Life Sciences Commons^™

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals An Efficient Mechanism For Α-Linolenic Acid Synthesis In Tree Peony Seeds, Qingyu Zhang, Rui Yu, Daoyang Sun, Mahbubur Rahman, Lihang Xie, Jiayuan Hu, Lixia He, Aruna Kilaru, Lixin Niu, Yanlong Zhang

ETSU Faculty Works

Tree peony (Paeonia section Moutan DC.) species are woody oil crops with high unsaturated fatty acid content, including α-linolenic acid (ALA/18:3; >40% of the total fatty acid). Comparative transcriptome analyses were carried out to uncover the underlying mechanisms responsible for high and low ALA content in the developing seeds of P. rockii and P. lutea, respectively. Expression analysis of acyl lipid metabolism genes revealed upregulation of select genes involved in plastidial fatty acid synthesis, acyl editing, desaturation, and triacylglycerol assembly in seeds of P. rockiirelative to P. lutea. Also, in association with ALA content in seeds, …

Differential Expression Of Genes Related To Innate Immune Responses In Ex Vivo Spinal Cord And Cerebellar Slice Cultures Infected With West Nile Virus, Amber M. Paul, Parminder J.S. Vig, Deyin Lu, Ram Kuwar, Maria Lopez, Dobrivoje S. Stokic, A. Arturo Leis, Michael R. Garrett, Fengwei Bai

Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) infection results in a spectrum of neurological symptoms, ranging from a benign fever to severe WNV neuroinvasive disease with high mortality. Many who recover from WNV neuroinvasive infection present with long-term deficits, including weakness, fatigue, and cognitive problems. While neurons are a main target of WNV, other cell types, especially astrocytes, play an important role in promoting WNV-mediated central nervous system (CNS) damage. Conversely, it has been shown that cultured primary astrocytes secrete high levels of interferons (IFNs) immediately after WNV exposure to protect neighboring astrocytes, as well as neurons. However, how intrinsic responses to WNV …

Bovine Mammary Gland Biopsy Techniques, Veridiana L. Daley, Charles Dye, Sophie H. Bogers, R. Michael Akers, Francisco C. Rodriguez, John P. Cant, John Doelman, Peter Yoder, Karan Kumar, Dane Webster, Mark D. Hanigan

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Bovine mammary gland biopsies allow researchers to collect tissue samples to study cell biology including gene expression, histological analysis, signaling pathways, and protein translation. This article describes two techniques for biopsy of the bovine mammary gland (MG). Three healthy Holstein dairy cows were the subjects. Before biopsies, cows were milked and subsequently restrained in a cattle chute. An analgesic (flunixin meglumine, 1.1 to 2.2 mg/kg of body weight) was administered via jugular intravenous [IV] injection 15-20 min prior to biopsy. For standing sedation, xylazine hydrochloride (0.01-0.05 mg/kg of body weight) was injected via the coccygeal vessels 5-10 min before the …

The New Natural Distribution Area Of Aspen (Populus Tremula L.) Marginal Populations In Pasinler In The Erzurum Province, Turkey, And Its Stand Characteristics, Halil Bariş Özel, Sezgin Ayan, Serdar Erpay, Bojan Simovski

Aspen Bibliography

Background and Purpose: Genetic diversity is the basis for adaptation and survival of tree species under changing environmental conditions, representing the key issue of stability and productivity of forest ecosystems. This paper studies the marginal population characteristics and stand dynamics of aspen tree (Populus tremula L.) in natural, pure and mixed forest stands with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). These populations were observed on founding sites between Timarli Valley and Timan Plateau located in Pasinler in the Erzurum Province in Turkey.
Materials and Methods: Three replicated sample sites were established according to a randomised block design …

Profit Efficiency And Smallholder Sugarcane Out-Growers Under Contract Farming In Tanzania: Does Location Matter?, Thobias Nsindagi, Jennifer K. Sesabo

