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University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Understanding Taf13 (Tata Box-Binding Protein-Associated Factor 13) Upregulation In Eukaryotic Cells, Selin Kaplanoglu May 2024

Understanding Taf13 (Tata Box-Binding Protein-Associated Factor 13) Upregulation In Eukaryotic Cells, Selin Kaplanoglu

Honors Theses

TATA-binding protein (TBP) and TBP-associated factors (Tafs) comprise RNA Polymerase II (RNA Pol II) pre-initiation complex. This universal component carefully controls the transcriptional initiation process. One of the Tafs, Taf13, also plays an important role in the regulation of RNA Pol II transcription initiation which is evolutionarily conserved from yeast to humans. It is found that Taf13 is overexpressed in cancer cells, although the exact mechanism that is responsible for this overexpression is unclear. Our hypothesis suggests that targeted degradation by the 26S proteasome via ubiquitylation [Ubiquitin-Proteasome System (UPS)] may be the mechanism that regulates the stability of Taf13. To …


Elucidation Of The Overexpression Of Taf2 In Eukaryotic Cells, Morgan Osborn May 2024

Elucidation Of The Overexpression Of Taf2 In Eukaryotic Cells, Morgan Osborn

Honors Theses

Through several studies, Taf2 has been found to be upregulated in various cancer cells. However, the mechanism through which this increased expression of Taf2 occurs remains unknown. As evolutionarily conserved ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) maintains protein homeostasis for normal cellular function, we hypothesized that stability of Taf2 may be regulated by this UPS and this UPS may be dysregulated in cancer cells causing overexpression of Taf2. To test our hypothesis, we assessed the role of the UPS in the regulation of the stability of Taf2 by 26S proteasome-mediated degradation. To do so, we performed molecular experiments mainly through two steps: 1st …


Associations Between Gut Microbiome Metabolomics And Endometriosis Risk, Progression, And Non-Invasive Diagnosis: A Review, Marlee Sanders May 2024

Associations Between Gut Microbiome Metabolomics And Endometriosis Risk, Progression, And Non-Invasive Diagnosis: A Review, Marlee Sanders

Honors Theses

Endometriosis is a gynecological condition that affects 1 in 10 women of reproductive age, is characterized by growth of endometrial tissue outside of the uterus, and encompasses metabolic, immunologic, and endocrine dysfunction. Despite its significant impact, endometriosis remains inadequately studied within the realm of women's health, emphasizing the crucial need for innovative approaches in the analysis and diagnosis of this complex condition. The cause of endometriosis is unknown however it could be influenced by genetics, environmental factors, diet, lifestyle, and notably composition of the gut microbiome. Recent scholarly interest has sparked inquiries into the correlations between endometriosis and the gut …


Determining The Antimicrobial Activity And Permeabilizing Effects Of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids And Piscidins On Vibrio Parahaemolyticus And Vibrio Vulnificus, Christina Harris May 2024

Determining The Antimicrobial Activity And Permeabilizing Effects Of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids And Piscidins On Vibrio Parahaemolyticus And Vibrio Vulnificus, Christina Harris

Honors Theses

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are found in all organisms and have gained attention for their effectiveness against a variety of pathogens. Piscidins are AMPs that were discovered in mast cells of vertebrates, mostly within marine animals, and are an important part of the innate immune system due to their potent antimicrobial properties. Piscidin 1 (P1) and piscidin 3 (P3) are found within sea bass and have different antimicrobial activities. P1 exhibits strong membrane disruptive properties, while P3 goes through the membrane to the targeted DNA. These piscidins can experience metalation with copper (Cu2+) which enhances their antimicrobial activity in vitro (P1-Cu2+ …


Oxalic Acid Leaf Disk Soak Assay Is A New Possibility In Screening For Blight Resistance In Castanea Species, Kaitlyn Harden May 2023

Oxalic Acid Leaf Disk Soak Assay Is A New Possibility In Screening For Blight Resistance In Castanea Species, Kaitlyn Harden

Honors Theses

Chestnut blight is a disease caused by the ascomycete fungus Cryphonectria parasitica in the Castanea species. The fungus uses oxalic acid (OA) to attack the tree’s cells. Castanea dentata, the American chestnut, was wiped out by chestnut blight in the early to mid-20th century, but several East Asian Castanea species appear highly resistant to the fungus. To breed resistant American type trees, screening methods are used to enable selection of interspecific hybrids. The alternative small stem assay (aSSA) is a method of screening container-grown hybrid seedlings during their first growing season by directly infecting them with C. parasitica. Some plant …


