Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Faculty Publications

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
File Type

Articles 841 - 870 of 10789

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Spin-4/Spinster Supports Sperm Activation In C. Elegans Via Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Transport, Yash Flora, K. Adam Bohnert Dec 2023

Spin-4/Spinster Supports Sperm Activation In C. Elegans Via Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Transport, Yash Flora, K. Adam Bohnert

Faculty Publications

Spermiogenesis, a sperm-activation step, is crucial for the transformation of immotile spermatids into motile sperm. Though membrane transport of ions and molecules across the sperm plasma membrane has been implicated in this process, the full repertoire of transporters involved, and their respective substrates, is unclear. Here, we report that the major facilitator superfamily transporter SPIN-4/Spinster governs efficient spermiogenesis and fertility in the hermaphrodite nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Unlike other C. elegans Spinster paralogs, SPIN-4 is germline-expressed. Moreover, SPIN-4 expression is gamete-specific; it is strongly expressed in developing sperm, where it localizes to the plasma membrane, but it is absent from oocytes. …

Go to article

Global Dataset Of Soil Organic Carbon In Tidal Marshes, Tania L. Maxwell, André S. Rovai, Maria Fernanda Adame, Janine B. Adams, José Álvarez-Rogel, William E.N. Austin, Kim Beasy, Francesco Boscutti, Michael E. Böttcher, Tjeerd J. Bouma, Richard H. Bulmer, Annette Burden, Shannon A. Burke, Saritta Camacho, Doongar R. Chaudhary, Gail L. Chmura, Margareth Copertino, Grace M. Cott, Christopher Craft, John Day, Carmen B. De Los Santos, Lionel Denis, Weixin Ding, Joanna C. Ellison, Carolyn J. Ewers Lewis, Luise Giani, Maria Gispert, Swanne Gontharet, José A. González-Pérez, M. Nazaret González-Alcaraz, Connor Gorham, Anna Elizabeth L. Graversen, Anthony Grey Dec 2023

Global Dataset Of Soil Organic Carbon In Tidal Marshes, Tania L. Maxwell, André S. Rovai, Maria Fernanda Adame, Janine B. Adams, José Álvarez-Rogel, William E.N. Austin, Kim Beasy, Francesco Boscutti, Michael E. Böttcher, Tjeerd J. Bouma, Richard H. Bulmer, Annette Burden, Shannon A. Burke, Saritta Camacho, Doongar R. Chaudhary, Gail L. Chmura, Margareth Copertino, Grace M. Cott, Christopher Craft, John Day, Carmen B. De Los Santos, Lionel Denis, Weixin Ding, Joanna C. Ellison, Carolyn J. Ewers Lewis, Luise Giani, Maria Gispert, Swanne Gontharet, José A. González-Pérez, M. Nazaret González-Alcaraz, Connor Gorham, Anna Elizabeth L. Graversen, Anthony Grey

Faculty Publications

Tidal marshes store large amounts of organic carbon in their soils. Field data quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks provide an important resource for researchers, natural resource managers, and policy-makers working towards the protection, restoration, and valuation of these ecosystems. We collated a global dataset of tidal marsh soil organic carbon (MarSOC) from 99 studies that includes location, soil depth, site name, dry bulk density, SOC, and/or soil organic matter (SOM). The MarSOC dataset includes 17,454 data points from 2,329 unique locations, and 29 countries. We generated a general transfer function for the conversion of SOM to SOC. Using this …

Go to article

Enviromic-Based Kernels May Optimize Resource Allocation With Multi-Trait Multi-Environment Genomic Prediction For Tropical Maize, Raysa Gevartosky, Humberto Fanelli Carvalho, Germano Costa-Neto, Osval A. Montesinos-López, José Crossa, Roberto Fritsche-Neto Dec 2023

Enviromic-Based Kernels May Optimize Resource Allocation With Multi-Trait Multi-Environment Genomic Prediction For Tropical Maize, Raysa Gevartosky, Humberto Fanelli Carvalho, Germano Costa-Neto, Osval A. Montesinos-López, José Crossa, Roberto Fritsche-Neto

Faculty Publications

Background: Success in any genomic prediction platform is directly dependent on establishing a representative training set. This is a complex task, even in single-trait single-environment conditions and tends to be even more intricated wherein additional information from envirotyping and correlated traits are considered. Here, we aimed to design optimized training sets focused on genomic prediction, considering multi-trait multi-environment trials, and how those methods may increase accuracy reducing phenotyping costs. For that, we considered single-trait multi-environment trials and multi-trait multi-environment trials for three traits: grain yield, plant height, and ear height, two datasets, and two cross-validation schemes. Next, two strategies for …

