Life Sciences Commons^™

Comparing Allelochemicals Of ​English Ivy And Native Georgia Plants​, Rebecca Senft

Symposium of Student Scholars

English Ivy (Hedera helix L.) is a common invasive plant causing biodiversity losses across the southeast and parts of the northwestern US. The mechanisms by which Ivy invades native ecosystems are not well understood but may include allelopathy, a process through which one species produces biochemicals that disrupt competitors. These biochemicals are often produced and exuded by roots into soil, making them difficult to isolate. This study used a soil-less hydroponic system and gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy to examine differences in the chemicals produced by roots of native Georgia plants and English Ivy. Our results suggest there are differences in the …

Snake Venom Peptides And Toxin Targeting The Main Protease Of Sars-Cov-2, Breauna Strawder, James Stewart, Mohammad A. Halim

Symposium of Student Scholars

The corona virus began to spread in Wuhan, China which caused it to spread worldwide creating a global pandemic in the beginning of 2020, infecting over 243 million and killing over 4.5 million people worldwide. Significant efforts were made to produce vaccines against the virus, which led the recognition of a few vaccines that has been approved by FDA. These vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, which all have efficacy against Covid-19. Despite having vaccines, COVID-19 is still present and infecting millions and killing thousands of people every day. Multiple therapeutic options would allow us to slow down or …

Binding Affinity And Interaction Of Sars-Cov-2 Epitopes With Major Histocompatibility Complex, Sareena Kandavalli, James Stewart, Mohammed A. Halim

Symposium of Student Scholars

SARS CoV-2 has been affecting the world since 2019. It caused 245 million cases of infection and around 5 million deaths worldwide. The most important strategies for the development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are inactivated or weakened virus, replicating or non-replicating viral vector-based approaches, DNA, RNA, virus particle like approaches and epitope-based approaches. The epitope-based approach is rapid, accurate, cost-effective, and reliable against pathogens. By presenting epitopes (antigen peptides) on antigen-presenting cells (APCs), the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), also recognized as the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system in humans, plays an essential role in triggering T-cell immune responses. The focus …

Cell Penetrating Peptide Inhibiting The Main Protease Of Sars-Cov-2, Adam Ashley, James Stewart, Mohammad Halim

Symposium of Student Scholars

As of October 2021, SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 244 million people and killed about 5 million people. The current FDA approved vaccines are effective; however, they lose their effectiveness after a few months of receiving both doses of the vaccine, and it is recommended to get a booster shot six months after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. Therefore, new highly effective, long lasting antiviral agents and strategies are needed to create an alternative treatment for SARS-CoV-2 and the different variants. Previous studies have shown that cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) have led to greater efficiency of intracellular delivery. However, …

The Veiled Lady Fungus, Nick Parbhoo

Symposium of Student Scholars

This semester I studied the Stinkhorn mushroom Phallus Indusiatus. The plan of this research is to develop a protocol for growing this fungus and using it in collaboration with research on it’s web-like properties of the unique veil produced by the fruiting body. This will be distributed to teams of engineers as well as NASA for Dr. Penick’s research. Due to logistics of receiving spores from across the world, we still have not been able to begin growing these mushrooms. However, I have described a protocol that we will follow in order to grow. The protocol contains detailed descriptions …

Biocontrol Of Foodborne Pathogens Using Bacteriophages, Dzhuliya Ignatova, Erion Hogan, Simone Dakare, Jean Lu

Symposium of Student Scholars

Biocontrol of Foodborne Pathogens Using Bacteriophages

Dzhuliya Ignatova, Erion Hogan, Simone Dakare, and Jean Lu

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Abstract

Salmonella and Shigella are two important groups of foodborne bacterial pathogens. Salmonella cause an illness called salmonellosis while Shigella cause shigellosis (bacillary dysentery). The most common symptoms of these illnesses are abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and fever. Shigella can also cause bloody diarrhea. It was estimated that each year Salmonella cause 93.8 million cases of gastroenteritis and 155,000 deaths globally. Shigella causes 164.7 million cases and 1.1 million deaths throughout the world yearly. People get these illnesses mainly by …