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Tanzania is among countries that value the sugarcane sector as one of the potential crops for poverty alleviation. The sector provides direct employment to about 14,000 people, and it is an outlet for the produce of over 30,000 farming households (Nkonya & Barreiro Hurle, 2012). Likewise, it provides direct earnings and savings amounting to about US$28m annually (Sugar Board of Tanzania (SBT), 2007). However, sugarcane out-growers in Tanzania have been getting low prices relative to unit costs (Matango, 2006). This has generated substantial debate about the need and level of government support. Like other developing countries, contract farming (CF) has …

Potential Applications Of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Fmri) To Organizational Research: A Primer And Sample Study, Allen I. Huffcutt, Wen-Ching Liu, Lori A. Russell-Chapin

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

The first purpose of this manuscript is to provide a primer for organizational researchers on both fMRI and brain physiology because few are likely to have encountered an in-depth treatment of either previously. The second purpose is to present the results of an actual fMRI study on an organizational topic (structured employment interviews) as a sample to help illustrate the potential of this type of research. Results of the sample study enhanced understanding of the brain processes behind responding to situational (SI) and behavior description (BDI) interviews, and offered several promising directions for follow-up research. To illustrate the latter, there …

1996 - Monterey County Hydrogeologic Study, Volume Ii -- Critical Issues Report And Interim Management Plan, Final Report

Monterey County Water Resources Agency Engineering Reports

This document was a companion report to the North Monterey County Hydrogeologic Study, Volume I, dated October 1995. The document built from the technical understanding and problem identification developed in Volume I and focuses on key issues relative to developing a management plan for the water resources of the area. These included the interrelated policy, legal and financial issues that complicate the management of the resource. The purpose of the report was to provide an analysis of these issues towards the development of long-range management objectives.

Harnessing The Anopheles Microbiome To Conditionally Express Anti-Plasmodial Effectors During The Blood Meal, Jackie Shane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The control of vector-borne diseases such as malaria has been an extremely important research subject for hundreds of years. Because of the complex lifecycles of the pathogens that cause these diseases, finding a comprehensive treatment or preventative strategy has proven extremely difficult. Malaria alone is responsible for almost half a million deaths annually, most of them children under 5 years old. This disease is caused by parasitic protists in the genus Plasmodium that are transmitted to humans from Anopheles sp. mosquitoes. Most preventative strategies that are in use today revolve around controlling the vectors, including bed nets, insecticides, and larval …

Living Shoreline Stabilization To Increase Resiliency At De Soto National Memorial, Linda Walters, Melinda Donnelly, Christian Pilato, Suzanne Connor

CEELAB Research Data

De Soto National Memorial (Bradenton, FL) is an important location where both Native Americans and De Soto's army of soldiers once lived. We have been working closely with the National Park Service and the University of Central Florida to understand how to best stabilize this shoreline using living shoreline techniques combined with long-term natural recruitment. Stabilizing De Soto's shoreline is essential to decrease erosion and shoreline loss to protect the Park's cultural and natural resources, especially the numerous historically significant shell middens. Through pre-restoration monitoring, we determined that high-energy boat wakes were limiting natural mangrove recruitment. Lack of retention of …