Go to article

Hyperbolic Matrix Factorization Improves Prediction Of Drug-Target Associations, Aleksandar Poleksic Dec 2023

Hyperbolic Matrix Factorization Improves Prediction Of Drug-Target Associations, Aleksandar Poleksic

Faculty Publications

Past research in computational systems biology has focused more on the development and applications of advanced statistical and numerical optimization techniques and much less on understanding the geometry of the biological space. By representing biological entities as points in a low dimensional Euclidean space, state-of-the-art methods for drug-target interaction (DTI) prediction implicitly assume the flat geometry of the biological space. In contrast, recent theoretical studies suggest that biological systems exhibit tree-like topology with a high degree of clustering. As a consequence, embedding a biological system in a flat space leads to distortion of distances between biological objects. Here, we present …

Go to article

Single-Cell Analysis In Hypersaline Brines Predicts A Water-Activity Limit Of Microbial Anabolic Activity, Emily R. Paris, Nestor Arandia-Gorostidi, Benjamin Klempay, Jeff S. Bowman, Alexandra Pontefract, Claire E. Elbon, Jennifer B. Glass, Ellery D. Ingall, Peter T. Doran, Sanjoy M. Som, Britney E. Schmidt, Anne E. Dekas Dec 2023

Single-Cell Analysis In Hypersaline Brines Predicts A Water-Activity Limit Of Microbial Anabolic Activity, Emily R. Paris, Nestor Arandia-Gorostidi, Benjamin Klempay, Jeff S. Bowman, Alexandra Pontefract, Claire E. Elbon, Jennifer B. Glass, Ellery D. Ingall, Peter T. Doran, Sanjoy M. Som, Britney E. Schmidt, Anne E. Dekas

Faculty Publications

Hypersaline brines provide excellent opportunities to study extreme microbial life. Here, we investigated anabolic activity in nearly 6000 individual cells from solar saltern sites with water activities (aw) ranging from 0.982 to 0.409 (seawater to extreme brine). Average anabolic activity decreased exponentially with aw, with nuanced trends evident at the single-cell level: The proportion of active cells remained high (>50%) even after NaCl saturation, and subsets of cells spiked in activity as aw decreased. Intracommunity heterogeneity in activity increased as seawater transitioned to brine, suggesting increased phenotypic heterogeneity with increased physiological stress. No microbial activity was detected in the …

Go to article

Correlations Between Educational Struggle, Toxic Sites By School District And Demographic Variables, With Geographical Information System Projections, Junu Shrestha, Raihan K. Khan, Shane Mcclintock, John Degroote, Catherine L. Zeman Dec 2023

Correlations Between Educational Struggle, Toxic Sites By School District And Demographic Variables, With Geographical Information System Projections, Junu Shrestha, Raihan K. Khan, Shane Mcclintock, John Degroote, Catherine L. Zeman

Faculty Publications

This correlational study associated data on children enrolled in individualized educational plans in their K-12 schools (IEP) and an algorithm-calculated score of neurotoxins at contaminated sites located in each school district. The study also mapped and projected the correlations using Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. These data were populated in ArcMap 10.5 (a GIS software) for generating maps and data to conduct geospatial analysis. A total of 1 Superfund site and 39 CERCLA sites were identified as contaminated sites for this analysis. The majority of contaminants were heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium. The mean toxic score …

Go to article

Development Of A Methodology For The Quantification Of Reaerosolization Of A Biological Contaminate Surrogate Particle From A Military Uniform Fabric, George Cooksey, Jeremy M. Slagley, Casey W. Cooper, Douglas Lewis, Alisha Helm Dec 2023

Development Of A Methodology For The Quantification Of Reaerosolization Of A Biological Contaminate Surrogate Particle From A Military Uniform Fabric, George Cooksey, Jeremy M. Slagley, Casey W. Cooper, Douglas Lewis, Alisha Helm

Faculty Publications

In a mass casualty medical evacuation after a bioaerosol (BA) dispersal event, a decontamination (DC) method is needed that can both decontaminate and prevent biological particle (BP) re-aerosolization (RA) of contaminated clothes. However, neither the efficacy of current DC methods nor the risk of BP RA is greatly explored in the existing literature. The goals of this study were to develop a repeatable method to quantify the RA of a biological contaminant off military uniform fabric swatches and to test the efficacy of one DC protocol (high-volume, low-pressure water) using 1 µm polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres as a surrogate. A …

