Agriculture Commons^™

Identification And Characterization Of Cysteine Protease Genes In Tobacco For Use In Recombinant Protein Production, Kishor Duwadi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Plants are an attractive host system for pharmaceutical protein production. Many therapeutic proteins have been produced and scaled up in plants at a low cost compared to the conventional microbial and animal based systems. The main technical challenge during this process is to produce sufficient level of proteins in plants. Low yield is generally caused by proteolytic degradation during expression and downstream processing of recombinant proteins. The yield of a human therapeutic protein interleukin (IL) -10 produced in transgenic tobacco leaves was found to be below the critical level, and is potentially due to degradation by tobacco cysteine proteases (CysPs). …

Two Spotted Spider Mite (Tetranychus Urticae) Selection To Arabidopsis Thaliana, Huzefa Ratlamwala

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Spider mite feeding on A. thaliana induces the production of indole glucosinolates (IGs), plant secondary metabolites that negatively affect mite performance. In this study I conducted selection experiments on A. thaliana with varying levels of IGs, to determine if mites could adapt to IGs and other defense compounds. After 12 months, mites reared on host with IGs performed significantly better on A. thaliana than mites maintained on beans. However, an adaptation cost was detected between selected mite lines and their ancestral host. The qRT-PCR data on different mite lines revealed that the detoxification genes previously identified may only be involved …

Phylogeny And Population Genetics Of The Endangered Dwarf Bear-Poppy, Arctomecon Humilis Coville (Papaveraceae) Using Microsatellite Markers, Joshua Simpson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The genus Arctomecon (Papaveraceae) is comprised of three narrowly endemic rare species that are largely restricted to gypsum soils of the eastern Mojave Desert. The small, remaining populations of these species have become increasingly isolated by urban development and habitat fragmentation. Arctomecon humilis is federally listed as endangered due to its limited distribution within a ~15 km radius of an actively expanding city. Organizations involved with land management and conservation have called for greater insight into the genetic variation and population structure of the remaining subpopulations as they make important decisions regarding where to focus their efforts and resources.

The …

Soil Microbial Community Distributions And Disease Suppressiveness In The Coastal Plain Of Georgia, Michael J. Sabula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the soil microbial communities of three vegetation types in the coastal plain of Georgia: 1. crop land actively in use for agricultural production, 2. transitional grassland in early stages of secondary succession, and 3. pristine unmanaged forest land. Microbial species diversity and quantities of microbial DNA were determined from each of these vegetation types at three separate locations near Statesboro, Georgia. Length heterogeneity PCR(LH-PCR) methods and subsequent analysis of fungal, bacterial, and metazoan communities by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) revealed high within-group similarity by vegetation type, indicating land management intensity and vegetation cover is a strong determining …

Fusarium Head Blight Resistance And Agronomic Performance In Soft Red Winter Wheat Populations, Daniela Sarti Dvorjak

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe [telomorph: Gibberella zeae Schwein.(Petch)], is recognized as one of the most destructive diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. and T. durum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) worldwide. Breeding for FHB resistance must be accompanied by selection for desirable agronomic traits. Donor parents with two FHB resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL) Fhb1 (chromosome 3BS) and QFhs.nau-2DL (chromosome 2DL) were crossed to four adapted SRW wheat lines to generate backcross and forward cross progeny. F₂ individuals were genotyped and assigned to 4 different groups according to presence/ absence of …