Identification Of Genes Required For Eye Development By High-Throughput Screening Of Mouse Knockouts., Bret A Moore, Brian C Leonard, Lionel Sebbag, Sydney G Edwards, Ann Cooper, Denise M Imai, Ewan Straiton, Luis Santos, Christopher Reilly, Stephen M Griffey, Lynette Bower, David Clary, Jeremy Mason, Michel J Roux, Hamid Meziane, Yann Herault, Colin Mckerlie, Ann M Flenniken, Lauryl M J Nutter, Zorana Berberovic, Celeste Owen, Susan Newbigging, Hibret Adissu, Mohammed Eskandarian, Chih-Wei Hsu, Sowmya Kalaga, Uchechukwu Udensi, Chinwe Asomugha, Ritu Bohat, Juan J Gallegos, John R Seavitt, Jason D Heaney, Arthur L Beaudet, Mary E Dickinson, Monica J Justice, Vivek M. Philip, Vivek Kumar, Karen L. Svenson, Robert E Braun, Sara Wells, Heather Cater, Michelle Stewart, Sharon Clementson-Mobbs, Russell Joynson, Xiang Gao, Tomohiro Suzuki, Shigeharu Wakana, Damian Smedley, J K Seong, Glauco Tocchini-Valentini, Mark Moore, Colin Fletcher, Natasha Karp, Ramiro Ramirez-Solis, Jacqueline K White, Martin Hrabe De Angelis, Wolfgang Wurst, Sara M Thomasy, Paul Flicek, Helen Parkinson, Steve D M Brown, Terrence F Meehan, Patsy M. Nishina, Stephen A Murray, Mark P. Krebs, Ann-Marie Mallon, K C Kent Lloyd, Christopher J Murphy, Ala Moshiri

Faculty Research 2018

Despite advances in next generation sequencing technologies, determining the genetic basis of ocular disease remains a major challenge due to the limited access and prohibitive cost of human forward genetics. Thus, less than 4,000 genes currently have available phenotype information for any organ system. Here we report the ophthalmic findings from the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, a large-scale functional genetic screen with the goal of generating and phenotyping a null mutant for every mouse gene. Of 4364 genes evaluated, 347 were identified to influence ocular phenotypes, 75% of which are entirely novel in ocular pathology. This discovery greatly increases the …

Atypical Activation Of The G Protein Gα By The Oncogenic Mutation Q209p, Marcin Maziarz, Anthony Leyme, Arthur Marivin, Alex Luebbers, Prachi P. Patel, Zhe Chen, Stephen R. Sprang, Mikel Garcia-Marcos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The causative role of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pathway mutations in uveal melanoma (UM) has been well-established. Nearly all UMs bear an activating mutation in a GPCR pathway mediated by G proteins of the G family, driving tumor initiation and possibly metastatic progression. Thus, targeting this pathway holds therapeutic promise for managing UM. However, direct targeting of oncogenic Gα mutants, present in ∼90% of UMs, is complicated by the belief that these mutants structurally resemble active Gα WT. This notion is solidly founded on previous studies characterizing Gα mutants in which a conserved catalytic glutamine (Gln-209 in Gα) is replaced …

1998 - 2030 Land Use And Water Needs Conditions

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

Documentation of the methodology and data used to estimate the land use, M&I water needs, and pumped agricultural water under the 2030 conditions. One of the primary goals of the Salinas River Basin Management Plan (BMP) is to meet the agricultural, and municipal and industrial water needs of the Valley under the existing conditions (1995 level of development) as well as, under the future conditions (2030 level of development), while stopping the seawater intrusion and balancing the hydrologic conditions in the basin. In order to meet the 2030 water needs, a reasonable estimate of land use and water use conditions …

A Potent Lassa Virus Antiviral Targets An Arenavirus Virulence Determinant, Ikenna G. Madu, Megan Files, Dima N. Gharaibeh, Amy L. Moore, Kieh-Hoon Jung, Brian B. Gowen, Dongcheng Dai, Kevin F. Jones, Shanthakumar R. Tyavanagimatt, James R. Burgeson, Marcus J. Korth, Kristin M. Bedard, Shawn P. Iadonato, Sean M. Amberg

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Arenaviruses are a significant cause of hemorrhagic fever, an often-fatal disease for which there is no approved antiviral therapy. Lassa fever in particular generates high morbidity and mortality in West Africa, where the disease is endemic, and a recent outbreak in Nigeria was larger and more geographically diverse than usual. We are developing LHF-535, a small-molecule viral entry inhibitor that targets the arenavirus envelope glycoprotein, as a therapeutic candidate for Lassa fever and other hemorrhagic fevers of arenavirus origin. Using a lentiviral pseudotype infectivity assay, we determined that LHF-535 had sub-nanomolar potency against the viral envelope glycoproteins from all Lassa …

