Life Sciences Commons^™

Neuropeptide Y And Neurovascular Control In Skeletal Muscle And Skin., Gary J Hodges, Dwayne N Jackson, Louis Mattar, John M Johnson, J Kevin Shoemaker

Kinesiology Publications

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a ubiquitous peptide with multiple effects on energy metabolism, reproduction, neurogenesis, and emotion. In addition, NPY is an important sympathetic neurotransmitter involved in neurovascular regulation. Although early studies suggested that the vasoactive effects of NPY were limited to periods of high stress, there is growing evidence for the involvement of NPY on baseline vasomotor tone and sympathetically evoked vasoconstriction in vivo in both skeletal muscle and the cutaneous circulation. In Sprague-Dawley rat skeletal muscle, Y(1)-receptor activation appears to play an important role in the regulation of basal vascular conductance, and this effect is similar in magnitude …

Time's Arrow Flies Like A Bird: Two Paradoxes For Avian Circadian Biology, Vincent M. Cassone, Jiffin K. Paulose, Melissa G. Whitfield-Rucker, Jennifer L. Peters

Biology Faculty Publications

Biological timekeeping in birds is a fundamental feature of avian physiology, behavior and ecology. The physiological basis for avian circadian rhythmicity has pointed to a multi-oscillator system of mutually coupled pacemakers in the pineal gland, eyes and hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). In passerines, the role of the pineal gland and its hormone melatonin is particularly important. More recent molecular biological studies have pointed to a highly conserved mechanism involving rhythmic transcription and translation of "clock genes". However, studies attempting to reconcile the physiological role of pineal melatonin with molecular studies have largely failed. Recent work in our laboratory has suggested …

Mtorc1 Hyperactivity Inhibits Serum Deprivation-Induced Apoptosis Via Increased Hexokinase Ii And Glut1 Expression, Sustained Mcl-1 Expression, And Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3Β Inhibition, Prashanth T. Bhaskar, Veronique Nogueira, Krushna C. Patra, Sang-Min Jeon, Youngkyu Park, R. Brooks Robey, Nissim Hay

Dartmouth Scholarship

The current concept is that Tsc-deficient cells are sensitized to apoptosis due to the inhibition of Akt activity by the negative feedback mechanism induced by the hyperactive mTORC1. Unexpectedly, however, we found that Tsc1/2-deficient cells exhibit increased resistance to serum deprivation-induced apoptosis. mTORC1 hyperactivity contributes to the apoptotic resistance of serum-deprived Tsc1/2-deficient cells in part by increasing the growth factor-independent expression of hexokinase II (HKII) and GLUT1. mTORC1-mediated increase in hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) abundance, which occurs in the absence of serum in normoxic Tsc2-deficient cells, contributes to these changes. Increased HIF1α abundance in these cells is attributed to both …

Characterization Of Two Outer Membrane Proteins, Flgo And Flgp, That Influence Vibrio Cholerae Motility, Raquel M. Martinez, Madushini N. Dharmasena, Thomas J. Kirn, Ronald K. Taylor

Dartmouth Scholarship

Vibrio cholerae is highly motile by the action of a single polar flagellum. The loss of motility reduces the infectivity of V. cholerae, demonstrating that motility is an important virulence factor. FlrC is the sigma-54-dependent positive regulator of flagellar genes. Recently, the genes VC2206 (flgP) and VC2207 (flgO) were identified as being regulated by FlrC via a microarray analysis of an flrC mutant (D. C. Morris, F. Peng, J. R. Barker, and K. E. Klose, J. Bacteriol. 190:231-239, 2008). FlgP is reported to be an outer membrane lipoprotein required for motility that functions as a colonization factor. The study reported …

Manipulating Testosterone To Assess Links Between Behavior, Morphology, And Performance In The Brown Anole Anolis Sagrei, Robert M. Cox, Derek S. Stenquist, Justin P. Henningsen, Ryan Calsbeek

