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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Species Delimitation Of Slimy Salamanders, Plethodon Kisatchie And Plethodon Mississippi, Across The Lower Mississippi River, Brock Hunter Stevenson Mar 2024

Species Delimitation Of Slimy Salamanders, Plethodon Kisatchie And Plethodon Mississippi, Across The Lower Mississippi River, Brock Hunter Stevenson

Master's Theses

Species are fundamental units of biodiversity yet delimiting species can be challenging. Slimy Salamanders of the Plethodon glutinosus species complex are a classic example of cryptic species for which species boundaries and relationships have proved difficult to determine. Once thought to be a single species ranging across the eastern United States, protein analysis revealed high genetic divergences among geographically distinct groups of populations, leading to 16 species being recognized within the group. Two of these species, the Louisiana Slimy Salamander (Plethodon kisatchie) and the Mississippi Slimy Salamander (Plethodon mississippi), are closely related but occur on opposite sides of the Mississippi …


The Role Of Med12 In Adipogenesis, Caroline Helen Rinderle May 2021

The Role Of Med12 In Adipogenesis, Caroline Helen Rinderle

Master's Theses

In order for any function to occur within a cell, transcription factors must be able to interact with genes. When this occurs, genes are expressed, and ultimately, proteins are translated and perform the specific function that needs to be done within the cell. In order for this to occur, genes must interact with transcription machinery. The Mediator complex recruits transcription factors to genes in order to promote cell-type specific gene expression. The Mediator complex is a multi-protein complex consisting of four modules: head, middle, tail, and kinase. The kinase module is known to dissociate from the rest of the complex …


Relationship Between Jump Tests And Their Influence On Multidirectional Ground-Reaction Forces In Baseball Pitchers, Ryan Lis May 2021

Relationship Between Jump Tests And Their Influence On Multidirectional Ground-Reaction Forces In Baseball Pitchers, Ryan Lis

Master's Theses

Jump tests are effective, valid, and reliable methods to examine lower body power and possibly influence ground reaction forces (GRFs) in baseball pitching. Purpose: To determine relationships between drive leg and stride leg GRFs and fastball velocities while pitching from the wind-up and stretch to 1) drive leg and stride leg GRFs of unilateral countermovement jumps (UCMJ) and bilateral countermovement jumps (BCMJ), 2) BCMJ, and drive and stride leg UCMJ height as well as bilateral broad jump (BBJ) and drive and stride leg unilateral lateral to medial jump (ULMJ) distances, and 3) BBJ estimated peak power. Methods: Nineteen Division I …


The Role Of Med31 And Med12 In Directing Adipogenesis Of Human Adult-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Joseph Straub May 2021

The Role Of Med31 And Med12 In Directing Adipogenesis Of Human Adult-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Joseph Straub

Master's Theses

Selective gene expression is crucial in maintaining the self-renewing and multipotent properties of stem cells. Mediator is a large, evolutionarily conserved, multisubunit protein complex that modulates gene expression by relaying signals from cell type-specific transcription factors to RNA polymerase II. In humans, this complex consists of 30 subunits arranged in four modules: head, middle, tail, and kinase. In our introduction, we show the state of the field of Mediator study with a focus on the critical kinase module. In the following chapters, we used siRNA knockdowns to investigate the roles of the highly-conserved core subunit MED31 and the kinase module …


Notch And Mediator Work Together To Direct Hasc Self-Renewal, Jaylen Mumphrey May 2021

Notch And Mediator Work Together To Direct Hasc Self-Renewal, Jaylen Mumphrey

Master's Theses

Stem cells are unique in that they possess totipotent, pluripotent, or multipotent differentiation capabilities and can also self-renew. Stem cells are in either a state of selfrenewal or differentiation, but never both. If we are able to gain a full understanding of the underlying mechanisms that allow stem cells to remain self-renewing and multipotent, we will better be able to control the fate of cells, ultimately allowing stem cells to be used to their full capabilities in regenerative medicine. My research focuses on MED12 and its effects on Notch signaling. Here we describe the expression profile and activity of MED12, …