Hypoxic Preconditioning Attenuates Reoxygenation-Induced Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction In Aged Pulmonary Tnf-Α Overexpressing Mice, China-Chen Chuang, Tingyang Zhou, Mark Olfert, Li Zuo

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

1998 - Salinas Valley Water (Preliminary Analysis Of) The Cause And Cost Of Seawater Intrusion

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

An analysis of the historical cause of seawater intrusion in the Pressure Area of Monterey County. An annual overdraft of groundwater resources near the coast coupled with a seasonal cycle of over pumping created a reversal in the groundwater gradient and associated cones of depression. "Marine intrusion has occurred in the 180-foot aquifer in recent years as a result of overdrafts." (Bulletin 52, 1946, p.27). The only overdrafts on groundwater in the Salinas Valley were in the East Side and Pressure Areas. "There was no shortage of groundwater in the remainder of the basin and no threat of deficiency under …

1995 - North Monterey County Hydrogeologic Study Volume I, Water Resource

Monterey County Water Resources Agency Engineering Reports

The purpose of the investigation was to develop a better understanding of the hydrogeologic setting in the North Monterey County (North County) area and to quantify the various components of water supply and demand. The investigation also focused on the institutional and planning issues associated with the resource limitations and suggests possible responses to these limitations. The investigation was intended to provide the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (MCWRA), as well as the Monterey County Departments of Planning, Building & Inspection and Division of Environmental Health, with data essential to developing a ground water management plan and to support modifications …

2000 - Geology Bibliography Of California, 1854–2000

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

The scope of this database is much broader in scope than the original list of consultant reports submitted to Monterey County governmental agencies and includes extensive references on regional geologic mapping, hydrogeology, economic geology, and research done in connection with the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction Experiment.

Major sources of information include:

• Monterey County Planning Department: a database of approximately 2,000 references within the

categories of geology, soil, water resources, and water quality.

• Monterey County Water Resources Agency.

• Monterey Peninsula Water Management District.

• The American Geological Institute’s GeoRef database.

• The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Geologic Map Database. …

2018 - Groundwater Management In California, Michael Hanemann

Related Research and Documents

In 2014, the California legislature for the first time took some steps to create a framework for regulating groundwater pumping in over-drafted basins by adopting the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), representing California's first statewide groundwater management planning program. SGMA called for local agencies to develop groundwater sustainability plans within the next five to seven years and then achieve sustainable levels of groundwater extraction by approximately 2040 to 2045. California's prior efforts to regulate groundwater extraction is discussed, as well as groundwater depletion.

Dynamics Of Prochlorococcus Diversity And Photoacclimation During Short-Term Shifts In Water Column Stratification At Station Aloha, Anne W. Thompson, Ger Van Den Engh, Nathan A. Ahlgren, Kathleen Kouba, Samantha Ward, Samuel T. Wilson, David M. Karl

Biology

The cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus is the dominant phototroph in surface waters of the vast oligotrophic oceans, the foundation of marine food webs, and an important component of global biogeochemical cycles. The prominence of Prochlorococcus across the environmental gradients of the open ocean is attributed to its extensive genetic diversity and flexible chlorophyll physiology, enabling light capture over a wide range of intensities. What remains unknown is the balance between temporal dynamics of genetic diversity and chlorophyll physiology in the ability of Prochlorococcus to respond to a variety of short (approximately 1 day) and longer (months to year) changes in the environment. …

Characterization Of G-Protein Coupled Receptors In Pain, Depression And Anxiety, Neil Lax

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic pain and major depressive disorder are widespread conditions in the world. Interestingly, these conditions often occur comorbidly, with each individual disease amplifying the symptoms of the other. A significant amount of preclinical research in pain and depression focuses on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), implying that GPCRs may be useful in treating this comorbidity. Our efforts have sought to characterize several poorly understood GPCRs, including the serotonin receptor subtypes 2C and 7 (5-HT2CR and 5-HT7R) and metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5), along with more well-known GPCRs such as the mu opioid receptor (MOR), and the role that they play in …