Neurological Gene Jus Is Associated With Aging-Related Muscle Loss In The Fly Model Of Sarcopenia., Soobin An

Symposium of Student Scholars

Sarcopenia is a health condition in the elderly that is associated with degradation of muscle size, mass, and function. It can cause physical disability and, in extreme cases, death. The genetic aspect of sarcopenia is still not well understood. To shed light on sarcopenia mechanisms, we investigated muscle loss in aging fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster. Our hypothesis was that aging-dependent muscle degradation can be affected by suboptimal functioning of the central nervous system (CNS). We used RNA interference and tissue-specific genetic drivers to induce a selective knockdown (KD) of the julius seizure gene (jus), which is associated …

S-Layer Increases Predation Ability Of Myxococcus Xanthus

Symposium of Student Scholars

Background: Myxococcus xanthus is a gram-negative soil bacterium that exhibits micro-predatory activities. When starved, M. xanthus produces resistant spores within fruiting bodies for survival. The S-layer is a paracrystalline structure intertwined in many different patterns and is composed of proteins or glycoproteins. A species that produces the S-layer is Aeromonas. A. salmonicida is a strain of Aeromonas that infects fish. A. hydrophila is another pathogenic strain that causes a wide range of human diseases. We investigated the ability of the S-layer to protect Aeromonas from predation by Myxobacteria. Methods: Myxococcus and prey Aeromonas cultures were standardized to a concentration …

Bacteriophages Infecting Enterobacter Cloacae To Reduce Bloater Damage In Fermented Cucumbers

Symposium of Student Scholars

Fermented cucumbers are one of the most important fermented vegetables consumed worldwide. During cucumber fermentations, certain undesirable changes may occur. One of such changes is known as bloater defect (hollow cavities in fermented cucumbers), which is primarily caused by gas-producing bacteria including Enterobacter cloacae. Bloater defect lowers product quality and leads to significant economic loss to the pickle industry, and effective preventative methods are needed. Bacteriophages (phages) are highly host-specific bacterial killers. Use of phages to control unwanted bacteria in foods is a promising approach because phages do not change food properties. This research was to isolate, characterize, and …

Does Cortisol Respond To A Social Perturbation In Captive Bonobos?, Tiffany Ly

Symposium of Student Scholars

All animals are influenced by their environment. For social species, this means that changes in group size or composition can have long-lasting effects on survival or reproduction. When these social species are placed in captivity and new individuals are introduced suddenly by zookeepers or researchers, these events can lead to stress by changing established dominance hierarchies. For example, these interactions can cause stress hormones—like cortisol in primates and humans—to be released in response to meeting unfamiliar individuals. We took advantage of an introduction event happening at a captive research and conservation facility to better understand how introducing a new female …

In Silico Identification Of A Streptococcus Phage From An Unpasteurized Dairy Product

Symposium of Student Scholars

This study aimed to identify novel phages from a West African dairy product, nunu, to better understand the uncharacterized virosphere of a food microbiome. Nunu is a yogurt-like product from spontaneous fermentation of unpasteurized cow milk without a standardized starter culture. Phages and their bacterial hosts make up a microbiome, where their collective metagenome can be studied in silico, or computationally, after next generation sequencing (NGS). The targeted dataset for our study can be found in the Sequence Read Archives under the accession number of ERX2041567. This study utilized several bioinformatics software tools with customized settings: Kraken2, MetaVelvet, Edena, NCBI-BLAST, …

In Silico Isolation Of A Novel Phage For Food Safety Applications Against Pathogenic E. Coli, Daisy Mcgrath

Symposium of Student Scholars

With the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) on metagenomes, the elucidation of all genetic material from microbiomes has prompted a renewed interest towards uncultivated members of the virosphere. We describe the discovery of a novel phage from a metagenomic dataset on the West African fermented dairy product, nunu, with a custom bioinformatics workflow to potentially serve as a biocontrol agent against pathogenic E. coli. Initial dataset of ERR2014814 from NCBI was first subjected to Kraken2 to extract novel sequencing reads for further de novo assembly into contigs by MetaVelvet. Resultant contigs served as potential partial phage genomes, then searched …

