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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Sex And Starvation Influences Latrotoxin Expression In The Brown Widow Spider, Mattie Harris
Sex And Starvation Influences Latrotoxin Expression In The Brown Widow Spider, Mattie Harris
Honors College Theses
Widow spiders (genus Latrodectus) are well-known for their potent venom. Seven latrotoxin proteins constitute the main components of widow spider venom. The vertebrate specific (α-latrotoxin) and insect specific (α-latroinsectotoxin) latrotoxins have been well-characterized with respect to structure and function. Regulation of latrotoxin gene expression is not well understood but sex and feeding could be factors influencing production. In this study, I used quantitative qPCR to (1) characterize the expression patterns of both the insect and vertebrate specific latrotoxins in male and female brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) to characterize sex-biased expression and to (2) study expression patterns …
Plasticity And The Impact Of Increasing Temperature On A Tropical Ectotherm, Adam A. Rosso
Plasticity And The Impact Of Increasing Temperature On A Tropical Ectotherm, Adam A. Rosso
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organisms may respond to climate change through behavior, genetic adaptation, and/or phenotypic plasticity. Tropical ectotherms are thought to be especially vulnerable to climate change because most have a narrow range of thermal tolerance while living close to their upper thermal tolerance limits. Additionally, many tropical species live in closed-canopy forests, which provide homogenous thermal landscapes that prevent behavioral compensation for stressfully warm temperatures. Finally, tropical ectotherms are thought to have decreased capacity for phenotypic plasticity because they have evolved in thermally stable environments. We tested gene expression patterns and phenotypic plasticity in the Panamanian slender anole by a) measuring changes …