Relationship Between Kinetics Of Countermovement Jump And Proximal Mechanics Of Collegiate Baseball Pitching, Motoki Sakurai May 2021

Relationship Between Kinetics Of Countermovement Jump And Proximal Mechanics Of Collegiate Baseball Pitching, Motoki Sakurai

Master's Theses

Purpose: To identify how countermovement jump (CMJ) kinetics influence kinematics and momentum of the baseball pitching motion with a focus on lower body and proximal movement. Methods: Nineteen Division I collegiate pitchers (age = 19.9 ± 1.5 years; height = 1.86 ± 0.06 m; weight = 90.7 ± 13.8 kg) performed a bilateral CMJ test and threw 5 strike fastballs from the stretch with a slide step on a custom-made pitching mound built for a laboratory setting. A 3D motion capture system tracked whole-body kinematics at 240 Hz from 29 reflective markers. Two force plates recorded ground reaction forces (GRFs) …


Loblolly Pine (Pinus Taeda) Leaf-Level Physiology And The Influence Of Genotype, Drought, And Thinning, Norman Jesse Cone Iv May 2021

Loblolly Pine (Pinus Taeda) Leaf-Level Physiology And The Influence Of Genotype, Drought, And Thinning, Norman Jesse Cone Iv

Master's Theses

The Southeastern U.S. is known as the “Wood Basket” for producing the vast majority of U.S. timber, but projected increases in the frequency of severe drought events could threaten timber plantations. Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) is the principle timber species of the southeast and is distributed across the Atlantic Coastal Plains and west into Texas. Western Gulf states (LA, TX, AR, and OK) lie at the edge of the range for loblolly pine and are particularly vulnerable to any changes in precipitation or temperature. Current research suggests two main methods to increase plantation drought resistance: plant drought resistant seedlings or …


The Role Of Med12 In Adipogenesis Of Human Adipose Stem Cells, Onyekachi Chinelo Idigo May 2021

The Role Of Med12 In Adipogenesis Of Human Adipose Stem Cells, Onyekachi Chinelo Idigo

Master's Theses

The interest in adipogenesis stems from the high rate of obesity in the world and the motivation to better understand the process of cell fate in relation to human diseases. Mutations in MED12 lead to developmental disorders and certain malignancies. To date, specific roles of Mediator and MED12 in cell state regulation are unclear, nevertheless, they are critical for understanding stem cell regulation and enhancement of their clinical applications. This study investigates the role of MED12 in relation to the Mediator complex kinase domain to better understand transcriptional control of adipogenesis in hASCs. In this study, MED12 expression was diminished …


Using Crispr-Cas9 As A Restriction Enzyme, Zack Crawley Jan 2020

Using Crispr-Cas9 As A Restriction Enzyme, Zack Crawley

Master's Theses

Restriction digests are a commonly utilized process for cleaving DNA at specific, but relatively common sites. Restriction enzymes have widespread use in DNA manipulation. CRISPR/Cas9 is a recently identified endonuclease which utilizes a customizable guide sequence to recognize and cut specific ~20 bp sites located in a DNA sequence. This preliminary research aimed to exploit the potential benefit of DNA restriction using the CRISPR/Cas9 procedure through alterations of different components involved in that system. We sought to refine existing CRISPR/Cas9 protocols and make a budget friendly, user-selectable CRISPR/Cas9 restriction digest protocol. The motivation for this research was to simplify and …


Heat Activation Of Bacillus Anthracis Persists Over A Seven Day Period, Nathan T. Ross Aug 2019

Heat Activation Of Bacillus Anthracis Persists Over A Seven Day Period, Nathan T. Ross

Master's Theses

Bacteria of the Bacillus genera are capable of forming dormant and resilient cells called spores in response to starvation. Spores can break dormancy in the presence of nutrients in a process called germination. Historically, spores are exposed to sublethal heat treatments to increase the extent and rate of germination. This process is known as heat activation (HA). Previous studies on Bacillus species indicate the effects of HA are reversible after 72 hours. After this time period, the spores must be reactivated. However, spores of Bacillus anthracis, a member of the Bacillus family, have not been tested to see how long …