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2015

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Articles 211 - 240 of 8769

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Aggregation Characterization Of Wild-Type P53 And Six Common P53 Mutants, Taylor A. Arhar Dec 2015

Aggregation Characterization Of Wild-Type P53 And Six Common P53 Mutants, Taylor A. Arhar

Honors Thesis

P53 is a tumor suppressor protein, which functions in maintaining the cell cycle. When p53 loses its function, cells may multiply at an uncontrolled rate and form tumors. This loss of function is linked to over fifty percent of human cancers. This investigation aims to explore the possible link between p53 aggregation and tumorigenesis. There is a possibility that p53, especially in mutant form, will aggregate beyond its normal tetrameric conformation and lose its function, leading to tumor formation. Wild-type p53 and six mutants, R175H, R175C, R248Q, R248W, R273C, and R273H (six of the most common mutations found in human …

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Population Density Of The Florida Scrub Lizard (Sceloporus Woodi) In Managed Sand Pine Scrub And Longleaf Pine Sandhill Habitats, Matthew D. Kaunert, Lance D. Mcbrayer Dec 2015

Population Density Of The Florida Scrub Lizard (Sceloporus Woodi) In Managed Sand Pine Scrub And Longleaf Pine Sandhill Habitats, Matthew D. Kaunert, Lance D. Mcbrayer

Biology: Faculty Publications

Studies investigating managed landscapes are of increasing importance, as fragmentation is a known cause of biodiversity loss. From June to September 2012, we sampled populations of the rare, endemic Florida Scrub Lizard (Sceloporus woodi) across the Ocala National Forest (ONF) to compare lizard density across two managed habitat types. Florida Scrub habitat in the ONF is clearcut and roller-chopped, whereas Longleaf Pine habitat is managed via prescribed burning. We sampled 10 stands of Florida Scrub (2–3 y post disturbance) and 10 stands of Longleaf Pine (1 y post-disturbance) for lizards. We compared lizard density between the interior of …

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Revision And Taxonomic Position Of Genera Afghanorthochirus Lourenço & Vachon, Baloorthochirus Kovařík, Butheolus Simon, Nanobuthus Pocock, Orthochiroides Kovařík, Pakistanorthochirus Lourenço, And Asian Orthochirus Karsch, With Descriptions Of Twelve New Species (Scorpiones, Buthidae), František Kovařík Dec 2015

Revision And Taxonomic Position Of Genera Afghanorthochirus Lourenço & Vachon, Baloorthochirus Kovařík, Butheolus Simon, Nanobuthus Pocock, Orthochiroides Kovařík, Pakistanorthochirus Lourenço, And Asian Orthochirus Karsch, With Descriptions Of Twelve New Species (Scorpiones, Buthidae), František Kovařík

Euscorpius

The genera Baloorthochirus, Butheolus, Orthochiroides, Pakistanorthochirus, and Asian species of the genus Orthochirus are revised and keys are presented to all species of Butheolus and Orthochiroides, Asian species of Orthochirus, and to species of all related genera. Afghanorthochirus Lourenço & Vachon, 1997 is synonymized with Orthochirus Karsch, 1892; Nanobuthus Pocock, 1895 is synonymized with Butheolus Simon, 1882; and Pakistanorthochirus Lourenço, 1997 is synonymized with Baloorthochirus Kovařík, 1996. Orthochiroides socotrensis sp. n. from Socotra Island and eleven new species of Orthochirus are described: O. afghanus sp. n., O. heratensis sp. n., O. jalalabadensis …

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Antillean Scorpions Deposited At The Montana State University (Arachnida: Scorpiones), Luis F. De Armas Dec 2015

Antillean Scorpions Deposited At The Montana State University (Arachnida: Scorpiones), Luis F. De Armas

Euscorpius

A total of 71 specimens of Antillean scorpions belonging to three families [Liochelidae, Scorpionidae (Diplocentrinae), and Buthidae] and seven genera are deposited at the Montana Entomology Collection (MTEC) of the Montana State University. The most represented genus is Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836, which contains seven species from Dominican Republic. Those materials are from the following countries: Cuba, Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and St. Kitts. The male of Tityus septentrionalis Armas & Abud Antun, 2004 is described for the first time.