Dartmouth Scholarship

Survival and reproductive success are determined by the complex interplay between behavior, physiology, morphology, and performance. When optimal trait combinations along these various phenotypic axes differ between sexes or across seasons, regulatory mechanisms such as sex steroids can often facilitate sex‐specific and/or seasonal trait expression. In this study, we used surgical castration and replacement of exogenous testosterone in adult male brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) to simultaneously examine the effects of testosterone on a suite of morphological (dewlap area, body size), physiological (immune function), behavioral (dewlap, head bob, and push‐up displays), and performance (stamina, sprint speed, bite force) traits. …

Cd19 Signaling Is Impaired In Murine Peritoneal And Splenic B-1 B Lymphocytes, Trivikram Dasu, Vishal Sindhava, Stephen H. Clarke, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

B-1 cells reside predominantly within the coelomic cavities, tonsils, Peyer's patches, spleen (a minor fraction – ∼5%) and are absent in the lymph nodes. They are the primary sources of natural IgM in the body. B-1 cells express polyreactive B cell receptors (BCRs) that cross react with self-antigens and are thus implicated in auto-immune disorders. Previously, we reported that peritoneal B-1 cells are deficient in CD19-mediated intracellular signals leading to Ca²⁺ mobilization. Here, we find that splenic B-1 cells, like peritoneal B-1 cells, are defective in Ca²⁺ release upon B cell activation by co-cross-linking BCR and CD19. In …

Insulin Stimulates The Phosphorylation Of The Exocyst Protein Sec8 In Adipocytes, Patrick D. Lyons, Grantley R. Peck, Arminja N. Kettenbach, Scott A. Gerber, Liya Roudaia, Gustav E. Lienhard

Dartmouth Scholarship

The signal transduction pathway leading from the insulin receptor to stimulate the fusion of vesicles containing the glucose transporter GLUT4 with the plasma membrane in adipocytes and muscle cells is not completely understood. Current evidence suggests that in addition to the Rab GTPase-activating protein AS160, at least one other substrate of Akt (also called protein kinase B), which is as yet unidentified, is required. Sec8 is a component of the exocyst complex that has been previously implicated in GLUT4 trafficking. In the present study, we report that insulin stimulates the phosphorylation of Sec8 on Ser-32 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. On the …

Rapid Fixation Of Non-Native Alleles Revealed By Genome-Wide Snp Analysis Of Hybrid Tiger Salamanders, Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick, Jarrett R. Johnson, D. Kevin Kump, H. Bradley Shaffer, Jeramiah J. Smith, S. Randal Voss

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Hybrid zones represent valuable opportunities to observe evolution in systems that are unusually dynamic and where the potential for the origin of novelty and rapid adaptation co-occur with the potential for dysfunction. Recently initiated hybrid zones are particularly exciting evolutionary experiments because ongoing natural selection on novel genetic combinations can be studied in ecological time. Moreover, when hybrid zones involve native and introduced species, complex genetic patterns present important challenges for conservation policy. To assess variation of admixture dynamics, we scored a large panel of markers in five wild hybrid populations formed when Barred Tiger Salamanders were introduced into …

Chronic Exposure To Arsenic In The Drinking Water Alters The Expression Of Immune Response Genes In Mouse Lung, Courtney D. Kozul, Thomas H. Hampton, Jennifer C. Davey, Julie A. Gosse, Athena P. Nomikos, Phillip L. Eisenhauer, Daniel J. Weiss, Jessica E. Thorpe, Michael A. Ihnat, Joshua W. Hamilton

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

Chronic exposure to drinking water arsenic is a significant worldwide environmental health concern. Exposure to As is associated with an increased risk of lung disease, which may make it a unique toxicant, because lung toxicity is usually associated with inhalation rather than ingestion.

