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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Changes In Ecosystem Processes And Functional Traits Over An Elevational Gradient, Tiana Issa Jan 2023

Changes In Ecosystem Processes And Functional Traits Over An Elevational Gradient, Tiana Issa

Honors Theses

Elevation gradients have been used to understand how climate change impacts various ecosystems processes by substituting distance across elevation with time, reflecting a previous, colder climate. To monitor the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), plant community, and functional traits across time in the face of climate change, this study used space-for-time substitution to emulate a long-term study with elevational gradients and revisited the same gradient for nearly two decades to monitor elevational effects across time. With this research, I aim to answer the following questions: (1) How does elevation impact ecosystem processes and alpine plant traits? (2) How does …


Investigating Phosphorylation Patterns And Their Effect On The Activity Of Transcription Factor Taabf1 In Imbibing Cereal Grains, Grace Uwase Jan 2018

Investigating Phosphorylation Patterns And Their Effect On The Activity Of Transcription Factor Taabf1 In Imbibing Cereal Grains, Grace Uwase

Honors Theses

The wheat transcription factor TaABF1 plays an important role in hormone-mediated regulation of seed dormancy and germination of cereal grains. Evidence shows that TaABF1 activity is regulated by phosphorylation, and previous work in our lab showed that when serine residues in its conserved regions; S36, S37, S113, S115 were altered to phosphomimetic aspartate, the 4xD TaABF1 mutant had increased activity as a transcription factor. However, when only S113 was altered, TaABF1’s activity was greatly reduced. The work presented here explored whether the S36D/S37D/S115D mutant would have stronger activity than the 4xD mutant. Using the particle bombardment technique to introduce the …


The Role Of Taabf1 In Abscisic Acid-Mediated Suppression Of 𝒶-Amylase Gene Expression In Cereal Grains, Lauren J. Harris Jan 2010

The Role Of Taabf1 In Abscisic Acid-Mediated Suppression Of 𝒶-Amylase Gene Expression In Cereal Grains, Lauren J. Harris

Honors Theses

The phytohormones gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) regulate important developments events in germinating seeds. Specifically, GA induces the expression of hyrolase genes, like the α-amylase gene Amy32b, which mobilizes starch reserves to be used by the embryo, and ABA suppresses this induction. Recent advancements identified ABA and GA receptors and key components in the signaling pathways, however, the mechanism of crosstalk between the hormones remains largely unknown. To further elucidate the mechanism of ABA suppression of GA-induced genes, we focused on the transcription factor TaABF1, a member of the ABA response element binding factor family. TaABF1 has been shown …


The Wheat Bzip Factor, Taabf1, Mediates Aba-Induced Gene Expression In Bombarded Barley Aleurone Layers, Benjamin R. Keyser Jan 2010

The Wheat Bzip Factor, Taabf1, Mediates Aba-Induced Gene Expression In Bombarded Barley Aleurone Layers, Benjamin R. Keyser

Honors Theses

The plant hormone Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a central role in maturation and germination in seeds, as well as mediating adaptive responses to abiotic environmental stresses. ABA induces the expression of many genes, including late-embryogenesis-abundant genes such as HVA1. To elucidate the ABA signaling pathway leading to HVA1 expression, we focus on the bZIP factor TaABF1. Analysis of the interplay between ABA and TaABF1 in the aleurone cells of imbibing cereal grains indicated that the two are not additive in their induction of the HVA1 promoter. A synthetic ABA analog, PBI-51, did not specifically inhibit the effect of exogenous ABA …