Assessing The Utility Of High-Throughput Phenotyping For Ecological Applications, Annabree Corlew May 2023

Assessing The Utility Of High-Throughput Phenotyping For Ecological Applications, Annabree Corlew

Honors Theses

A phenotype describes the expressed traits of an organism. These traits can provide insight into interactions between an organism and its environment, making them a key focus of ecological research. But the process of phenotyping traits can be tedious to collect for large-scale experiments. High-throughput phenotyping software has the ability to speed up the phenotyping process by allowing multiple traits to be phenotyped at once. However, the utility of this relatively new and continually developing computational tool is still being assessed, especially beyond applications focused on agricultural crops and grasses. I investigated the accuracy and efficiency of the open-access high-throughput …


The Effect Of Different Types Of Plastic And Rubbers Often Found In Healthcare Facilities On The Survival Of Potentially Pathogenic Bacteria, Ashely George May 2023

The Effect Of Different Types Of Plastic And Rubbers Often Found In Healthcare Facilities On The Survival Of Potentially Pathogenic Bacteria, Ashely George

Honors Theses

This study focused on the survival of different species of bacteria on different types of plastics and rubbers found in healthcare facilities. The gram-positive coccus Staphylococcus aureus and the gram negative bacillus Escherichia coli, known to have importance as potential pathogens in healthcare facilities, were tested on two types of plastic (polyurethane and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)) and two types of rubbers (latex and nitrile) typically found on reusable healthcare surfaces. Known quantities of bacteria were aseptically placed on disinfected plastic surfaces in triplicate, air-dried, and then incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes, 20 hours, and 40 hours. After incubation, …


A Small Stem Assay Using Hypovirulent Cryphonectria Parasitica To Screen Castanea Dentata Backcross F2 Families May Set The Stage For Long-Term Survival, Trish Nguyen May 2023

A Small Stem Assay Using Hypovirulent Cryphonectria Parasitica To Screen Castanea Dentata Backcross F2 Families May Set The Stage For Long-Term Survival, Trish Nguyen

Honors Theses

By combining the results of blight resistance breeding and the application of hypovirulence as a biocontrol, populations of resistant hybrid trees could be deployed together with a less pathogenic strain of Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr. I used a small stem assay to screen seedlings in thirteen half-sibling backcross F2 families with an attenuated strain of C. parasitica containing the Cryphonectria parasitica hypovirus-1 (CHV-1) Euro7 virus. The experiment was set up as a randomized complete block design in 2-gallon containers. Measurements of canker length and morphology were gathered at 90 days post-inoculation. Although statistically significant differences were seen between canker lengths …


Species Diversity Of Coleoptera Populations In An Urban Garden In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mallory Anderson May 2023

Species Diversity Of Coleoptera Populations In An Urban Garden In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mallory Anderson

Honors Theses

Insects are an essential part of the function of ecosystems. The majority of entomological faunistic research has been conducted primarily in rural areas due to high diversity, space for bulky traps, and less outside influence from human activities. However, the need for time-series insect biodiversity data, in rural areas and urban areas alike, is paramount in the wake of our current sixth mass extinction event. Previous research has shown that the greater Chattanooga area is comprised of a diverse population of insects in the Coleoptera (beetles) order, and as shown in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s (UTC) Insect Collection. …


Understanding The Molecular Mechanism Of Ilv1 Stress Sensitivity In Yeast By Examination Of Differential Patterns Of Gene Expression Between Wild-Type And Ilv1 Knockout Strains Of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Emily Schuster Dec 2022

Understanding The Molecular Mechanism Of Ilv1 Stress Sensitivity In Yeast By Examination Of Differential Patterns Of Gene Expression Between Wild-Type And Ilv1 Knockout Strains Of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Emily Schuster

Honors Theses

As arguably the most widely used industrial eukaryote, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become one of the many model organisms used to study molecular genetics. A recent unpublished study at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga showed that yeast cells that had the ILV1 gene knocked out had reduced survivability under stress conditions. This study then focused on the role of ILV1 in the stress response of cells by measuring the expression levels of 11 candidate genes that are all involved in some critical pathway in the yeast to see how gene expression was influenced as a result of the loss of …