Individual Variation In Behavioral Plasticity In African Starlings, Jasmine Little

Symposium of Student Scholars

Individual variation in behavioral plasticity in African starlings

Authors: Jasmine Little¹, Dustin Rubenstein², Sarah Guindre-Parker¹

¹Kennesaw State University ²Columbia University

Behavioral plasticity allows individuals to respond appropriately to highly variable environmental conditions in order to increase their fitness under different types of environments. Cooperatively breeding superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus) living in unpredictable Kenyan savannas experience tremendous variation in annual rainfall from year to year. Rainfall is critical for these birds because it shapes the availability of food (insects), but it remains unclear how the parental care behavior of individual starlings is …

Effectiveness Of Bacteriophages Against Bloater-Causing Bacteria Enterobacter Cloacae In A Model Food System, Ashley Reed, Dzhuliya Ignatova, Sandra Kopic, Unique Sardeneta

Symposium of Student Scholars

Effectiveness of bacteriophages against bloater-causing bacteria Enterobacter cloacae in a model food system

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Ashley Reed, Dzhuliya Ignatova, Sandra Kopic, Unique Sardeneta, and Jean Lu

Abstract

Cucumber fermentation is one of the most important vegetable fermentations in the United States and Europe. Enterobacter cloacae and other gas-producing bacteria can cause bloater defect (the gas pockets or hollow cavities formed in fermented cucumbers) which lowers the quality and the yield of fermented cucumbers, thereby resulting in significant economic losses to the pickling industry. Cost-effective strategies to control E. cloacae and other microbiota need to be …

Identification Of Phenotypic Defects In The Zinc Finger Transcription Factor Ztf-29, Trae Dunn

Symposium of Student Scholars

Aging and many aging-associated diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancer are characterized by a progressive decline in physiological functions and a decline in the ability to respond to stress. The underlying causes for many aging-associated diseases are unknown. Identifying genes that control normal aging will advance our understanding of the molecular changes that underlie the aging process and might help treat age-associated diseases. In order to get a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind these diseases, we utilize the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to examine defects in physiology and aging.

The human PRDM genes code …

Temperature Changes Seen In Lower Extremities After Cpn Local Anesthetic Block, Lora Asberry

Symposium of Student Scholars

Many older patients often suffer from walking issues such as Drop Foot. Drop Foot is caused by the malfunction of nerves in the foot, resulting in the loss of control of the front foot muscle. Within all of our patients, there has been a common fibular palsy, caused by the entrapment of the peroneal nerve. Due to this, they cannot lift up their foot. Some cases are permanent, while others are temporary. In the temporary cases, we have indicated a Phoenix Sign. The Phoenix Sign indicates that a nerve, presumed to be dead, has the capability to be recessed back …

Examining Effects Of The Dna Regulator Lrp On Quorum Sensing Gene Expression In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Bradley Lumsden

Symposium of Student Scholars

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen that has the capacity to express multiple virulence factors that are regulated through an extensive quorum sensing network. Three major quorum sensing systems have been identified in Pseudomonas species: the acyl homoserine lactones of las and rhl, and the Pseudomonas Quinolone Signal (PQS). We seek to investigate the involvement of a global regulator, Lrp with the expression of these three networks. Specifically, we will compare expression levels of las, rhl, and pqs in wild type P. aeruginosa (MPAO1) with an lrp transposon insertion mutant using quantitative PCR. Through this comparative …

Fatigue-Induced Sex Differences For Explosive Neuromuscular Characteristics Of The Plantar Flexors, Ben Dalton

Symposium of Student Scholars

Previous research on fatigue using isometric contractions suggests that females are more fatigue resistant than males, but less is clear regarding fatigue induced by dynamic contractions. PURPOSE: To determine sex differences for explosive voluntary neuromuscular characteristics of the plantar flexors (PFs) during a dynamic fatiguing task. METHODS: Recreationally active males (n=14; 22.4±2.2 yrs) and females (n=15; 20.9±2.5 yrs) performed a fatiguing task of the PFs consisting of 60 maximal isotonic contractions at 30% of their maximal isometric strength using a dynamometer. Peak power (PP), optimal velocity (OV), and optimal torque (OT) were calculated from the first five contractions of the …