Regulation Of In Vivo Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance By The Cystine/Glutamate Exchanger System Xc-, Sheila Marie Shahidzadeh Sears

Dissertations - ALL

System xc- (Sxc-) is a cellular antiporter that links the import of L-cystine with the export of L-glutamate. In the central nervous system (CNS), this export contributes to the ambient glutamate levels found in the synaptic cleft. To wit, a 50% reduction in extracellular glutamate has been demonstrated in animals null for the substrate-specific light chain, xCT. Moreover, in most tissues, including the CNS, cystine import through Sxc- is necessary for the synthesis and maintenance of glutathione (GSH) levels. Given that either a reduction in ambient glutamate levels and/or a redox imbalance involving GSH have been reported to affect synaptic …

Identifying The Genetic Mechanisms In Seizure Threshold Regulation, Yifan Gong

Dissertations - ALL

Epilepsy is a brain disease defined by having recurrent and spontaneous seizures. The susceptibility to seizure is determined by seizure threshold, which describes the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in the brain. Epileptogenesis, the transition from normal brain to epileptic brain, is accompanied by a progressive reduction of seizure threshold and has been shown to have genetic influences. Expression of neuronal cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene, PTGS2, a primary gene that regulates prostaglandin synthesis in the normal brain, is enhanced by excitatory neurotransmission and is under tight regulation of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate type glutamate receptor (NMDAR) activity in cortical neurons. The 3’ untranslated …

Comparative Ecophysiology Of Native And Invasive Plants Across Populations, Species, And Continents, Kelsey Anne Martinez

Dissertations - ALL

Invasive species are a persistent threat to biodiversity and agriculture that cost countries millions of dollars each year. Despite the scale and impact of the problem of invasive species, it remains a mystery why some introduced species become invasive and others remain benign. Here, I examined the theory that invasive species possess key traits which make them successful invaders. Specifically, I investigated the hypotheses that 1) plasticity increases invasive species’ success compared to native species, 2) invaders evolve rapidly in their new ranges, 3) invasive species avoid tradeoffs apparent in natives related to growth, resource use, or defense. Using 30 …

A Structural And Dynamic Model For The Assembly Of Replication Protein A On Single-Stranded Dna, Luke A. Yates, Ricardo J. Aramayo, Nilisha Pokhrel, Colleen C. Caldwell, Joshua A. Kaplan, Rajika L. Perera, Maria Spies, Edwin Antony, Xiaodong Zhang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Replication Protein A (RPA), the major eukaryotic single stranded DNA-binding protein, binds to exposed ssDNA to protect it from nucleases, participates in a myriad of nucleic acid transactions and coordinates the recruitment of other important players. RPA is a heterotrimer and coats long stretches of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). The precise molecular architecture of the RPA subunits and its DNA binding domains (DBDs) during assembly is poorly understood. Using cryo electron microscopy we obtained a 3D reconstruction of the RPA trimerisation core bound with ssDNA (∼55 kDa) at ∼4.7 Å resolution and a dimeric RPA assembly on ssDNA. FRET-based solution studies …

Survival In The Forest Understory: Resilience And Resistance To Damage In Native And Invasive Woody Plants, Elise Hinman

Dissertations - ALL

Non-native woody plants from Europe and East Asia have invaded intact, low-light forest understories in Eastern North America. Compared to co-occurring native species, invasive species exhibit greater productivity and resource use efficiency, but the extent to which plants are subject to tradeoffs between productivity and survival is unknown. Herbivory and freezing events are common sources of damage in the forest understory, and non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) and defense compounds support resilience and resistance to damage. In this dissertation, I evaluated the hypothesis that invasive species maintain high productivity at the expense of storage and defense, reducing their survival under severe damage. …