Go to article

Light-Driven And Nutrient-Driven Displacements Of Subsurface Chlorophyll Maximum Depth In Subtropical Gyres, Xiaogang Xing, Peng Xiu, Edward A. Laws, Guo Yang, Xin Liu, Fei Chai Nov 2023

Light-Driven And Nutrient-Driven Displacements Of Subsurface Chlorophyll Maximum Depth In Subtropical Gyres, Xiaogang Xing, Peng Xiu, Edward A. Laws, Guo Yang, Xin Liu, Fei Chai

Faculty Publications

The mechanism that determines the dynamics of subsurface chlorophyll maximum depth (zSCM) has long been debated. Although a coupling between zSCM and the top of nitracline (znit) has been widely observed in the open ocean, a co-location of zSCM and an isolume depth (ziso) has often been reported in oligotrophic waters. In this study, based on continuous observations of ten BGC-Argo floats, we found that the seasonal displacement of zSCM in all subtropical gyres was driven mainly by light, but zSCM displayed a nutrient-driven pattern occasionally when znit became shallower than ziso. We therefore proposed a “two-group competition framework”: zSCM …

Go to article

The Stress Response Of The Seagrass Zostera Noltei And Three Commercial Clam Species To Low Salinity Associated With Heavy Rainfall, Salvador Román, Elsa Vázquez, Marta Román, Rosa M. Viejo, Nicolás Weidberg, Jesús S. Troncoso, Sarah A. Woodin, David S. Wethey, Celia Olabarria Nov 2023

The Stress Response Of The Seagrass Zostera Noltei And Three Commercial Clam Species To Low Salinity Associated With Heavy Rainfall, Salvador Román, Elsa Vázquez, Marta Román, Rosa M. Viejo, Nicolás Weidberg, Jesús S. Troncoso, Sarah A. Woodin, David S. Wethey, Celia Olabarria

Faculty Publications

The maintenance of stocks of estuarine species strongly depends on the ability of the species to cope with environmental stress. In NW Spain, commercial clam beds, which are usually co-occupied by the seagrass Zostera noltei, are often exposed to reduced salinity caused by intense rainfalls. Our goals were to evaluate the effects of low salinity events on both juvenile clams and Z. noltei, including their interactions. A mesocosm experiment was performed to simulate three salinity decreases (35–35, 25–10, and 20–5), and several indicators of clam and seagrass performance were measured after 3 and 6 days of exposure and …

Go to article

Bearded Or Smooth? Awns Improve Yield When Wheat Experiences Heat Stress During Grain Fill In The Southeastern United States, Noah Dewitt, Jeanette Lyerly, Mohammed Guedira, James B. Holland, J. Paul Murphy, Brian P. Ward, Richard E. Boyles, Mohamed Mergoum, Md Ali Babar, Ehsan Shakiba, Russel Sutton, Amir Ibrahim, Vijay Tiwari, Nicholas Santantonio, David A. Van Sanford, Kimberly Howell, Jared H. Smith, Stephen A. Harrison, Gina Brown-Guedira Nov 2023

Bearded Or Smooth? Awns Improve Yield When Wheat Experiences Heat Stress During Grain Fill In The Southeastern United States, Noah Dewitt, Jeanette Lyerly, Mohammed Guedira, James B. Holland, J. Paul Murphy, Brian P. Ward, Richard E. Boyles, Mohamed Mergoum, Md Ali Babar, Ehsan Shakiba, Russel Sutton, Amir Ibrahim, Vijay Tiwari, Nicholas Santantonio, David A. Van Sanford, Kimberly Howell, Jared H. Smith, Stephen A. Harrison, Gina Brown-Guedira

Faculty Publications

The presence or absence of awns-whether wheat heads are 'bearded' or 'smooth' - is the most visible phenotype distinguishing wheat cultivars. Previous studies suggest that awns may improve yields in heat or water-stressed environments, but the exact contribution of awns to yield differences remains unclear. Here we leverage historical phenotypic, genotypic, and climate data for wheat (Triticum aestivum) to estimate the yield effects of awns under different environmental conditions over a 12-year period in the southeastern USA. Lines were classified as awned or awnless based on sequence data, and observed heading dates were used to associate grain fill periods of …