Analyzing Staphylococcal Contamination On Surfaces And Bedside Areas Of A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Of A Children's Hospital, Daniel See Aug 2022

Analyzing Staphylococcal Contamination On Surfaces And Bedside Areas Of A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Of A Children's Hospital, Daniel See

Honors Theses

Staphylococci species are known to be a cause of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). There is limited research about the surveillance and identification of staphylococci bacteria from NICUs. Surveillance of bacteria within the NICU helps to identify areas acting as reservoirs for bacteria so that new cleaning policies and techniques can be put in place to stop the spread of HAIs. The objective of this study was to swab sample sites in a local level IV hospital NICU and identify locations of staphylococci presence throughout the NICU. Forty-one swabs were selected from over 900 swabs collected …


The Effects Of Dissolved And Suspended Solids On Freshwater Meiofauna, Jessica Cline May 2022

The Effects Of Dissolved And Suspended Solids On Freshwater Meiofauna, Jessica Cline

Honors Theses

Meiofauna include small-sized animals (< 1mm) distributed in all aquatic ecosystems on Earth, where they play fundamental trophic and ecological roles. The biodiversity of marine meiofauna and its links with anthropogenic activities is routinely investigated, however, freshwater communities are less known. This is particularly true for the Southeastern United States, which is greatly investigated and elected a hotspot of biodiversity for larger species but very little is known about the meiofauna. The purpose of this research is to reveal the biodiversity of meiofauna from the Tennessee River and test for potential correlations with anthropogenic activities. As a proxy for pollution, dissolved and suspended solids were considered in this study. The research hypothesis is that meiofaunal biodiversity would be affected by possible changes of dissolved and suspended solids in the water column. Possible mechanisms causing biodiversity shifts could be ascribed to osmotic stresses of animals to cope with variation in dissolved solids or, more indirectly, because different sunlight penetration caused by suspended solids would affect primary production. To test the hypothesis, water samples were collected from nine stations located along the Tennessee River in Hamilton County. Each station was visited three times, and, during each visit, environmental parameters (including dissolved and suspended solids) were measured. Meiofauna biodiversity (estimated as richness, community composition, and phylogenetic diversity) was revealed using a metagenomic approach. Statistical analyses were applied to test for possible correlations between the biodiversity estimates and the measured environmental parameters. Results show a high biodiversity of meiofauna with more than 200 amplicon-sequence variants distributed across 10 metazoan phyla. Environmental conditions are highly variable among stations and statistical analyses show that while both dissolved solids (TDS) and turbidity (suspended solids, NTU) did not significantly affect meiofauna biodiversity in the collected samples, various other water, and sediment metrics were found to be significant predictors of meiofauna biodiversity. In conclusion, the results of this project not only reveal for the first time the meiofauna biodiversity from the Tennessee River, but also suggest that meiofauna could be used as bioindicators for several anthropogenic activities in freshwater ecosystems.


A Small Stem Assay For Chestnut Blight Resistance In Hybrid American Chestnut Trees, Evelyn Odle May 2022

A Small Stem Assay For Chestnut Blight Resistance In Hybrid American Chestnut Trees, Evelyn Odle

Honors Theses

Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr is the causal agent for the chestnut blight disease, which was brought to North America in the late 19th century on nursery stock from Japan (Anagnostakis 1987). A pandemic of chestnut blight lasted for the next half century, nearly wiping out all American chestnut trees (Castanea dentata Borkh.). Restoration works to restoring the American chestnut to its native range in North America’s canopy has been going on for the past century. The American Chestnut Foundation has strived to breed a resistant American chestnut by backcross breeding with Chinese species (C. mollissima Blume) since the 1980s. The …


The Role Of A-Layer In Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (Pufa)-Mediated Effects On Aeromonas Salmonicida Subsp. Salmonicida, Allen Lin Dec 2021

The Role Of A-Layer In Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (Pufa)-Mediated Effects On Aeromonas Salmonicida Subsp. Salmonicida, Allen Lin

Honors Theses

Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects salmonids and non-salmonids worldwide leading to an infection known as furunculosis, which is characterized by skin lesions and hemorrhages of the fish epidermis. This infection is carried out by a A+ (virulent strain) of A. salmonicida containing an important virulent factor known as the A-layer, which is a 2D paracrystalline structure that binds to the basement membrane and functions to promote adherence to host membranes and resistance to host defense. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of the A+ A. salmonicida to incorporate exogenous fatty acids …


