Life Sciences Commons^™

Grunt Variation In The Oyster Toadfish Opsanus Tau: Effect Of Size And Sex, Michael L. Fine, Tyler D. Waybright

Biology Publications

As in insects, frogs and birds, vocal activity in fishes tends to be more developed in males than in females, and sonic swimbladder muscles may be sexually dimorphic, i.e., either larger in males or present only in males. Male oyster toadfish Opsanus tau L produce a long duration, tonal boatwhistle advertisement call, and both sexes grunt, a short duration more pulsatile agonistic call. Sonic muscles are present in both sexes but larger in males. We tested the hypothesis that males would call more than females by inducing grunts in toadfish of various sizes held in a net and determined incidence …

Planar Cell Polarity Genes Frizzled3a, Vangl2, And Scribble Are Required For Spinal Commissural Axon Guidance, Simon D. Sun, Ashley M. Purdy, Gregory S. Walsh

Biology Publications

Background

A fundamental feature of early nervous system development is the guidance of axonal projections to their targets in order to assemble neural circuits that control behavior. Spinal commissural neurons are an attractive model to investigate the multiple guidance cues that control growth cone navigation both pre- and post-midline crossing, as well as along both the dorsal–ventral (D–V) and anterior–posterior (A–P) axes. Accumulating evidence suggests that guidance of spinal commissural axons along the A–P axis is dependent on components of the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway. In the zebrafish, the earliest born spinal commissural neuron to navigate the midline …

Simba: A Web Tool For Managing Bacterial Genome Assembly Generated By Ion Pgm Sequencing Technology, Diego C. B. Mariano, Felipe L. Pereira, Edgar L. Aguiar, Letícia C. Oliveira, Leandro Benevides, Luís C. Guimarães, Edson L. Folador, Thiago J. Sousa, Preetam Ghosh, Debmalya Barh, Henrique C. P. Figueiredo, Artur Silva, Rommel T. J. Ramos, Vasco A. C. Azevedo

Biology Publications

Background

The evolution of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) has considerably reduced the cost per sequenced-base, allowing a significant rise of sequencing projects, mainly in prokaryotes. However, the range of available NGS platforms requires different strategies and software to correctly assemble genomes. Different strategies are necessary to properly complete an assembly project, in addition to the installation or modification of various software. This requires users to have significant expertise in these software and command line scripting experience on Unix platforms, besides possessing the basic expertise on methodologies and techniques for genome assembly. These difficulties often delay the complete genome assembly projects.

Results …

Homo Heidelbergensis: The Tool To Our Success, Alexander Burkard

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Homo heidelbergensis, a physiological variant of the species Homo sapien, is an extinct species that existed in both Europe and parts of Asia from 700,000 years ago to roughly 300,000 years ago (carbon dating). This “subspecies” of Homo sapiens, as it is formally classified, is a direct ancestor of anatomically modern humans, and is understood to have many of the same physiological characteristics as those of anatomically modern humans while still expressing many of the same physiological attributes of Homo erectus, an earlier human ancestor. Since Homo heidelbergensis represents attributes of both species, it has therefore earned the classification as …

Single-Locus Versus Multilocus Patterns Of Local Adaptation To Climate In Eastern White Pine (Pinus Strobus, Pinaceae), Om P. Rajora, Andrew J. Eckert, John W. R. Zinck

Biology Publications

Natural plant populations are often adapted to their local climate and environmental conditions, and populations of forest trees offer some of the best examples of this pattern. However, little empirical work has focused on the relative contribution of single-locus versus multilocus effects to the genetic architecture of local adaptation in plants/forest trees. Here, we employ eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) to test the hypothesis that it is the inter-genic effects that primarily drive climate-induced local adaptation. The genetic structure of 29 range-wide natural populations of eastern white pine was determined in relation to local climatic factors using both …

Prothonotary Warbler Nestling Growth And Condition Inresponse To Variation In Aquatic And Terrestrial Preyavailability, Jenna C. Dodson, Nicholas J. Moy, Lesley P. Bulluck

Biology Publications

Aquatic prey subsidies entering terrestrial habitats are well documented, but little is known about the degree to which these resources provide fitness benefits to riparian consumers. Riparian species take advantage of seasonal pulses of both terrestrial and aquatic prey, although aquatic resources are often over-looked in studies of how diet influences the reproductive ecology of these organisms. Ideally, the timing of resource pulses should occur at the time of highest reproductive demand. This study investigates the availability of aquatic(mayfly) and terrestrial (caterpillar) prey resources as well as the nestling diet of the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) at two sites along …

In Silico Identification Of Essential Proteins In Corynebacterium Pseudotuberculosis Based On Protein-Protein Interaction Networks, Edson Luiz Folador, Paulo Vinícius Sanches Daltro De Carvalho, Wanderson Marques Silva, Rafaela Salgado Ferreira, Artur Silva, Michael Gromiha, Preetam Ghosh, Debmalya Barh, Vasco Azevedo, Richard Röttger

Biology Publications

Background

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Cp) is a gram-positive bacterium that is classified into equi and ovis serovars. The serovar ovis is the etiological agent of caseous lymphadenitis, a chronic infection affecting sheep and goats, causing economic losses due to carcass condemnation and decreased production of meat, wool, and milk. Current diagnosis or treatment protocols are not fully effective and, thus, require further research of Cp pathogenesis.

Results

Here, we mapped known protein-protein interactions (PPI) from various species to nine Cp strains to reconstruct parts of the potential Cp interactome and to identify potentially essential proteins serving as putative drug …

Cadherin-2 Is Required Cell Autonomously For Collective Migration Of Facial Branchiomotor Neurons, Jane K. Rebman, Kathryn E. Kirchoff, Gregory S. Walsh

Biology Publications

Collective migration depends on cell-cell interactions between neighbors that contribute to their overall directionality, yet the mechanisms that control the coordinated migration of neurons remains to be elucidated. During hindbrain development, facial branchiomotor neurons (FBMNs) undergo a stereotypic tangential caudal migration from their place of birth in rhombomere (r)4 to their final location in r6/7. FBMNs engage in collective cell migration that depends on neuron-to-neuron interactions to facilitate caudal directionality. Here, we demonstrate that Cadherin-2-mediated neuron-to-neuron adhesion is necessary for directional and collective migration of FBMNs. We generated stable transgenic zebrafish expressing dominant-negative Cadherin-2 (Cdh2ΔEC) driven by the islet1 promoter. …