Go to article

Understanding The Implications Of Underreporting, Vaccine Efficiency And Social Behavior On The Post-Pandemic Spread Using Physics Informed Neural Networks: A Case Study Of China, Samiran Ghosh, Alonso Ogueda-Oliva, Aditi Ghosh, Malay Banerjee Nov 2023

Understanding The Implications Of Underreporting, Vaccine Efficiency And Social Behavior On The Post-Pandemic Spread Using Physics Informed Neural Networks: A Case Study Of China, Samiran Ghosh, Alonso Ogueda-Oliva, Aditi Ghosh, Malay Banerjee

Faculty Publications

In late 2019, the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, led to the implementation of stringent measures forming the zero-COVID policy aimed at eliminating transmission. Zero COVID policy basically aimed at completely eliminating the transmission of COVID-19. However, the relaxation of this policy in late 2022 reportedly resulted in a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases. The aim of this work is to investigate the factors contributing to this outbreak using a new SEIR-type epidemic model with time-dependent level of immunity. Our model incorporates a time-dependent level of immunity considering vaccine doses administered and time-post-vaccination dependent vaccine efficacy. We find that …

Go to article

Therapeutics To Treat Psychiatric And Neurological Disorders: A Promising Perspective From Algerian Traditional Medicine, Farida Larit, Francisco León Ph.D. Nov 2023

Therapeutics To Treat Psychiatric And Neurological Disorders: A Promising Perspective From Algerian Traditional Medicine, Farida Larit, Francisco León Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Ancient people sought out drugs in nature to prevent, cure, and treat their diseases, including mental illnesses. Plants were their primary source for meeting their healthcare needs. In Algeria, folk medicine remains a fundamental part of the local intangible knowledge. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive ethnomedicinal investigation and documentation of medicinal plants and the different plant formulations traditionally used in Algeria for the treatment of pain, psychiatric, and neurological disorders. It also intends to improve the current knowledge of Algerian folk medicine. Several scientific databases were used to accomplish this work. Based on this investigation, we identified 82 …

Go to article

Understanding The Impacts Of Molecular And Macromolecular Crowding Agents On Protein-Polymer Complex Coacervates, Shanta Biswas, Alison L. Hecht, Sadie A. Noble, Qingqiu Huang, Richard E. Gillilan, Amy Y. Xu Nov 2023

Understanding The Impacts Of Molecular And Macromolecular Crowding Agents On Protein-Polymer Complex Coacervates, Shanta Biswas, Alison L. Hecht, Sadie A. Noble, Qingqiu Huang, Richard E. Gillilan, Amy Y. Xu

Faculty Publications

Complex coacervation refers to the liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) process occurring between charged macromolecules. The study of complex coacervation is of great interest due to its implications in the formation of membraneless organelles (MLOs) in living cells. However, the impacts of the crowded intracellular environment on the behavior and interactions of biomolecules involved in MLO formation are not fully understood. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the effects of crowding on a model protein-polymer complex coacervate system. Specifically, we examined the influence of sucrose as a molecular crowder and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a macromolecular crowder. Our results reveal …

Go to article

Efficient Chemical-Free Degradation Of Waterborne Micropollutants With An Immobilized Dual-Porous Tio2 Photocatalyst, Daniel E. Willis, Ella C. Sheets, Mary R. Worbington, Madhusudan Kamat, Sarah K. Glass, Ma Cayla J. Caso, Tochukwu Ofoegbuna, Liz M. Diaz, Caleb Osei-Appau, Samuel D. Snow, Kevin M. Mcpeak Nov 2023

Efficient Chemical-Free Degradation Of Waterborne Micropollutants With An Immobilized Dual-Porous Tio2 Photocatalyst, Daniel E. Willis, Ella C. Sheets, Mary R. Worbington, Madhusudan Kamat, Sarah K. Glass, Ma Cayla J. Caso, Tochukwu Ofoegbuna, Liz M. Diaz, Caleb Osei-Appau, Samuel D. Snow, Kevin M. Mcpeak

Faculty Publications

Photocatalytic advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) promise a chemical-free route to energy-efficient degradation of waterborne micropollutants if long-standing mass transfer and light management issues can be overcome. Herein, we developed a dual-porous photocatalytic system consisting of a mesoporous (i.e., 2-50 nm pores) TiO2 (P25) photocatalyst supported on macroporous (i.e., >50 nm pores) fused quartz fibers (P25/QF). Our reusable photocatalytic AOP reduces chemical consumption and exhibits excellent energy efficiency, demonstrated by degrading various pharmaceutical compounds (acetaminophen, sulfamethoxazole, and carbamazepine) in natural waters with electrical energy per order (EEO) values of 4.07, 0.96, and 1.35 kWh/m3, respectively. Compared to the conventional H2O2/UVC AOP, …

