the Gering Civic Center. The weekend weather varied from cool and sunny to windy, snowy, or rainy, but the total species list …

Rare Dark American Kestrel – Melanistic Or Sooty?, Joseph A. Gubanyi, Joel Rathe, Camden Sesna

Nebraska Bird Review

On April 13 in Seward County, we noticed a dark bird flying relatively low over fields east of Seward near 224th and Bluff Rd. Initially, because of its size, dark coloration and pointed wingtips, we were unsure of its identification and followed the bird to get better looks and identify it. We were able to observe and photograph the bird perched (Figure 1). We also observed the bird hovering and diving to the ground multiple times in search of prey. After better looks, based on size, wing shape, hooked beak, claws, and behavior (repeated hovering over field), we concluded the …

The Nebraska Bird Review Volume 90 Number 2, June 2022

Nebraska Bird Review

Spring Field Report, March - May 2022, by W. Ross Silcock ….46

Rare Dark American Kestrel – Melanistic or Sooty?, by Joseph Gubanyi, Joel Rathe, Camden Sesna …. 71

Remembering Rosalind Morris …. 76

Remembering Lanny Randolph by William Flack … 77

NOU Spring field Days and Annual Meeting in Gering, May 20-22, 2022 ….78

Subscription and Organization Information …. 87

Altered Collective Mitochondrial Dynamics In The Arabidopsis Msh1 Mutant Compromising Organelle Dna Maintenance, Joanna M. Chustecki, Ross D. Etherington, Daniel J. Gibbs, Iain G. Johnston

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Mitochondria form highly dynamic populations in the cells of plants (and almost all eukaryotes). The characteristics and benefits of this collective behaviour, and how it is influenced by nuclear features, remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we use a recently developed quantitative approach to reveal and analyse the physical and collective ‘social’ dynamics of mitochondria in an Arabidopsis msh1 mutant where the organelle DNA maintenance machinery is compromised. We use a newly created line combining the msh1 mutant with mitochondrially targeted green fluorescent protein (GFP), and characterize mitochondrial dynamics with a combination of single-cell time-lapse microscopy, computational tracking, and network …