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Testing The Selectivity Of Pesticide Effects On Natural Enemies In Laboratory Bioassays, Kaushalya G. Amarasekare, Peter Shearer, Nicholas J. Mills Dec 2015

Testing The Selectivity Of Pesticide Effects On Natural Enemies In Laboratory Bioassays, Kaushalya G. Amarasekare, Peter Shearer, Nicholas J. Mills

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

The toxic effects of older classes of pesticides on natural enemies are typically acute and exposure usually occurs through direct contact with foliar residues. However, older chemistries are being replaced by newer classes of pesticides that can cause sublethal effects in addition to direct mortality. We developed a set of life table response protocols to quantify the effects of multiple routes of exposure to pesticides on individual-level life history parameters of predators and parasitoids. We then integrated the data into population-level endpoint estimates of population growth rates using stage-structured population models. For this study, we evaluated the impacts of five …

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U.S. Drought Monitor, December 15, 2015, Richard Tinker Dec 2015

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 15, 2015, Richard Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 15, 2015 (12/15/15) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

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No Ordinary Fish Tale: Working Toward A Transnational Solution To The Cod Crisis In The Gulf Of Maine, Michael Ruderman Dec 2015

No Ordinary Fish Tale: Working Toward A Transnational Solution To The Cod Crisis In The Gulf Of Maine, Michael Ruderman

Indiana Law Journal

In response to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) survey that showed “record-low levels of abundance” of groundfish in the Gulf of Maine (“Gulf”), local fisherman Brian Pearce asserted: “It concerns [me] that what [NOAA is] saying and what we [the local fishermen] are seeing is such a contrast . . . . Who sees more fish in the ocean than the fishermen?” Despite Mr. Pearce’s skepticism, the state of the cod fishery in the Gulf of Maine—home to “critical” and “legendary" fishing grounds in Canadian and American territories—is, in fact, dire. According to the NOAA survey, conducted in …

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Wildland Fire Deficit And Surplus In The Western United States, 1984-2012, Sean A. Parks, Carol Miller, Marc-Andrè Parisien, Lisa M. Holsinger, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, John Abatzoglou Dec 2015

Wildland Fire Deficit And Surplus In The Western United States, 1984-2012, Sean A. Parks, Carol Miller, Marc-Andrè Parisien, Lisa M. Holsinger, Solomon Z. Dobrowski, John Abatzoglou

Forest Management Faculty Publications

Wildland fire is an important disturbance agent in the western US and globally. However, the natural role of fire has been disrupted in many regions due to the influence of human activities, which have the potential to either exclude or promote fire, resulting in a "fire deficit" or "fire surplus," respectively. In this study, we developed a model of expected area burned for the western US as a function of climate from 1984 to 2012. We then quantified departures from expected area burned to identify geographic regions with fire deficit or surplus. We developed our model of area burned as …

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Intravacuolar Membranes Regulate Cd8 T Cell Recognition Of Membrane-Bound Toxoplasma Gondii Protective Antigen, Jodie Lopez, Amina Bittame, Céline Massera, Virginie Vasseur, Gregory Effantin, Anne Valat, Celia Buaillon, Sophie Allart, Barbara A. Fox, Leah M. Rommereim, David J. Bzik Dec 2015

Intravacuolar Membranes Regulate Cd8 T Cell Recognition Of Membrane-Bound Toxoplasma Gondii Protective Antigen, Jodie Lopez, Amina Bittame, Céline Massera, Virginie Vasseur, Gregory Effantin, Anne Valat, Celia Buaillon, Sophie Allart, Barbara A. Fox, Leah M. Rommereim, David J. Bzik

Dartmouth Scholarship

Apicomplexa parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii target effectors to and across the boundary of their parasitophorous vacuole (PV), resulting in host cell subversion and potential presentation by MHC class I molecules for CD8 T cell recognition. The host-parasite interface comprises the PV limiting membrane and a highly curved, membranous intravacuolar network (IVN) of uncertain function. Here, using a cell-free minimal system, we dissect how membrane tubules are shaped by the parasite effectors GRA2 and GRA6. We show that membrane association regulates access of the GRA6 protective antigen to the MHC I pathway in infected cells. Although insertion of GRA6 in …

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Collective Prey Capture By Juvenile Venus Flytraps (Dionaea Muscipula), Steven Rosen Dec 2015

Collective Prey Capture By Juvenile Venus Flytraps (Dionaea Muscipula), Steven Rosen