Go to article

A Novel Application Of Spinning Disk Technology To Collect Plasma From Whole Blood Prior To Quantifying Plasma Rna, Naomi Rapier-Sharman, Mae-Lynn L. Hutchinson, Carlos M. Moreno, Abraham Quaye, Brian D. Poole, K. Scott Weber, William G. Pitt, Brett E. Pickett Nov 2023

A Novel Application Of Spinning Disk Technology To Collect Plasma From Whole Blood Prior To Quantifying Plasma Rna, Naomi Rapier-Sharman, Mae-Lynn L. Hutchinson, Carlos M. Moreno, Abraham Quaye, Brian D. Poole, K. Scott Weber, William G. Pitt, Brett E. Pickett

Faculty Publications

The spinning disk technology has previously been utilized to isolate bacterial components from blood in hours instead of days. We hypothesized that this platform could be applied as an alternative approach to isolating plasma RNA from a whole blood sample. We consequently tested the efficacy of the spinning disk technology to extract plasma from whole blood upstream of RNA isolation and analysis. To do so, we collected plasma using either the spinning disk or the typical two-spin centrifuge method. We found that the spinning disk method results in significantly more hemolysis during collection than the conventional two-spin centrifuge method. However, …

Go to article

Shifting Taxonomic And Functional Community Composition Of Rivers Under Land Use Change, Kai Chen, Stephen R. Midway, Brandon K. Peoples, Beixin Wang, Julian D. Olden Nov 2023

Shifting Taxonomic And Functional Community Composition Of Rivers Under Land Use Change, Kai Chen, Stephen R. Midway, Brandon K. Peoples, Beixin Wang, Julian D. Olden

Faculty Publications

Land use intensification has led to conspicuous changes in plant and animal communities across the world. Shifts in trait-based functional composition have recently been hypothesized to manifest at lower levels of environmental change when compared to species-based taxonomic composition; however, little is known about the commonalities in these responses across taxonomic groups and geographic regions. We investigated this hypothesis by testing for taxonomic and geographic similarities in the composition of riverine fish and insect communities across gradients of land use in major hydrological regions of the conterminous United States. We analyzed an extensive data set representing 556 species and 33 …

Go to article

The Future Of Cyanobacteria Toxicity In Estuaries Undergoing Pulsed Nutrient Inputs: A Case Study From Coastal Louisiana, Sibel Bargu, Matthew Hiatt, Kanchan Maiti, Paul Miller, John R. White Nov 2023

The Future Of Cyanobacteria Toxicity In Estuaries Undergoing Pulsed Nutrient Inputs: A Case Study From Coastal Louisiana, Sibel Bargu, Matthew Hiatt, Kanchan Maiti, Paul Miller, John R. White

Faculty Publications

Harmful cyanobacteria blooms (cyanoHABs) are a global phenomenon, especially in calm, warm, and nutrient-rich freshwater and estuarine systems. These blooms can produce various potent toxins responsible for animal poisoning and human health problems. Nutrient-rich freshwater pulsed into estuaries affects turbidity, water temperature, salinity, and nutrient concentrations and ratios at irregular intervals, creating a highly dynamic habitat. However, the underlying processes that lead to the selective development of cyanoHABs for certain species and the fate of their toxins are still uncertain. This paper draws upon the rich body of research available for one such system, the Lake Pontchartrain Estuary, Louisiana, to …

Go to article

Design Guidance For Wetland-Road Crossings To Reduce Blanding’S Turtle Mortality Risk, Thomas P. Ballestero, Lauren E. White, Sandra Houghton, David Burdick, Josh Megyesy Nov 2023

Design Guidance For Wetland-Road Crossings To Reduce Blanding’S Turtle Mortality Risk, Thomas P. Ballestero, Lauren E. White, Sandra Houghton, David Burdick, Josh Megyesy

