Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Biochemistry Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry

The Role Of A Transcription Factor In Regulating Rice Response To Drought Stress, Diana Ha, Liyuan A. Zhang, Jeffery Shen Aug 2011

The Role Of A Transcription Factor In Regulating Rice Response To Drought Stress, Diana Ha, Liyuan A. Zhang, Jeffery Shen

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

The current water shortage is a major concern in regard to our global climate change crisis. A decrease in the availability of water will have direct effects on the development of plants. Some crops, such as Oryza sativa, or commonly known as rice, requires an abundant amount of water for adequate growth. With the water shortage crisis, it will become extremely difficult to harvest such crops to meet the world’s food demand. However, many plants have evolved mechanisms for overcoming and tolerating stresses such as drought. My research focuses on studying the proteins involved with these mechanisms. The WRKY superfamily …


Investigating The Origin Of Coprolites From Three Great Basin Caves, Chelsey Vandrisse, Duane P. Moser, David Rhode Aug 2011

Investigating The Origin Of Coprolites From Three Great Basin Caves, Chelsey Vandrisse, Duane P. Moser, David Rhode

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

The study of coprolites (mummified feces) is a relatively new endeavor, which enables investigations of the health and diet of ancient people and provides some of the oldest evidence to date for the human habitation in North America (2). In this project, 18 coprolites were examined from archeological digs at three Great Basin caves: the Bonneville Estates Rockshelter (UT), Hidden Cave (NV), and Top of the Terrace Rockshelter (UT). The main objectives were: 1) to verify human origin through the presence of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and 2) assuming human origin, characterize intestinal microflora of Native Americans prior to European contact. …


Isolation, Characterization, And Genome Sequence Of The First Representative Of A Novel Class Within The Chloroflexi That Is Abundant In Some U.S. Great Basin Hot Springs And May Play Important Roles In N And C Cycling, Jeremy A. Dodsworth, Senthil K. Murugapiran, Jonathan Gevorkian, James Han, Tanja Woyke, Susan M. Lucas, Sam Pitluck, Len Pennacchio, Lynne Goodwin, Brian P. Hedlund Aug 2011

Isolation, Characterization, And Genome Sequence Of The First Representative Of A Novel Class Within The Chloroflexi That Is Abundant In Some U.S. Great Basin Hot Springs And May Play Important Roles In N And C Cycling, Jeremy A. Dodsworth, Senthil K. Murugapiran, Jonathan Gevorkian, James Han, Tanja Woyke, Susan M. Lucas, Sam Pitluck, Len Pennacchio, Lynne Goodwin, Brian P. Hedlund

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

A thermophilic, facultatively microaerophilic, heterotrophic bacterium, designated strain JAD2, was isolated from sediments of Great Boiling Spring (GBS), an ~80oC, circumneutral hot spring in the Great Basin GB). The strain grew anaerobically on yeast extract or peptone with an optimal growth temperature of 70-75oC. Growth was stimulated by addition of 0.01 atm O2 to the culture vessel headspace, but was inhibited by higher concentrations (0.2 atm). Cells of JAD2 formed non-motile filaments ranging from 10 to >300 μm in length, which typically decreased in length during stationary phase. 16S rRNA gene-targeted pyrotag sequencing and clone library data suggest that close …


Dna Secondary Structures And Their Contribution To Mutagenesis In B. Subtilis Stationary Phase Cells, Carmen Vallin, Holly Martin, Christian Ross, Ronald Yasbin, Eduardo Robleto Aug 2011

Dna Secondary Structures And Their Contribution To Mutagenesis In B. Subtilis Stationary Phase Cells, Carmen Vallin, Holly Martin, Christian Ross, Ronald Yasbin, Eduardo Robleto

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

It is widely known and accepted that the cause of many mutations in cells are generated during the replication process of actively dividing cells, however more recent research has shown that mutations also arise in non growing conditions, a phenomenon known as stationary phase mutagenesis. Much of what is known come from studies in eukaryotic and bacterial models. It has been proposed that in non~growing cells, the process of transcription plays an important role in mutagenesis. We test the hypothesis that DNA secondary structures, formed during transcription, promote mutagenesis. The transcription-generated structures are speculated to be prone to mutations by …


Inactivation Of Spo0a Gene Increases Stationary Phase Mutagenesis In Bacillus Subtilis, Denisse Reyes, Amanda Prisbrey, Holly Martin, Eduardo Robleto Aug 2011

Inactivation Of Spo0a Gene Increases Stationary Phase Mutagenesis In Bacillus Subtilis, Denisse Reyes, Amanda Prisbrey, Holly Martin, Eduardo Robleto

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Stationary phase mutagenesis occurs when a population of cells acquires mutations conferring escape from nongrowing or stress conditions. This type of mutations is observed in nutritionally starved cells. Because the mutations occur after the onset of stress and in cells that are in non-replicative conditions, elucidating the underlying mechanisms contributes novel views to the process of evolution and apply to the formation of cancer in human cells and antibiotic resistance in microbial pathogens. Studies have shown that in Bacillus subtilis, the Mfd protein which is a transcription repair coupling factor is necessary for this phenomenon to occur. Here, we investigate …