Honors Theses

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), first described by Charles Darwin, is a unique carnivorous plant which acquires prey using leaf blades modified into snap-traps. A recent study showed that prey capture by flytraps was not selective. With this study we examined prey capture rates further by analyzing D. muscipula traps less than 1 em in length to determine if juvenile flytraps differ from adults. Similar to the earlier findings, trap size appeared to play no role in prey capture success. This was likely due to the fact that 88% of all prey items recovered were smaller than the smallest collected …

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Functional Consequences Of Cantu Syndrome Associated Mutations In The Atp Sensitive Potassium Channel, Paige Cooper Dec 2015

Functional Consequences Of Cantu Syndrome Associated Mutations In The Atp Sensitive Potassium Channel, Paige Cooper

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels are composed of inward-rectifying potassium channel pore-forming subunits (Kir6.1 and Kir6.2, encoded by KCNJ8 and KCNJ11, respectively) and regulatory sulfonylurea receptor subunits (SUR1 and SUR2, encoded by ABCC8 and ABCC9, respectively). These channels couple metabolism to excitability in multiple tissues. Mutations in ABCC9 have been linked to Cantú syndrome (CS), a multi-organ disease characterized by congenital hypertrichosis, distinct facial features, osteochondrodysplasia, and cardiac defects. Additionally, two ABCC9 mutation-negative patients, exhibiting clinical hallmarks of CS, have been identified as having KCNJ8 mutations. This body of work is focused on determining the functional consequences and molecular mechanisms of …

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Envelope Protein Interaction With Host Cell Coreceptor C-X-C Chemokine Receptor Type 4, Jie Zhang Dec 2015

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Envelope Protein Interaction With Host Cell Coreceptor C-X-C Chemokine Receptor Type 4, Jie Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) envelope protein is the sole determinant for viral entry and tropism. The ability of HIV-1 to infect susceptible host cells depends on the ability of its envelope protein to engage host cell receptor CD4 and coreceptor C-C Chemokine Receptor Type 5 (CCR5) and/or C-X-C Chemokine Receptor Type 4 (CXCR4). Most naturally occurring infections start with a single CCR5-tropic virion. In approximately 50% of HIV-1 Clade B infected patients, the viral population spontaneous develops the ability to utilize CXCR4 at a late disease stage, and this coreceptor shift corresponds to a poor prognosis for the …

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Ion Selectivity And Allostery In The Nak Channel, Joshua B. Brettmann Dec 2015

Ion Selectivity And Allostery In The Nak Channel, Joshua B. Brettmann

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Ion channels require proper ion selectivity and regulated gating in order to perform their cellular functions. Bacterial ion channels serve as excellent model systems to study structure/function relationships concerning the fundamental processes of ion selectivity and gating. NaK, a non-selective cation channel from Bacillus cereus, has the conserved pore structure of K+ channels. However, its non-canonical selectivity filter structure leads to non-selectivity between Na+ and K+. Full selectivity is restored with two mutations that lead to the restoration of a Kcsa-like selectivity filter structure. Many mutations can be made to the selectivity filter of NaK without loss of protein stability …

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Leveraging Global Gene Expression Patterns To Predict Expression Of Unmeasured Genes, James Rudd, René A. Zelaya, Eugene Demidenko, Ellen L. Goode, Casey S. Greene S. Greene, Jennifer A. Doherty Dec 2015

Leveraging Global Gene Expression Patterns To Predict Expression Of Unmeasured Genes, James Rudd, René A. Zelaya, Eugene Demidenko, Ellen L. Goode, Casey S. Greene S. Greene, Jennifer A. Doherty

Dartmouth Scholarship

BackgroundLarge collections of paraffin-embedded tissue represent a rich resource to test hypotheses based on gene expression patterns; however, measurement of genome-wide expression is cost-prohibitive on a large scale. Using the known expression correlation structure within a given disease type (in this case, high grade serous ovarian cancer; HGSC), we sought to identify reduced sets of directly measured (DM) genes which could accurately predict the expression of a maximized number of unmeasured genes.

