Life Sciences Commons^™

Structural Characterization Of Fucoidan And Its Role In The Hemizona Assay, Manish S. Patankar

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Fucoidan is a polysaccharide commonly found in brown algae. It is a sulfated polymer of the monosaccharide L-fucose. Fucoidan is thought to function in water retention by algae. Commercially available fucoidan is extracted from a brown algae called Eurus vesiculosus.

This polysaccharide has immense potential as a biologically active agent: (i) it exhibits anticoagulant action, (ii) it has also been reported to block retroviral replication and (iii) it is capable of blocking sperm-egg binding in sea urchin, mouse and rabbit. Recently, fucoidan has also been shown to block the interaction of human sperm and egg in the hemizona assay …

Biodegradation Of Crude Oil By Marine Higher Fungi, Brian J. Dyer

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Four experiments were performed to determine the ability of marine higher fungi to grow in and degrade crude oil. Eight species, previously determined to be hydrocarbonoclastic, were grown in artificial sea water medium (ASM) and southern Louisiana crude oil. The dry mycelial weights were measured and consumption of crude oil was measured gravimetrically. The two species with the best growth, Corollospora maritima and Zalerion maritimum, were grown in ASM containing crude oil spiked with three known hydrocarbons. To this was added glucose (0.15%) and incubated 49 days to test for possible cometabolism of hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons remaining in the growth …

Distribution Of Foraminifera And Pollen In Coastal Depositional Environments Of The Southern Delmarva Peninsula, Virginia, U.S.A., Han Jun Woo

OES Theses and Dissertations

The coastal zone of the southern Delmarva Peninsula exhibits a wide variety of barrier island system subenvironments. This study investigates whether 20 a priori subenvironments can be distinguished from each other on the basis of abiotic environmental variables, pollen assemblages, living foraminiferal populations, and total (living plus dead) foraminiferal assemblages.

The physical data collected from the coastal zone were subjected to canonical variate analysis which discriminated 83% of the stations in 19 groups. These groups were clustered into two internally overlapping sets which represented the inside and outside of the inlet.

Twenty-two pollen types were found in low-energy marsh and …