Life Sciences Commons^™

Unleashing The Power Of Undergraduates To Unravel The Impacts Of Water Relations And Co2 Levels On The Photosynthetic Plasticity Of Agave Sensu Lato Species: A Group Of Desert Succulents Important To Natural And Human Systems, J. Ryan Stewart

Journal of Undergraduate Research

• Evaluation of how well the academic objectives of the proposal were met
• Evaluation of the mentoring environment
• List of students who participated and what academic deliverables they have produced or it is anticipated they will produce
• Description of the results/findings of the project
• Description of how the budget was spent

Mono-Associated Gnotobiotic Animal Meta-Genome Wide Association R Package, Corinne Penrod, John Chaston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Animal-associated bacteria fundamentally influence the normal function and behavior of their hosts, and understanding the genetic basis for these effects is an ongoing challenge. The traditional approach to understanding phenotypic effects of genes by mutant analysis is to perform a genetic screen. MAGNAMWAR is an R package that provides a simple and effective gene function predicting pipeline to be used as a faster alternative to a genetic screen. It uses meta-genome wide association (MGWA) and bacteria genotype-host phenotype relationships to predict bacterial gene function. Proven to be an effective gene predictor in work done with Drosophila melanogaster, this pipeline …

Velvets: Software For Optimizing Velvet Input, Donald Ford, John Chaston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Genome assembly is an important tool used to obtain more complete representations of entire genomes. Sequencing techniques, such as shotgun sequencing, are able to generate short pieces of a genome known as reads. Genome assemblers use these reads in order to produce larger genome sequences, known as contigs. This is done by computing how these reads overlap with each other. The ultimate goal is to create a single contig which represents an entire genome, though usually genome assemblers fall short of this goal.

Discovery And Characterization Of Honey Bee Larvae Gut Microbiota, Christopher Fajardo, John Chaston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Honey bees are currently plagued by an infection known as American Foulbrood (AFB). This disease is caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. It is carried by adult Honey bees and becomes an active infection once inside the digestive tract of a Honey bee larvae. Current treatment of this disease is a broad-spectrum antibiotic with negative effects on both the Honey bee and the environment. Research is currently being conducted with the hope to introduce a bacteriophage therapy to the market. This approach will be specific to Paenibacillus larvae without the worries of the current treatments. Our focus is to provide …

Hydrophobic Seed Coating, Karlee Humrich, Dr. Matthew Madsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The western rangelands are the wide open spaces of American history. They are increasingly used as a recreational resource by millions of visitors each year. Rangelands produce tangible products such as forage, wildlife habitat, water, minerals, energy, plant and animal gene pools, recreational opportunities, and some wood products. There has been a history of rangeland degradation in the U.S. Because of this degradation, native plant species are not as dominant as they once were. Invasive plant species, such as cheat grass, have integrated into the precious rangeland system. These invasive species out compete and take over native plants. The overall …

Are Remote Cameras And Mark-Recapture Estimators A Viable Method To Monitor Mule Deer Populations?, Jacob Fullmer, Dr. Randy Larsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Current methods for estimating mule deer populations are costly and difficult to complete with accuracy. Biologists traditionally use ground or aerial surveys, model-based simulations, or a combination of these two methods to estimate population sizes. Remote cameras may provide a more efficient method to reliably and precisely estimate populations. A recent BYU study successfully used remote cameras to accurately estimate a low-density mule deer population, but the applicability of this method to higher-density populations remains unclear. We wanted to apply this new method in a high-density area to determine the practicality of using remote cameras to estimate mule deer populations …

The Effect Of Gut Microbiota On Cancer Metastasis In Model Organism D. Melanogaster: Establishing An Abnormal Genetic Line Of D. Melanogaster, Andrew Bratsman, John Chaston

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Metchnikoff proposed that putrefactive bacteria living in the digestive tracts of hosts contribute to various disease processes and that modification of microbiota composition through consumption of viable microbes might help to improve health and longevity. This theory of longevity was the basis for the relatively recent trend of probiotic foods, the idea being that “healthy” bacteria could be ingested to produce a positive phenotypic result. The probiotic approach to treatment has been limited to large processes such as digestion or correcting large deficiencies in humans, but as evidence continues to mount …

Nitrogen And Water Interactions In Drought Stressed Kentucky Bluegrass Conserving Our Vital Resource, Kerri Russell, Bryan G. Hopkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Turfgrass is the irrigated crop of greatest acreage in the United States. As urban and suburban developments are growing at an unprecedented rate, the demand for turfgrass is in high demand. Its ecosystem services are valuable and include groundwater protection, erosion control, soil health, and air purification. It also provides high utility to residential and public lands. Despite its environmental benefits, turfgrass has been brought under scrutiny due to natural resource consumption and pollution, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions of the western US. Turfgrass requires a significant amount of irrigation water, a resource that is scarce in the arid …

Secondary Metabolite Production In A Newly Discovered Endophyte Species Of Veratrum Californicum, Ashton Densley, Dr. Bradley Geary

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Veratrum californicum, a montane perennial of Western America, is known to produce several bioactive alkaloids with teratogenic, antibiotic and antiproliferative propertiesi; the most notable is the anticancer compound cyclopamine.ii A synthetic derivative of cyclopamine had shown promise in clinical trials before the increasing production costs became prohibitory, effectively halting research.iii V. californicum’s unsuitability for agriculturalization, low cylopamine production (0.24% of roots), and the subsequent ineffective chemical synthesis steps (1% yield) have limited supplies.3,iv However, research has overlooked the potential for similar analog production by endophytes. Endophyte production represents a solution to the limited supply and troublesome growth characteristics of V. …