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Free Mate Choice Enhances Conservation Breeding In The Endangered Giant Panda, Meghan S. Martin-Wintle, David J. Shepherdson, Guiquan Zhang, Hemin Zhang, Desheng Li, Xiaoping Zhou, Rengui Li, Ronald R. Swaisgood Dec 2015

Free Mate Choice Enhances Conservation Breeding In The Endangered Giant Panda, Meghan S. Martin-Wintle, David J. Shepherdson, Guiquan Zhang, Hemin Zhang, Desheng Li, Xiaoping Zhou, Rengui Li, Ronald R. Swaisgood

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Conservation breeding programmes have become an increasingly important tool to save endangered species, yet despite the allocation of significant resources, efforts to create self-sustaining populations have met with limited success. The iconic giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) embodies the struggles associated with ex situ species conservation. Here we show that behavioural mate preferences in giant pandas predict reproductive outcomes. Giant pandas paired with preferred partners have significantly higher copulation and birth rates. Reproductive rates increase further when both partners show mutual preference for one another. If managers were to incorporate mate preferences more fully into breeding management, the production of giant …

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Where Is The Warfare? The Impact Of Sola Scriptura On Science And Religion Dialogue, William James Richardson Dec 2015

Where Is The Warfare? The Impact Of Sola Scriptura On Science And Religion Dialogue, William James Richardson

Senior Theses

I have two aims with the publication of this thesis. The first is to contribute to the recent scholarly work that seeks to discredit the popular, yet fallacious, warfare model of science and religion. A nuanced investigation shows that the warfare evident in popular discourse cannot easily be attributed to a conflict between the essence of science and religion. Rather “science” and “religion” are interpreted as something else entirely. The New Atheists equate science with scientism, and religion is often associated with the Biblical inerrantism of many Protestant Christians. Both ideologies are grounded in an empiricist epistemological framework founded by …

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Deeply Rooted: The Story Of Congaree National Park, Taylor Karlin Dec 2015

Deeply Rooted: The Story Of Congaree National Park, Taylor Karlin

Senior Theses

This photo-essay book was written to fulfill requirements for completion of a senior thesis project to graduate with honors from the South Carolina Honors College. Its purpose is to promote the enjoyment and preservation of the Congaree National Park by educating the public on the historical and ecological significance of the land and the many activities it has to offer. Despite its proximity to downtown Columbia, there remains a lack of public awareness about the park and the amazing activities and opportunities it has to offer. I have compiled information and pictures that will best depict the unique qualities of …

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Parn Deadenylase Is Involved In Mirna-Dependent Degradation Of Tp53 Mrna In Mammalian Cells, Xiaokan Zhang, Emral Devany, Michael R. Murphy, Galina Glazman, Mirjana Persaud, Frida E. Kleiman Dec 2015

Parn Deadenylase Is Involved In Mirna-Dependent Degradation Of Tp53 Mrna In Mammalian Cells, Xiaokan Zhang, Emral Devany, Michael R. Murphy, Galina Glazman, Mirjana Persaud, Frida E. Kleiman

Publications and Research

mRNA deadenylation is under the control of cis-acting regulatory elements, which include AU-rich elements (AREs) and microRNA (miRNA) targeting sites, within the 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTRs) of eukaryotic mRNAs. Deadenylases promote miRNA-induced mRNA decay through their interaction with miRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC). However, the role of poly(A) specific ribonuclease (PARN) deadenylase in miRNA-dependent mRNA degradation has not been elucidated. Here, we present evidence that not only ARE- but also miRNA-mediated pathways are involved in PARN-mediated regulation of the steady state levels of TP53 mRNA, which encodes the tumor suppressor p53. Supporting this, Argonaute-2 (Ago-2), the core component of miRISC, …

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Lysosomal Rnaset2 Is Required For Metabolic Stress-Mediated Ros Generation And Cell Death, George Caputa Dec 2015

Lysosomal Rnaset2 Is Required For Metabolic Stress-Mediated Ros Generation And Cell Death, George Caputa

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Ectopic lipid deposition in non-adipose tissues is a hallmark of metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, and associated with cell dysfunction, cell death, and organ dysfunction. However, the molecular mechanisms linking excess free fatty acid to cell death are poorly understood. In order to identify genes critical for lipotoxicity, our lab performed a genetic screen in Chinese hamster ovary cells and isolated mutants that were resistant to lipotoxic death. In one of the lines, mutant 2B1, an allele encoding RNASET2, a ribonuclease of the T2 family, was disrupted by proviral insertion. We found that RNASET2 is induced during lipotoxicity …