Examining An Intersection Of Environmental Justice And Covid-19 Risk Assessment: A Review, Ashley Ellis Dec 2021

Examining An Intersection Of Environmental Justice And Covid-19 Risk Assessment: A Review, Ashley Ellis

Honors Theses

This study views the risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as an environmental injustice issue due to the connection between existing environmental disparities and the disproportional negative impacts brought upon by the virus. The social and health determinants attributed to those environmental disparities have traditionally been evaluated as individual risk factors, an approach that fails to gauge the complexity of an environmental injustice issue. This study employs the emerging theory of intersectionality, a belief that phenomena cannot be linked to one principal cause but instead an interconnected web of influences, in order to synthesize the multitude of factors believed …


Calibration Study Of A Bacterial Quantification Technique Using Transport Swabs And Line Inoculations On Agar Growth Medium, Seth Larue Aug 2021

Calibration Study Of A Bacterial Quantification Technique Using Transport Swabs And Line Inoculations On Agar Growth Medium, Seth Larue

Honors Theses

Enumeration of bacteria has been the subject of research for over a century. Some of the techniques that have been developed include viable plate counts, the most probable number assessment, and more modern molecular techniques. Many of the newer molecular-based techniques provide little or no information about the viability of the cells being counted, and are generally not quantitative. Having quantitative data for potentially pathogenic bacteria on surfaces can be very useful in many settings, particularly in healthcare facilities. Knowing the numbers of bacterial cells present on surfaces within healthcare facilities may be important to attempt to study the cause …


The Effect Of The Apolipoprotein A1 (Apoa1): The Stability And Folding In Potassium Chloride Environment, Alexandra Paladian May 2021

The Effect Of The Apolipoprotein A1 (Apoa1): The Stability And Folding In Potassium Chloride Environment, Alexandra Paladian

Honors Theses

Healthy levels of potassium chloride (KCl) can significantly affect the workings of the cholesterol level of the human body and how they pertain to an individual person. The search for a better salt additive for the human diet can provide a better option for people who experience high cholesterol levels and heart disease. The study focuses on the experimental design of the Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulation of the Apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1) in the potassium ion solution environment to determine the stability and folding of the protein. The study also compares its data to the previous experimental design of chloride ions …


Increasing Stress Tolerance In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Using Lipocalin Genes, Ximena Leon May 2021

Increasing Stress Tolerance In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Using Lipocalin Genes, Ximena Leon

Honors Theses

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a microorganism that is commonly used in industries, but its productivity is significantly hindered by its inability to resist high stress levels found in industrial processes. By increasing stress tolerance in S. cerevisiae, its role in industrial processes could be maximized. The objective of this study is to determine if complementation of lipocalin genes into the wildtype and knockout strains of S. cerevisiae can increase stress tolerance against a variety of stressors. We identified the knockout yeast strains, ALD3, ALD4, PDX3, and ILV1, as being sensitive to various stressors including salinity, heat, oxidative, and osmotic stresses. Arabidopsis …


The Effects Of Urbanization On Insect Morphology: A Meta-Analysis, Evann L. Bailey May 2021

The Effects Of Urbanization On Insect Morphology: A Meta-Analysis, Evann L. Bailey

Honors Theses

Urbanization has been shown to create a rapid change in the environment as you move from rural areas to urban areas. It can create a multitude of effects on the environment. Some examples include, land disturbance, pollution, increasing temperatures and a disturbance in vegetation and biodiversity. Insects are useful organisms that provide maintenance and upkeep for ecosystem functioning. The rapid development of urbanization and how it is changing the environment may impact insect morphology. Measuring morphological change in organisms have been used successfully as indicators of environmental and ecological disturbance. Changes that take place in an insect’s morphology may indicate …


A Metabolomics-Based Approach To The Screening Of Endometrial Cancer: Development Of A Gas Chromatography-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry-Based Method, Allycia Lee May 2021

A Metabolomics-Based Approach To The Screening Of Endometrial Cancer: Development Of A Gas Chromatography-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry-Based Method, Allycia Lee