Chair Rise Kinetics And Correlates Of Performance In Young And Older Males, Tyler Smith

Symposium of Student Scholars

Purpose: To compare chair rise kinetics in young (YM) and older (OM) males, and determine correlates of chair rise performance. METHODS: YM (n=15, age =20.7±2.2 yrs) and OM (n=15, age=71.6±3.9yrs) performed three trials of a single chair rise as quickly as possible on a force plate and the vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) signal was analyzed. Peak VGRF (PF), as well as peak (100 ms rolling average), early (minimum VGRF to 50% PF), late (50% PF to PF), and overall (minimum VGRF to PF) rate of force development (RFD; Δforce/Δtime) were calculated based on phases of the task. Power and …

Complimenting A Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii Mutation Using Cell Penetrating Peptides, Matthew Mckenzie

Symposium of Student Scholars

Complimenting a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Mutation Using Cell Penetrating Peptides

Matthew McKenzie and Jennifer L. Cooper

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a photosynthetic model organism most notable for its easily manipulatable genetics. C. reinhardtii uses flagella to swim and optimize its growth conditions in the light. We plan to use cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) to compliment C. reinhardtii that is affected with the IFT46 mutation. Cell penetrating peptides are short peptides that can move across a cell membrane. The novel CPP that we are using is called TaT-CaM. It consists of the trans-activator of transcription (TaT) and the calmodulin domain (CaM) that binds …

Impact Of Human Presence And Visual Access On Barking Behavior In Shelter Dogs, Emily W. Dowling, Jessie A. Catchpole, Christina M. Walthers, Madison J. Pattillo

Symposium of Student Scholars

Shelters can be stressful for dogs due to lack of predictability and control, social isolation, and busy environments. Providing dogs with more social opportunities and environmental predictability may improve their welfare. Barking may indicate stress and contribute to noise levels that are harmful to dogs and people. We investigated the impact of human presence and line of sight on barking. We manipulated line of sight by partially removing a crate barrier to allow the dogs visual access to other dogs and a better view of the room. We collected data on barking on 17 focal dogs as well as overall …

Towards The Identification Of The Soil Microbiome Community Associated With Longleaf Pine, Tori Quillen, Brian Sassi, Joshua Inneh, Geoffrey Eger, Sarah Andrews, Lindsey Gard, Sara Grimm, Grace Krueger, Ian Thomasson, Chelsea Nix

Symposium of Student Scholars

This project is part of a larger study looking at the restoration of the Long-leaf Pine ecosystem in certain Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) in Northwest Georgia. As part of this larger study another group of researchers has been looking at changes in the plant community in the same plots used for this soil microbiome research. Our long-term aim is to look for potential associations between the above and below-ground community structures.

Although research has shown that the health and composition of the microbiome surrounding the roots of plants has a significant impact on the ability of plants to fight and …

The Role Of Proneural Transcription Factor Ngn-1/Neurogenin During Caenorhabditis Elegans Embryonic Development, Michaela Diane Crego

Symposium of Student Scholars

Accurate control of neuronal cell identification and movement is crucial to embryonic development. Defects in this process can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders, creating an imperative for further study. The transcription factor neurogenin is required for multiple neurodevelopmental processes during vertebrate embryonic development and mutations in this gene underpin multiple human neurological disorders. Despite this, little is known about how this gene controls nervous system development and function. Neurogenin is deeply conserved across phyla. As such, we can investigate neurogenin function in simple systems such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which has a close ortholog of neurogenin, ngn-1. Previous work in …

Understanding Molecular Mechanisms Controlling Muscle Type Specificity, Geoffrey Andrews

Symposium of Student Scholars

Skeletal muscle is a compound tissue made of individual muscle fibers. To accommodate everyday activities, such as walking, running, jumping, etc., our muscles are composed of several types of fibers, each expressing a unique set of muscle genes. Interestingly, early in development all muscles in the body are made of the same fiber type, but later they acquire different properties. The mechanism of muscle fiber diversity is not clear, although it may be critical in treating muscle-related diseases or enhancing physical performance. The goal of my project is to identify critical genes and possible mechanisms that control the fate of …