Objectives:

The goal of this study was to examine mRNA and protein expression changes in the lungs of mice exposed chronically to environmentally relevant concentrations of As in the food or drinking water, specifically examining the hypothesis that As may preferentially affect gene and protein expression related to immune function as part of its mechanism of …

Coupling Between The Voltage-Sensing And Phosphatase Domains Of Ci-Vsp, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea, Francesco Miceli, Maurizio Taglialatela, Francisco Bezanilla

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

The Ciona intestinalis voltage sensor-containing phosphatase (Ci-VSP) shares high homology with the phosphatidylinositol phosphatase enzyme known as PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10). We have taken advantage of the similarity between these proteins to inquire about the coupling between the voltage sensing and the phosphatase domains in Ci-VSP. Recently, it was shown that four basic residues (R11, K13, R14, and R15) in PTEN are critical for its binding onto the membrane, required for its catalytic activity. Ci-VSP has three of the basic residues of PTEN. Here, we show that when R253 and R254 (which are the homologues …

Passive Limb Movement Augments Ventilatory Response To Co2 Via Sciatic Inputs In Anesthetized Rats, Jianguo Zhuang, Fadi Xu, Cancan Zhang, Donald T. Frazier

Physiology Faculty Publications

Passive limb movement (PLM) in humans induces a phasic hyperpnea, but the underlying physiological mechanisms remain unclear. We asked whether PLM in anesthetized rats would produce a similar phasic hyperpnea associated with an augmented ventilatory (V̇_E) response to CO₂ that is dependent on sciatic afferents. The animals underwent 5 min threshold PLM, 3 min hypercapnia (5% CO₂), and their combination (CO₂ exposure at the end of 2^nd min of 5-min PLM) before and after bilateral transection of the sciatic nerves. We found that a threshold PLM evoked a phasic hyperpnea, similar to …

Conservation Of The Glucan Phosphatase Laforin Is Linked To Rates Of Molecular Evolution And The Glucan Metabolism Of The Organism, Matthew S. Gentry, Rachel M. Pace

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Lafora disease (LD) is a fatal autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease. A hallmark of LD is cytoplasmic accumulation of insoluble glucans, called Lafora bodies (LBs). Mutations in the gene encoding the phosphatase laforin account for approximately 50% of LD cases, and this gene is conserved in all vertebrates. We recently demonstrated that laforin is the founding member of a unique class of phosphatases that dephosphorylate glucans.

RESULTS: Herein, we identify laforin orthologs in a protist and two invertebrate genomes, and report that laforin is absent in the vast majority of protozoan genomes and it is lacking in all other invertebrate …

Reactive Oxygen Species Mediate Tnfr1 Increase After Trpv1 Activation In Mouse Drg Neurons, Fei Ma, Liping Zhang, Karin N. Westlund

Physiology Faculty Publications

Background: Transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 1 (TRPV1) is activated by low pH/protons and is well known to be involved in hyperalgesia during inflammation. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), a proinflammatory cytokine, is involved in nociceptive responses causing hyperalgesia through TNF receptor type 1 (TNFR1) activation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is also prominently increased in inflamed tissue. The present study investigated TNFR1 receptors in primary cultured mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons after TRPV1 activation and the involvement of ROS. C57BL/6 mice, both TRPV1 knockout and wild type, were used for immunofluorescent and live cell imaging. The L4 and …

Slides: Delta Overview, Leo Winternitz

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Leo Winternitz, The Nature Conservancy, California Water Program, Sacramento, CA

17 slides

Identifying Sleep Regulatory Genes Using A Drosophila Model Of Insomnia, Laurent Seugnet, Yasuko Suzuki, Matthew S. Thimgan, Jeffrey Donlea, Sarah I. Gimbel, Laura Gottschalk, Stephen P. Duntley, Paul J. Shaw

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Although it is widely accepted that sleep must serve an essential biological function, little is known about molecules that underlie sleep regulation. Given that insomnia is a common sleep disorder that disrupts the ability to initiate and maintain restorative sleep, a better understanding of its molecular underpinning may provide crucial insights into sleep regulatory processes. Thus, we created a line of flies using laboratory selection that share traits with human insomnia. After 60 generations, insomnia-like (ins-l) flies sleep 60 min a day, exhibit difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, and show evidence of daytime cognitive impairment. ins-l flies …

Striatal Neuroinflammation Promotes Parkinsonism In Rats, Dong-Young Choi, Mei Liu, Randy L. Hunter, Wayne A. Cass, Jignesh D. Pandya, Patrick G. Sullivan, Eun-Joo Shin, Hyoung-Chun Kim, Don M. Gash, Guoying Bing

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with unknown cause, but it has been suggested that neuroinflammation may play a role in pathogenesis of the disease. Neuroinflammatory component in process of PD neurodegeneration was proposed by postmortem, epidemiological and animal model studies. However, it remains unclear how neuroinflammatory factors contribute to dopaminergic neuronal death in PD.