Honors Theses

Endometrial Cancer (EC) is the most common malignant tumor of the female reproductive tract. Currently there are no methods for effectively screening EC, but one method that is thought to be useful in screening EC is metabolomics. Metabolomics involves the analysis of metabolites which are low molecular weight inorganic and organic chemicals that are substrates, intermediates, and by-products of enzyme-mediated biochemical reactions in the cell. Previous research shows that the metabolic signature of EC patients are discernable from those of healthy patients. To aid in the development of an effective screening method for EC, blood serum, urine, and saliva samples …


Retrospective Analysis Of Injuries And Persisting Injury Effects Among Students Who Have Participated In Club Sports And Intramural Activities During The Prior Year, Daylia Wallace May 2021

Retrospective Analysis Of Injuries And Persisting Injury Effects Among Students Who Have Participated In Club Sports And Intramural Activities During The Prior Year, Daylia Wallace

Honors Theses

Research suggests that previous injury and history of sport-related concussion place athletes at a greater risk for subsequent injury. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the validity of self-perceived wellness and performance capabilities survey responses for retrospective classification of the injury risk status of individual athletes as a means to estimate risk magnitude for intramural and club sport athletes. The surveys used to collect this data were the Sport Fitness Index (SFI), Overall Wellness Index (OWI), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Survey (DASS), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The SFI was a strong discriminator (AUC= .728) …


An Analysis Of The Pollinators Of Echinacea Purpurea In Relation To Their Perceived Efficiency And Color Preferences, Carmen Black May 2021

An Analysis Of The Pollinators Of Echinacea Purpurea In Relation To Their Perceived Efficiency And Color Preferences, Carmen Black

Honors Theses

This study aimed to better understand how insects interacted with species of Echinacea in Tennessee and specifically their preference to floral color. Based on previous studies I expected the main visitors to be composed of various bees, beetles and butterflies. Based on previous studies, I hypothesized that most bees (especially social bees) would most likely pollinate the purple/violet morphs of the flower versus the white morph. I also expected the bees would have the most visits to the coneflowers versus any other taxonomic group. I believe bees to be the majority of pollinators based upon the results of Stucky, Gadd, …


Troglofauna Of Van Buren And White County: A Survey Of Four Caves In The Mideastern Cumberland Plateau, Gavin Page May 2021

Troglofauna Of Van Buren And White County: A Survey Of Four Caves In The Mideastern Cumberland Plateau, Gavin Page

Honors Theses

The Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee has the highest cave-obligate biodiversity in North America. Cave-obligate species are entirely restricted to subterranean habitat and demonstrate unique troglomorphy. These species are categorized as troglobionts. However, because of their isolated occurrences, theses species are vulnerable to a variety of disturbances. This issue is furthered in the fact that only approximately 7% of the caves in this region have been surveyed. Of these caves that have been surveyed, only a small portion were professional entomological surveys, while almost no cave has ever been extensively repeat sampled. This study involved newly sampling one cave and repeat …


Molecular Dynamic Simulation Of The Complex Folding Patterns Of Apolipoprotein A1 In Various Concentrations Of Potassium Chloride, Hannah Holmberg May 2021

Molecular Dynamic Simulation Of The Complex Folding Patterns Of Apolipoprotein A1 In Various Concentrations Of Potassium Chloride, Hannah Holmberg

Honors Theses

Apopliprotein or ApoA-1 is a complex lipoprotein that functions in the removal of cholesterol from the blood, removing cholesterol from the area around white blood cells and promoting the excretion of lipids through the lymphatic system. Previous research has found that ApoA-1 shows both folded and unfolded conformations depending on the concentration of NaCl in solution in the water around it. The protein was studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Once this state of equilibrium was reached, various structural properties of the protein were measured including the radius of gyration and the radial distribution function. The goal of the project was …


A Meta-Analysis Of The Human Uses Of Pteridophytic Species In Tennessee, Diana Sevier Aug 2020

A Meta-Analysis Of The Human Uses Of Pteridophytic Species In Tennessee, Diana Sevier

Honors Theses

Pteridophytes are an ancient lineage of plants, composed of ferns and fern allies, which are spread across the globe. There is also a long record of humans using pteridophytes to their benefit, which includes the broad categories of medicine, ornamentation, food, phytoremediation, and agriculture. Understanding these concepts, the goal of this thesis was to conduct a meta-analysis which pulled together data from many resources on the 94 Tennessee pteridophyte species to create a repository of human use information, as well as to examine, analyze, and comment on the trends present within and between taxonomic groups of pteridophytes. The methods used …