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Characterizing The Role Of Sialylated Milk Glycans And The Infant Gut Microbiota In Growth And Metabolism, Mark Richard Charbonneau Dec 2015

Characterizing The Role Of Sialylated Milk Glycans And The Infant Gut Microbiota In Growth And Metabolism, Mark Richard Charbonneau

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Undernutrition is a pressing and pervasive global health problem. The pathogenesis of this disease remains unclear, but epidemiologic studies indicate that it is not due to food insecurity alone. Moreover, current therapeutic interventions have limited efficacy in preventing or ameliorating the long-term sequelae of undernutrition, including stunting and cognitive deficits. Recent culture-independent studies have demonstrated that the normal postnatal pattern of gut microbiota development is disrupted in children with undernutrition, leading to the proposal that perturbations in gut microbiota development impairs healthy growth of the host. Human breast milk contains a diverse repertoire of free and conjugated human milk oligosaccharides …

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The Identification Of Alkaloid Pathway Genes From Non-Model Plant Species In The Amaryllidaceae, Matthew B. Kilgore Dec 2015

The Identification Of Alkaloid Pathway Genes From Non-Model Plant Species In The Amaryllidaceae, Matthew B. Kilgore

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Secondary metabolites are often restricted in their distribution to different groups of organisms. For this reason, attempts to study these often useful and interesting products of metabolism require an ability to work in a diversity of non-model species. Methods for gene discovery with low investment and high efficiency are needed to effectively identify the biosynthetic genes in these diverse pathways. During this work, a workflow for efficiently identifying biosynthetic genes was developed and applied to Amaryllidaceae alkaloid biosynthesis. Genes discovered during this work include a norbelladine 4’-O-methyltransferase, a cytochrome P450 capable of phenol-phenol coupling 4’-O-methylnorbelladine to noroxomaritidine, and a short-chain …

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Behavioral And Fmri-Based Characterization Of Cognitive Processes Supporting Learning And Retrieval Of Memory For Words In Young Adults, Binyam Nardos Dec 2015

Behavioral And Fmri-Based Characterization Of Cognitive Processes Supporting Learning And Retrieval Of Memory For Words In Young Adults, Binyam Nardos

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

A novel word is rarely defined explicitly during the first encounter. With repeated exposure, a decontextualized meaning of the word is integrated into semantic memory. With the overarching goal of characterizing the functional neuroanatomy of semantic processing in young adults, we employed a contextual word learning paradigm, creating novel synonyms for common animal/artifact nouns that, along with additional real words, served as stimuli for the lexical-decision based functional MRI (fMRI) experiment. Young adults (n=28) were given two types of word learning training administered in multiple sessions spread out over three days. The first type of training provided perceptual form-only training …

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Endogenous Protection In Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Eric Milner Dec 2015

Endogenous Protection In Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Eric Milner

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Vasospasm-induced delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) remains a major source of morbidity in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Moreover, cognitive dysfunction is the primary driver of poor long-term outcome in SAH survivors; modeling such deficits preclinically is thus key for mechanistic and translational investigation. We hypothesized that activating innate neurovascular protective mechanisms by conditioning may represent a novel therapeutic approach against SAH-induced DCI, short-term, neurological deficits, and long-term neurocognitive deficits; and, secondarily, that the neurovascular protection it provides is mediated by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α).In Experiment 1, wild-type C57BL/6 mice were subjected to hypoxic …

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Transcriptional Regulation Of The Endoplasmic Reticulum In Dedicated Secretory Cells, Benjamin David Moore Dec 2015

Transcriptional Regulation Of The Endoplasmic Reticulum In Dedicated Secretory Cells, Benjamin David Moore

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Differentiating cells express subsets of genes to build the cellular machinery necessary to perform their specific function as they acquire their mature fate. These subsets of genes are regulated by networks of transcription factors as cells progress through their developmental program. In secretory tissue, highly-specialized cells establish a complex secretory apparatus and scale up their cellular architecture to facilitate the production and secretion of large amounts of protein. Here, we identify a network of transcription factors responsible for the development of this cellular machinery in these professional secretory cells, and develop new tools to better study the molecular networks that …

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Molecular Mechanisms Of Axon Growth And Regeneration, Dana Watt Dec 2015