Faculty Publications

Road mortality is a leading threat to freshwater turtles, particularly the Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii), an endangered species in New Hampshire. Wildlife wetland-crossing structures, such as culverts and/or fences, have proven effective in reducing wildlife road mortality while retaining habitat connectivity. Funding for adequate wetland-crossing creation or restoration is limited, so prioritizing areas of high mortality risk is essential to ensuring that the resources spent are impactful. A research team of professionals from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, New Hampshire Fish and Game, University of New Hampshire, and other organizations formed to create a model capable …

Go to article

Limnological Response Of Las Curias Reservoir, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Successful Management Of The Invasive Aquatic Fern, Salvinia Molesta, Xavier A. García-López, Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas, Rodrigo Díaz, Aurelio Castro-Jiménez, Charles F. Wahl Nov 2023

Limnological Response Of Las Curias Reservoir, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Successful Management Of The Invasive Aquatic Fern, Salvinia Molesta, Xavier A. García-López, Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas, Rodrigo Díaz, Aurelio Castro-Jiménez, Charles F. Wahl

Faculty Publications

The anthropogenic deterioration of aquatic ecosystems affects water resources due to agricultural malpractices, pollution from domestic septic tanks, recreational activities, and poor watershed management, among other factors. This study examines the management of Las Curias Reservoir, San Juan, Puerto Rico, after the 2016 arrival of the invasive aquatic fern Salvinia molesta. In September 2019, a community-led initiative introduced the Cyrtobagous salviniae weevil, an effective biological control agent for S. molesta, and commenced a mechanical removal campaign using an aquatic harvester. Limnological sampling (September 2019 to September 2022) and drone flights were employed to measure physicochemical and floating plant cover changes, …

Go to article

A Phoenix Glimmers Within The Ashes: Generalized Defensive Traits Suggest Hope For Plants Under Attack By Invasive Pests, Todd D. Johnson, Justin G.A. Whitehill Nov 2023

A Phoenix Glimmers Within The Ashes: Generalized Defensive Traits Suggest Hope For Plants Under Attack By Invasive Pests, Todd D. Johnson, Justin G.A. Whitehill

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

A Membrane Protein Of The Rice Pathogen Burkholderia Glumae Required For Oxalic Acid Secretion And Quorum Sensing, Asif Iqbal, George Nwokocha, Vijay Tiwari, Inderjit K. Barphagha, Anne Grove, Jong Hyun Ham, William T. Doerrler Nov 2023

A Membrane Protein Of The Rice Pathogen Burkholderia Glumae Required For Oxalic Acid Secretion And Quorum Sensing, Asif Iqbal, George Nwokocha, Vijay Tiwari, Inderjit K. Barphagha, Anne Grove, Jong Hyun Ham, William T. Doerrler

Faculty Publications

Bacterial panicle blight is caused by Burkholderia glumae and results in damage to rice crops worldwide. Virulence of B. glumae requires quorum sensing (QS)-dependent synthesis and export of toxoflavin, responsible for much of the damage to rice. The DedA family is a conserved membrane protein family found in all bacterial species. B. glumae possesses a member of the DedA family, named DbcA, which we previously showed is required for toxoflavin secretion and virulence in a rice model of infection. B. glumae secretes oxalic acid as a “common good” in a QS-dependent manner to combat toxic alkalinization of the growth medium …

Go to article

Effects Of Ingested Essential Oils And Propolis Extracts On Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Health And Gut Microbiota, Allyson Martin Ewert, Michael Simone-Finstrom, Quentin Read, Claudia Husseneder, Vincent Ricigliano Nov 2023

Effects Of Ingested Essential Oils And Propolis Extracts On Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Health And Gut Microbiota, Allyson Martin Ewert, Michael Simone-Finstrom, Quentin Read, Claudia Husseneder, Vincent Ricigliano

Faculty Publications

Managed honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis mellifera Linnaeus) hives require frequent human inputs to maintain colony health and productivity. A variety of plant natural products (PNPs) are delivered via feeding to control diseases and reduce the use of synthetic chemical treatments. However, despite their prevalent use in beekeeping, there is limited information regarding the impact of ingested PNPs on bee health. Here, we tested the effects of different essential oils and propolis extracts on honey bee life span, nutrient assimilation, xenobiotic detoxification, and gut microbiota abundance. Brazilian propolis extract lengthened worker life span, while the other PNPs (Louisiana propolis extract, …

Go to article

Weight And Protozoa Number But Not Bacteria Diversity Are Associated With Successful Pair Formation Of Dealates In The Formosan Subterranean Termite, Coptotermes Formosanus, Junyan Chen, Garima Setia, Li Hsiang Lin, Qian Sun, Claudia Husseneder Nov 2023