A Contribution To The Characterization Of The Diversity Of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Associated With American Chestnut At The Utc Fortwood Street Nursery, Colton Jones May 2020

A Contribution To The Characterization Of The Diversity Of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Associated With American Chestnut At The Utc Fortwood Street Nursery, Colton Jones

Honors Theses

Ectomycorrhizas play several essential roles in the biosphere and have immeasurable implications on the ecosystems in which they exist. Much has been discovered about the relationships between ectomycorrhizal fungi and the trees with which they associate, but there is still much to learn. Due to the nature of ectomycorrhizal morphology, DNA analysis is frequently required in order to accurately identify the fungal partner. Some ectomycorrhizal fungi produce above-ground fruiting bodies that presumably contain the same DNA sequences as the fungi encapsulating corresponding plant root tips below the soil; these fruiting bodies have been frequently observed growing in nursery containers at …


Development Of An Auto-Bioluminescent Lung Cell Line For Evaluation Of In Vitro Effects Of E-Cigarette Compounds On Normal Cell Proliferation, Olivia Morrison May 2020

Development Of An Auto-Bioluminescent Lung Cell Line For Evaluation Of In Vitro Effects Of E-Cigarette Compounds On Normal Cell Proliferation, Olivia Morrison

Honors Theses

The effects of smoking have long been studied; however, with the rise of electronic cigarettes there is a growing interest in the effects of this smoking substitute. Marketed as a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes, the popularity of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has dramatically increased. This has demanded regulatory methods to be put into effect, however, scientific study is only beginning on the new fad to determine the impacts of its use on the human body. The present study aims to examine the biological effects of lung cell exposure to tobacco alkaloids found in electronic cigarette filling solutions. We hypothesize …


A Contribution To The Macrofungi Of Cloudland Canyon State Park, Peyden Valentine May 2020

A Contribution To The Macrofungi Of Cloudland Canyon State Park, Peyden Valentine

Honors Theses

I conducted a survey of the macroscopic fungi within Cloudland Canyon State Park, Dade County, GA that consisted of twenty-three forays from May through December of 2019, and one foray in March 2020. The results of my survey add baseline data to our knowledge of the mushrooms present within the park, allow for the future construction of an All Taxa Biodiversity Index, and allow comparisons to other surveys of fungal diversity in similar areas of the Cumberland Plateau: the Tennessee River Gorge Trust (Starrett 2005), and the Lula Lake Land Trust (De Guzman 2000). My survey resulted in an overall …


Phospholipid Remodeling Via Exogenous Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Uptake Modulates Stress Resistance In Vibrio Cholerae, William Strike May 2020

Phospholipid Remodeling Via Exogenous Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Uptake Modulates Stress Resistance In Vibrio Cholerae, William Strike

Honors Theses

Antibiotic-resistant pathogens represent an escalating threat to public health worldwide, substantially increasing the burden of healthcare and community-acquired infections. Several factors contribute to the emergence and spread of this threat, including but not limited to improper antibiotic use and prescriptions in health-care settings and the community, increasing global travel and migration from countries that have higher levels of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and a lack of new antibiotics under development. According to the World Health Organization, rising rates of resistance among Gram-negative bacteria (such as Vibrio cholerae) are of particular concern. These bacteria have evolved a number of endogenous membrane remodeling strategies …


Canopy Openness As A Predictor Of Growth For Castanea Dentata Seedlings In The Cumberland Uplands Of Tennessee, Hannah Crawford May 2020

Canopy Openness As A Predictor Of Growth For Castanea Dentata Seedlings In The Cumberland Uplands Of Tennessee, Hannah Crawford

Honors Theses

Castanea dentata growth and reproduction in the forest ecosystem is limited by light. Canopy gaps could be used for restoration efforts; however, the lack of blight resistant planting material has limited what is known about the silvicultural requirements of C. dentata. I studied the survival and growth of chestnut seedlings in various sized light gaps in the Cumberland Uplands in the 2019 season. The Tennessee Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation previously established Eagle Point Railroad (Cumberland Plateau) and the Starr Farm (Eastern Highland Rim), and I established a site near Barker Pounds trailhead (Cumberland Plateau). Results indicate that canopy …