Molecular Mechanisms Of Axon Growth And Regeneration, Dana Watt

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Neurons are cells with unique and extremely polarized morphologies. The axon allows communication between the cell soma and the distantly located synaptic terminal and can extend up to one meter in humans. This exceptional cellular structure therefore has specialized biological processes dedicated to its growth, maintenance and regeneration. The structure that carries out axon elongation during development and regeneration is the growth cone, which features a cytoskeletal structure that is both highly dynamic yet consistent in overall organization. The growth cone coordinates a leading edge of dynamic actin with the microtubules of the growing axon, enabling directed outgrowth while maintaining …

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The Mechanism And Regulation Of Mammalian Photoreceptor Dark Adaptation, Yunlu Xue Dec 2015

The Mechanism And Regulation Of Mammalian Photoreceptor Dark Adaptation, Yunlu Xue

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The visual perception of vertebrates begins in rod and cone photoreceptors. Both photoreceptors require visual pigments to detect light. At the first step of light detection, a chromophore molecule (i.e. 11-cis retinal), which is conjugated to the visual pigment in photoreceptor outer segment, absorbs a photon. Photoisomerization of the chromophore activates the visual pigment, triggers the phototransduction cascade, and produces electrical signals. After photoisomerization, the chromophore is ultimately converted to all-trans retinol, which must be recycled to regenerate the visual pigment. This visual pigment regeneration process is called the visual cycle. It is the rate-limiting step of the photoreceptor dark …

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The Science Of Christmas: Dinner Table, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire Dec 2015

The Science Of Christmas: Dinner Table, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

This article discusses the science of preservation behind two famous Irish and English Christmas foods, Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies.

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Regulation Of Stress Response And Innate Immunity By DsRna-Binding Proteins Pact And Trbp, Lauren S. Vaughn Dec 2015

Regulation Of Stress Response And Innate Immunity By DsRna-Binding Proteins Pact And Trbp, Lauren S. Vaughn

Theses and Dissertations

An integral aspect of innate immune response to viral infections is the ability to detect non-self molecules to initiate antiviral signaling via pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). One subset of these receptors are cytoplasmic receptors that contain double stranded (dsRNA) binding domains, which allow them to identify non-self dsRNA produced during a viral infection and mount a protective cellular response. PKR is a dsRNA-activated eIF2α kinase that is a key regulator of cellular antiviral and stress response pathways. Activation of PKR’s catalytic activity requires binding to one of its activators, viral dsRNAs or the cellular protein PACT (PKR activator). Although PACT …

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Viruses And Metals In Ocean Food Webs: Top-Down And Bottom-Up Effects Of Marine Viruses And Trace Elements On Marine Picophytoplankton, Brady Robert Cunningham Dec 2015

Viruses And Metals In Ocean Food Webs: Top-Down And Bottom-Up Effects Of Marine Viruses And Trace Elements On Marine Picophytoplankton, Brady Robert Cunningham

Theses and Dissertations

Viruses are the most numerous biological entities in the ocean, playing a key role in microbial ecology and biogeochemical cycling. In order to replicate, viruses must first infect a host and then use the host’s cellular machinery to produce new viral particles. Some of the most abundant viral hosts in the subtropical open ocean are picophytoplankton. However, picophytoplankton growth is typically constrained by nutrient availability. In many regions of the ocean, iron (Fe) is only available in very low concentrations causing growth-limitation of picophytoplankton. Interestingly, the interactions between Fe-limitation and viral infection of picophytoplankton have not been extensively studied. This …

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Global Methylation Of Dna Among Spartina Alterniflora Clones Differing In Age At North Inlet, Sc, Trenton Agrelius Dec 2015

Global Methylation Of Dna Among Spartina Alterniflora Clones Differing In Age At North Inlet, Sc, Trenton Agrelius

Theses and Dissertations

“Brown marsh” or “sudden marsh dieback” refers to the rapid death of patches varying in size of Spartina alterniflora. In 2000 following a 100-year record drought, approximately 8,000 hectares of S. alterniflora died along the Louisiana coast, which prompted Louisiana Governor Foster to declare a state of emergency. Other cases have been documented at North Inlet, SC as well as various other marshes along the southeastern United States. Currently, there is much dispute regarding the cause of “sudden marsh dieback” but environmental stress is one of the acknowledged constants across sites. We hypothesized an alternative mechanism in which methylation of …

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