FINDINGS: In this study, we analyzed the relationship among inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-derived NO, mitochondrial dysfunction and dopaminergic neurodegeneration to examine the possibility that microglial neuroinflammation may induce dopaminergic neuronal loss in the substantia nigra. Unilateral injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) …

Minimum Criteria For Dna Damage-Induced Phase Advances In Circadian Rhythms, Christian I. Hong, Judit Zámborszky, Attila Csikász-Nagy

Dartmouth Scholarship

Robust oscillatory behaviors are common features of circadian and cell cycle rhythms. These cyclic processes, however, behave distinctively in terms of their periods and phases in response to external influences such as light, temperature, nutrients, etc. Nevertheless, several links have been found between these two oscillators. Cell division cycles gated by the circadian clock have been observed since the late 1950s. On the other hand, ionizing radiation (IR) treatments cause cells to undergo a DNA damage response, which leads to phase shifts (mostly advances) in circadian rhythms. Circadian gating of the cell cycle can be attributed to the cell cycle …

Animal Pleasure And Its Moral Significance, Jonathan Balcombe

Sentience Collection

This paper presents arguments for, and evidence in support of, the important role of pleasure in animals’ lives, and outlines its considerable significance to humankind’s relationship to other animals. In the realms of animal sentience, almost all scholarly discussion revolves around its negative aspects: pain, stress, distress, and suffering. By contrast, the positive aspects of sentience – rewards and pleasures – have been rarely broached by scientists. Yet, evolutionary principles predict that animals, like humans, are motivated to seek rewards, and not merely to avoid pain and suffering. Natural selection favours behaviours that enhance survival and procreation. In the conscious, …

Human Cerebral Neuropathology Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Peter T. Nelson, Charles D. Smith, Erin L. Abner, Frederick A. Schmitt, Stephen W. Scheff, Gregory J. Davis, Jeffrey N. Keller, Gregory A. Jicha, Daron Davis, Wang-Xia Wang, Adria Hartman, Douglas G. Katz, William R. Markesbery

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

The cerebral neuropathology of Type 2 diabetes (CNDM2) has not been positively defined. This review includes a description of CNDM2 research from before the ‘Pubmed Era’. Recent neuroimaging studies have focused on cerebrovascular and white matter pathology. These and prior studies about cerebrovascular histopathology in diabetes are reviewed. Evidence is also described for and against the link between CNDM2 and Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. To study this matter directly, we evaluated data from University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center (UK ADC) patients recruited while non-demented and followed longitudinally. Of patients who had come to autopsy (N = 234), 139 met …

The C. Elegans Snail Homolog Ces-1 Can Activate Gene Expression In Vivo And Share Targets With Bhlh Transcription Factors, John S. Reece-Hoyes, Bart Deplancke, M. Inmaculada Barrasa, Julia Hatzold, Ryan B. Smit, H Efsun Arda, Patricia A. Pope, Jeb Gaudet, Barbara Conradt, Albertga J.M. Walhout

Dartmouth Scholarship

Snail-type transcription factors (TFs) are found in numerous metazoan organisms and function in a plethora of cellular and developmental processes including mesoderm and neuronal development, apoptosis and cancer. So far, Snail-type TFs are exclusively known as transcriptional repressors. They repress gene expression by recruiting transcriptional co-repressors and/or by preventing DNA binding of activators from the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family of TFs to CAGGTG E-box sequences. Here we report that the Caenorhabditis elegans Snail-type TF CES-1 can activate transcription in vivo. Moreover, we provide results that suggest that CES-1 can share its binding site with bHLH TFs, in different tissues, …

Microsaccade Rate Varies With Subjective Visibility During Motion-Induced Blindness, Po-Jang Hsieh, Peter U. Tse