Weight And Protozoa Number But Not Bacteria Diversity Are Associated With Successful Pair Formation Of Dealates In The Formosan Subterranean Termite, Coptotermes Formosanus, Junyan Chen, Garima Setia, Li Hsiang Lin, Qian Sun, Claudia Husseneder

Faculty Publications

New colonies of Formosan subterranean termites are founded by monogamous pairs. During swarming season, alates (winged reproductives) leave their parental colony. After swarming, they drop to the ground, shed their wings, and male and female dealates find suitable nesting sites where they mate and become kings and queens of new colonies. The first generation of offspring is entirely dependent on the nutritional resources of the founder pair consisting of the fat and protein reserves of the dealates and their microbiota, which include the cellulose-digesting protozoa and diverse bacteria. Since termite kings and queens can live for decades, mate for life …

Go to article

Community-Wide Correlations Between Species Richness, Abundance And Population Genomic Diversity In A Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot, Jamie R. Bucholz, Garrett W. Hopper, Irene Sánchez González, Taylor E. Kelley, Colin R. Jackson, Ryan C. Garrick, Carla L. Atkinson, Jeffrey D. Lozier Nov 2023

Community-Wide Correlations Between Species Richness, Abundance And Population Genomic Diversity In A Freshwater Biodiversity Hotspot, Jamie R. Bucholz, Garrett W. Hopper, Irene Sánchez González, Taylor E. Kelley, Colin R. Jackson, Ryan C. Garrick, Carla L. Atkinson, Jeffrey D. Lozier

Faculty Publications

Understanding patterns of diversity across macro (e.g. species-level) and micro (e.g. molecular-level) scales can shed light on community function and stability by elucidating the abiotic and biotic drivers of diversity within ecological communities. We examined the relationships among taxonomic and genetic metrics of diversity in freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae), an ecologically important and species-rich group in the southeastern United States. Using quantitative community surveys and reduced-representation genome sequencing across 22 sites in seven rivers and two river basins, we surveyed 68 mussel species and sequenced 23 of these species to characterize intrapopulation genetic variation. We tested for the presence of …

Go to article

Quantitative Trait Loci, Candidate Genes, And Breeding Lines To Improve Salt Tolerance At The Flowering And Seedling Stages In Rice, Rajat Pruthi, Sandeep Chapagain, Sapphire Coronejo, Lovepreet Singh, Prasant Kumar Subudhi Nov 2023

Quantitative Trait Loci, Candidate Genes, And Breeding Lines To Improve Salt Tolerance At The Flowering And Seedling Stages In Rice, Rajat Pruthi, Sandeep Chapagain, Sapphire Coronejo, Lovepreet Singh, Prasant Kumar Subudhi

Faculty Publications

Salinity is a major environmental constraint that limits growth and productivity of rice all over the world. Although rice plants are vulnerable to salt stress at both seedling and flowering stages, genetic dissection of salt tolerance at the flowering stage is challenging due to non-uniformity of stress application at the appropriate growth stage. The present study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes associated with the flowering stage salt tolerance and compare with those associated with the seedling stage using a high-resolution genetic map. A population of advanced generation introgression lines with uniform flowering time was …

Go to article

Expanding Non-Invasive Approaches For Fish-Health Monitoring: A Survey Of The Epidermal Mucous Metabolomes Of Phylogenetically Diverse Freshwater Fish Species, Drew R. Ekman, Marina G. Evich, Jonathan D. Mosley, Jon A. Doering, Kellie A. Fay, Gerald T. Ankley, Timothy W. Collette Nov 2023

Expanding Non-Invasive Approaches For Fish-Health Monitoring: A Survey Of The Epidermal Mucous Metabolomes Of Phylogenetically Diverse Freshwater Fish Species, Drew R. Ekman, Marina G. Evich, Jonathan D. Mosley, Jon A. Doering, Kellie A. Fay, Gerald T. Ankley, Timothy W. Collette

Faculty Publications

There is a pressing need for more-holistic approaches to fisheries assessments along with growing demand to reduce the health impacts of sample collections. Metabolomic tools enable the use of sample matrices that can be collected with minimal impact on the organism (e.g., blood, urine, and mucus) and provide high-throughput, untargeted biochemical information without the requirement of a sequenced genome. These qualities make metabolomics ideal for monitoring a wide range of fish species, particularly those under protected status. In the current study, we surveyed the relative abundances of 120 endogenous metabolites in epidermal mucus across eight freshwater fish species belonging to …