Factors Affecting The Distribution And Abundance Of Autumn Vagrant New World Warblers In Northwestern California And Southern Oregon, C. John Ralph, Jared D. Wolfe

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Birds found outside their typical range, or vagrants, have fascinated naturalists for decades. Despite broad interest in vagrancy, few attempts have been made to statistically examine the explanatory variables potentially responsible for the phenomenon. In this study, we used multiple linear regression to model the occurrence of 28 rare warbler species (family Parulidae) in autumn in northern California and southern Oregon as a function of migration distance, continental population size, distance, and bearing to both closest breeding population and breeding population center. In addition to our predictive model, we used capture data from the California coast to 300 km inland …

A Generic Pixel-To-Point Comparison For Simulated Large-Scale Ecosystem Properties And Ground-Based Observations: An Example From The Amazon Region, Anja Rammig, Jens Heinke, Florian Hofhansl, Hans Verbeeck, Timothy R. Baker, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Philippe Ciais, Hannes De Deurwaerder, Katrin Fleischer, David Galbraith

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Comparing model output and observed data is an important step for assessing model performance and quality of simulation results. However, such comparisons are often hampered by differences in spatial scales between local point observations and large-scale simulations of grid cells or pixels. In this study, we propose a generic approach for a pixel-to-point comparison and provide statistical measures accounting for the uncertainty resulting from landscape variability and measurement errors in ecosystem variables. The basic concept of our approach is to determine the statistical properties of small-scale (within-pixel) variability and observational errors, and to use this information to correct for their …

Pyrrolo[2,3-D]Pyrimidine Classical Antifolates For Targeted Cancer Chemotherapy- Applications Of Bioisosteric And Regioisomeric Substitutions For Improved Tumor-Selectivity And Potency, Manasa Punaha Ravindra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2018, it is estimated that 1,735,350 new cases of cancer and 609,640 deaths from the disease will be diagnosed in the United States alone. Conventional chemotherapy is by far the most successful category of clinical oncology, having cured (complete remission (CR), without return) or provided clinical benefit to millions of people. However, since its earliest discovery, the major causes of failure of conventional cancer chemotherapy have been dose-limiting toxicities and development of resistance. There is a desperate ongoing search for new cancer therapies as tumor-targeted agents (without harming normal cells or tissues) with low propensity for the development of …

Facilitating Pre-Service Teachers To Engage Emergent Bilinguals In Productive Struggle, Benjamin T. Dickey, Jim Ewing, Melissa Caruso, Emily D. Fulmer

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This study utilized a multiple case study with qualitative research to examine how Pre-service teachers (PSTs) might engage Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in productive struggle—grappling to solve problems (Warshauer, 2015). The researchers created a rubric based on Warshauer’s (2015) case study to record the types of questions PSTs asked as they tutored fourth grade EBs. Warshauer (2015) claimed PSTs should allow students more wait time and ask questions. She referred to such questions as affordance and probing guidance, which facilitates productive struggle. In order to discover more about the PSTs’ thinking, the researchers interviewed the PSTs before and after their first, …

Efficacy Of A T Cell-Biased Adenovirus Vector As A Zika Virus Vaccine, Brianna L. Bullard, Brigette N. Corder, Matthew J. Gorman, Michael S. Diamond, Eric A. Weaver

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a major public health concern due to the risk of congenital Zika syndrome in developing fetuses and Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. Currently, there are no approved vaccines available to protect against infection. Adenoviruses are safe and highly immunogenic vaccine vectors capable of inducing lasting humoral and cellular immune responses. Here, we developed two Adenovirus (Ad) vectored Zika virus vaccines by inserting a ZIKV prM-E gene expression cassette into human Ad types 4 (Ad4-prM-E) and 5 (Ad5-prM-E). Immune correlates indicate that Ad5-prM-E vaccination induces both an anti-ZIKV antibody and T-cell responses whereas Ad4-prM-E vaccination only induces a …