Dartmouth Scholarship

Motion-induced blindness (MIB) occurs when a dot embedded in a motion field subjectively vanishes. Here we report the first psychophysical data concerning effects of microsaccade/eyeblink rate upon perceptual switches during MIB. We find that the rate of microsaccades/eyeblink rises before and after perceptual transitions from not seeing to seeing the dot, and decreases before perceptual transitions from seeing it to not seeing it. In addition, event-related fMRI data reveal that, when a dot subjectively reappears during MIB, the blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal increases in V1v and V2v and decreases in contralateral hMT+. These BOLD signal changes observed upon perceptual …

Characterization Of Conserved Properties Of Hemagglutinin Of H5n1 And Human Influenza Viruses: Possible Consequences For Therapy And Infection Control, Veljko Veljkovic, Nevena Veljkovic, Claude P. Muller, Sybille Müller, Sanja Glisic, Vladimir Perovic, Heinz Köhler

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Epidemics caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) are a continuing threat to human health and to the world's economy. The development of approaches, which help to understand the significance of structural changes resulting from the alarming mutational propensity for human-to-human transmission of HPAIV, is of particularly interest. Here we compare informational and structural properties of the hemagglutinin (HA) of H5N1 virus and human influenza virus subtypes, which are important for the receptor/virus interaction.

RESULTS: Presented results revealed that HA proteins encode highly conserved information that differ between influenza virus subtypes H5N1, H1N1, H3N2, H7N7 and defined an …

N-Acetylcysteine Amide Decreases Oxidative Stress But Not Cell Death Induced By Doxorubicin In H9c2 Cardiomyocytes, Rong Shi, Chuan-Chin Huang, Robert Aronstam, Nuran Ercal, Adam Martin, Yue-Wern Huang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: While doxorubicin (DOX) is widely used in cancer chemotherapy, long-term severe cardiotoxicity limits its use. This is the first report of the chemoprotective efficacy of a relatively new thiol antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine amide (NACA), on DOX-induced cell death in cardiomyocytes. We hypothesized that NACA would protect H9c2 cardiomyocytes from DOX-induced toxicity by reducing oxidative stress. Accordingly, we determined the ability of NACA to mitigate the cytotoxicity of DOX in H9c2 cells and correlated these effects with the production of indicators of oxidative stress.

Results: DOX at 5 μM induced cardiotoxicity while 1) increasing the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), …

Detection Of Cwd Prions In Urine And Saliva Of Deer By Transgenic Mouse Bioassay, Nicholas J. Haley, Davis M. Seelig, Mark D. Zabel, Glenn C. Telling, Edward A. Hoover

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease affecting captive and free-ranging cervids (e.g. deer, elk, and moose). The mechanisms of CWD transmission are poorly understood, though bodily fluids are thought to play an important role. Here we report the presence of infectious prions in the urine and saliva of deer with chronic wasting disease (CWD). Prion infectivity was detected by bioassay of concentrated, dialyzed urine and saliva in transgenic mice expressing the cervid PrP gene (Tg[CerPrP] mice). In addition, PrP(CWD) was detected in pooled and concentrated urine by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA). The concentration of abnormal prion protein …

Efficient Gene Replacements In Toxoplasma Gondii Strains Deficient For Nonhomologous End Joining, Barbara A. Fox, Jessica G. Ristuccia, Jason P. Gigley, David J. Bzik

Dartmouth Scholarship

A high frequency of nonhomologous recombination has hampered gene targeting approaches in the model apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. To address whether the nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) DNA repair pathway could be disrupted in this obligate intracellular parasite, putative KU proteins were identified and a predicted KU80 gene was deleted. The efficiency of gene targeting via double-crossover homologous recombination at several genetic loci was found to be greater than 97% of the total transformants in KU80 knockouts. Gene replacement efficiency was markedly increased (300- to 400-fold) in KU80 knockouts compared to wild-type strains. Target DNA flanks of only approximately 500 bp were …

Accumulation Of Rhodopsin In Late Endosomes Triggers Photoreceptor Cell Degeneration, Yashodhan Chinchore, Amitavo Mitra, Patrick J. Dolph, Norbert Perrimon