Food Deserts: Hungry For Answers, Lawren Cumberbatch

Symposium of Student Scholars

In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 23.5 million people in the United States live in food deserts. As defined by the USDA, a “food desert” is a neighborhood that lacks healthy food sources. This can be measured by distance to a store, number of stores in an area, individual-level resources such as family income or vehicle availability, and neighborhood-level resources such as availability of public transportation. Past research provides evidence that food deserts are especially likely to occur in communities heavily populated by minorities. As a Black Indian pre-med student aiming to join the world …

Determining Malignancy: Can Mammogram Results Help Predict The Diagnosis Of Breast Tumors?, Taylor Behrens

Symposium of Student Scholars

Even with advancements in treatment and preventative care, breast cancer remains an epidemic claiming more than 40,000 American male and female lives each year. The mammogram dataset that I am analyzing was initially complied in the early 1990s by a team from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Past research diagnoses breast cancer from fine-needle aspirates. My research focuses on predicting whether we can determine breast cancer diagnoses without the use of invasive procedures and, in particular, whether we can predict breast cancer based on mammogram data. Do measures of gray-scale texture, radius, concavity, perimeter, compactness, area, and smoothness of …

Eradicating Zebra Mussels: What Works?, Elijah Davies

Symposium of Student Scholars

The invasion of U.S lakes and rivers by the invasive species of zebra mussels called Dreissena polymorpha has caused catastrophic harm to the local ecosystem by reproducing and outcompeting native mussel species as well as harm to pipes leading into water sources by binding to surfaces and reproducing to the point that the mussels clog pipes. In addition, recreation areas must be closed due to the sharp shells making areas unusable. In the past, research has focused on individual molluscicides and their eradication of zebra mussels, as well as their effect on native flora and fauna. My research will contrast …

The Effects Of Provisional Rate On Offspring Growth In European Starlings, Shelby Edge, Sarah Guindre-Parker

Symposium of Student Scholars

Offspring rarely have a linear growth rate and many external factors may be to blame for this. They may be most sensitive to their rearing conditions when they grow most rapidly. Parenting and provisional habits are similarly inconsistent and may depend on various factors including the energetic state of the parent or the food availability in the surrounding environment. Though not previously linked before, the connection between parental provisioning efforts and growth and success rate of the offspring may be immense. This study focused on European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). The hypothesis tested was that rapid offspring growth may be connected …

Conserved Regions Mediate Interactions Between Canonical Nox Domains, Akua Acheampong

Symposium of Student Scholars

NAPDH oxidase (NOXes) are membrane-bound enzymes that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in immune response and signaling. Misregulation of NOXes is implicated in various human pathologies. NOXes contain a catalytic core comprised of a heme-containing transmembrane (TM) domain and a cytoplasmic dehydrogenase (DH) domain that binds FAD and NADPH. Several conserved regions at the interface of the TM and DH domains in eukaryotic NOXes have been suggested to mediate enzyme function and activity. In 2017, researchers successfully purified SpNox, a bona fide NOX homolog from Streptococcus pneumoniae and verified its NOX properties. SpNox’s robust activity in …

Initial Assessment Of Potential Relationships Between Plant Communities And The Soil Microbiome In Closed Forest And Longleaf Pine Restoration Sites., Sean Davis, Ian Kennedy

Symposium of Student Scholars

Longleaf pine is an endangered ecosystem characterized by high levels of biodiversity.

Our study took place in the Sheffield Wildlife Management Area located in the Piedmont ecoregion of Georgia in Paulding County. Fifty plots of 10 x 30 m² were setup on south or north facing slopes, some in covered forest, and some in an area actively being restored for the longleaf pine. All trees above 1.37 m were identified and had their diameter measured, and species diversity, relative density, dominance, and frequency were determined. Herbaceous plant cover percentages were recorded in select plots. Soil samples were also collected …