Go to article

Responses Of Phytoplankton Communities To The Effect Of Both River Plume And Coastal Upwelling, Zhuyin Tong, Lingqi Ma, Shujie Cai, Lei Wang, Wupeng Xiao, Bangqin Huang, Edward A. Laws Nov 2023

Responses Of Phytoplankton Communities To The Effect Of Both River Plume And Coastal Upwelling, Zhuyin Tong, Lingqi Ma, Shujie Cai, Lei Wang, Wupeng Xiao, Bangqin Huang, Edward A. Laws

Faculty Publications

River plumes and coastal upwelling systems are both nutrient-abundant habitats compared to the open ocean, and the mechanisms that structure the phytoplankton community when these occur together are unclear. In this study we investigated the dynamics and drivers of phytoplankton biomass and community composition in the Pearl River plume-coastal upwelling system on the northern South China Sea shelf during summer. We found that phytoplankton biomass was lower in the plume than in upwelled water. Diatoms were the only dominant group in the upwelled water. In contrast, diatoms and Synechococcus were co-dominant in the plume, and the negative correlation between the …

Go to article

Widespread Sympatry In A Species-Rich Clade Of Marine Fishes (Carangoidei), Jessica R. Glass, Richard C. Harrington, Peter F. Cowman, Brant C. Faircloth, Thomas J. Near Nov 2023

Widespread Sympatry In A Species-Rich Clade Of Marine Fishes (Carangoidei), Jessica R. Glass, Richard C. Harrington, Peter F. Cowman, Brant C. Faircloth, Thomas J. Near

Faculty Publications

A universal paradigm describing patterns of speciation across the tree of life has been debated for decades. In marine organisms, inferring patterns of speciation using contemporary and historical patterns of biogeography is challenging due to the deficiency of species-level phylogenies and information on species' distributions, as well as conflicting relationships between species' dispersal, range size and co-occurrence. Most research on global patterns of marine fish speciation and biogeography has focused on coral reef or pelagic species. Carangoidei is an ecologically important clade of marine fishes that use coral reef and pelagic environments. We used sequence capture of 1314 ultraconserved elements …

Go to article

Exposing The Error Hidden In Plain Sight: A Critique Of Calder's (1983) Group Selectionist Seed-Dispersal Hypothesis For Mistletoe “Mimicry” Of Host Plants, Kyle E. Harms, David M. Watson, Luis Y. Santiago-Rosario, Sarah Mathews Nov 2023

Exposing The Error Hidden In Plain Sight: A Critique Of Calder's (1983) Group Selectionist Seed-Dispersal Hypothesis For Mistletoe “Mimicry” Of Host Plants, Kyle E. Harms, David M. Watson, Luis Y. Santiago-Rosario, Sarah Mathews

Faculty Publications

Some mistletoe species (Loranthaceae) resemble their host plants to a striking degree. Various mechanisms have been proposed for the developmental origins of novel traits that cause mistletoes to appear similar to their hosts, as well as for the adaptive phenotypic evolution of such traits. Calder (1983) proposed a logically flawed group selectionist seed-dispersal hypothesis for mistletoes to resemble their hosts. Calder's (1983) hypothesis does not provide a viable potential explanation for mistletoe resemblance to hosts.

Go to article

A Target Enrichment Probe Set For Resolving Phylogenetic Relationships In The Coffee Family, Rubiaceae, Laymon D. Ball, Ana M. Bedoya, Charlotte M. Taylor, Laura P. Lagomarsino Nov 2023

A Target Enrichment Probe Set For Resolving Phylogenetic Relationships In The Coffee Family, Rubiaceae, Laymon D. Ball, Ana M. Bedoya, Charlotte M. Taylor, Laura P. Lagomarsino

Faculty Publications

Premise: Rubiaceae is among the most species-rich plant families, as well as one of the most morphologically and geographically diverse. Currently available phylogenies have mostly relied on few genomic and plastid loci, as opposed to large-scale genomic data. Target enrichment provides the ability to generate sequence data for hundreds to thousands of phylogenetically informative, single-copy loci, which often leads to improved phylogenetic resolution at both shallow and deep taxonomic scales; however, a publicly accessible Rubiaceae-specific probe set that allows for comparable phylogenetic inference across clades is lacking. Methods: Here, we use publicly accessible genomic resources to identify putatively single-copy nuclear …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last