Dartmouth Scholarship

Progressive retinal degeneration is the underlying feature of many human retinal dystrophies. Previous work using Drosophila as a model system and analysis of specific mutations in human rhodopsin have uncovered a connection between rhodopsin endocytosis and retinal degeneration. In these mutants, rhodopsin and its regulatory protein arrestin form stable complexes, and endocytosis of these complexes causes photoreceptor cell death. In this study we show that the internalized rhodopsin is not degraded in the lysosome but instead accumulates in the late endosomes. Using mutants that are defective in late endosome to lysosome trafficking, we were able to show that rhodopsin accumulates …

Species Delimitation In Lemurs: Multiple Genetic Loci Reveal Low Levels Of Species Diversity In The Genus Cheirogaleus, Linn F. Groeneveld, David W. Weisrock, Rodin M. Rasoloarison, Anne D. Yoder, Peter M. Kappeler

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Species are viewed as the fundamental unit in most subdisciplines of biology. To conservationists this unit represents the currency for global biodiversity assessments. Even though Madagascar belongs to one of the top eight biodiversity hotspots of the world, the taxonomy of its charismatic lemuriform primates is not stable. Within the last 25 years, the number of described lemur species has more than doubled, with many newly described species identified among the nocturnal and small-bodied cheirogaleids. Here, we characterize the diversity of the dwarf lemurs (genus Cheirogaleus) and assess the status of the seven described species, based on phylogenetic and …

Genic Regions Of A Large Salamander Genome Contain Long Introns And Novel Genes, Jeramiah J. Smith, Srikrishna Putta, Wei Zhu, Gerald M. Pao, Inder M. Verma, Tony Hunter, Susan V. Bryant, David M. Gardiner, Timothy T. Harkins, S. Randal Voss

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The basis of genome size variation remains an outstanding question because DNA sequence data are lacking for organisms with large genomes. Sixteen BAC clones from the Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum: c-value = 32 x 10(9) bp) were isolated and sequenced to characterize the structure of genic regions.

RESULTS: Annotation of genes within BACs showed that axolotl introns are on average 10x longer than orthologous vertebrate introns and they are predicted to contain more functional elements, including miRNAs and snoRNAs. Loci were discovered within BACs for two novel EST transcripts that are differentially expressed during spinal cord regeneration and skin …

Microarray And Cdna Sequence Analysis Of Transcription During Nerve-Dependent Limb Regeneration, James R. Monaghan, Leonard G. Epp, Srikrishna Putta, Robert B. Page, John A. Walker, Chris K. Beachy, Wei Zhu, Gerald M. Pao, Inder M. Verma, Tony Hunter, Susan V. Bryant, David M. Gardiner, Tim T. Harkins, S. Randal Voss

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Microarray analysis and 454 cDNA sequencing were used to investigate a centuries-old problem in regenerative biology: the basis of nerve-dependent limb regeneration in salamanders. Innervated (NR) and denervated (DL) forelimbs of Mexican axolotls were amputated and transcripts were sampled after 0, 5, and 14 days of regeneration.

RESULTS: Considerable similarity was observed between NR and DL transcriptional programs at 5 and 14 days post amputation (dpa). Genes with extracellular functions that are critical to wound healing were upregulated while muscle-specific genes were downregulated. Thus, many processes that are regulated during early limb regeneration do not depend upon nerve-derived factors. …

Mass Stranding Of Marine Birds Caused By A Surfactant-Producing Red Tide., David A. Jessup, Melissa A. Miller, John P. Ryan, Hannah M. Nevins, Heather A. Kerkering, Abdou Mekebri, David B. Crane, Tyler A. Johnson, Raphael M. Kudela

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

In November-December 2007 a widespread seabird mortality event occurred in Monterey Bay, California, USA, coincident with a massive red tide caused by the dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea. Affected birds had a slimy yellow-green material on their feathers, which were saturated with water, and they were severely hypothermic. We determined that foam containing surfactant-like proteins, derived from organic matter of the red tide, coated their feathers and neutralized natural water repellency and insulation. No evidence of exposure to petroleum or other oils or biotoxins were found. This is the first documented case of its kind, but previous similar events may have gone …