Biology Commons^™

Characterizing The Gene Regulatory Network Required To Specify The Excitatory Neurotransmitter Phenotype Of V0v Spinal Interneurons, Amber Kellie Woodard

Theses - ALL

The majority of neurons within the spinal cord are interneurons. Interneurons make important connections with other cells that allow signals to be relayed between the brain and the rest of the body, and aid in functions such as locomotion. One key functional characteristic of interneurons is the neurotransmitter that they use to communicate with other cells. Interneurons that use GABA or glycine neurotransmitters to communicate have an inhibitory phenotype, while interneurons that use glutamate neurotransmitters have an excitatory neurotransmitter phenotype. Without the correct neurotransmitter phenotype, connections within the central nervous system will malfunction. It is therefore important to understand how …

Mitochondrial Distribution Of Glycine Receptors In Motor Neuron Cell Lines, Katsiaryna Milashevich

Student Theses and Dissertations

Although non-essential, glycine plays an important role in major metabolic reactions and is most known for its anti-inflammatory effects. An accumulation of contemporary research has shown that glycine is able to stabilize membrane potential using glycine receptors at the cellular level and to protect mitochondrial function directly, whether it is from inflammation, heavy metal poisoning, or ischemia-induced neuroinflammation. In this research, the existence of a hypothetical mitochondrial glycine receptor is examined. Immunofluorescence imaging was used to examine the presence of the glycine receptor subunits alpha 1 and alpha 2 in both non- differentiated and differentiated neuroblastoma cell lines. The preliminary …

Temperature-Dependent Macrophage Activity In Rainbow Trout, Danica Mcgrevey

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fever is an essential component of the immune response. Fever enhances immune responses as well as creates an environment in which the body has advantages over pathogens. Macrophages are often the first cells that come in contact with pathogens, as they reside in tissues. They are important for their engulfment of pathogens that results in the digestion of the pathogen, but they also produce nitric oxide and cytokines that contribute to immune response in a variety of ways, including initiating adaptive immunity and directing the production and activity of other immune cells. We were curious about macrophages from other temperature …

Perivascular Adipose Tissue In Relation To Diet, Thermogenesis And Cardiovascular Health, Ginger Paquette, Caitlin Stieber, Ashely Soucy, Benjamin Tero, Lucy Liaw

Thinking Matters Symposium

Adipose tissue is a diverse and crucial component to vascular health due to its role in energy storage and heat production. The primary function of white adipose tissue (WAT) is energy storage while the function of mitochondria-rich brown adipose tissue (BAT) is heat production. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), which surrounds blood vessels, contains both WAT and BAT adipocytes. Dietary calorie restriction is associated with increased lifespan with decreased adiposity. Increased prevalence of WAT-like PVAT, due to high-fat diets and obesity, leads to increased metabolic disfunction and cardiovascular-disease. We used a calorie-restriction model in C57BL6/J mice to test the hypothesis that …

A Novel Application Of Galleria Mellonella Larvae To Study Pathogenesis Of Rickettsia Rickettsii Infection, Jacob M. Jones

Honors College Theses

Rickettsia are obligate intracellular tick-borne bacteria that cause acute undifferentiated febrile illness accompanied by headache, malaise, myalgias, and disseminated endothelial infection. Immune responses to Rickettsia and pathogenesis of rickettsioses are not fully understood. Current work with Rickettsia is limited to vertebrate models that are strictly regulated and have low throughput. Since the innate immune system of vertebrates retains striking similarities with the immune response in insects, invertebrates are being used to study host responses to various pathogens. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if larvae of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella (GML) can be used as an …

How Gata3 Affects Neuronal Survival In The Inner Ear, Hiba Ahmad

Honors Theses

Broadly speaking, Gata3 is a transcription factor involved in neurosensory specification and hair cell differentiation. Previous studies have shown that Gata3 null mutants do not develop neurons, so Gata3 appears to be necessary for neuronal survival. To better understand the role of Gata3 in spiral ganglion neurons of the inner ear, a Neurod1-cre model was used to conditionally knock out Gata3 at E9-E9.5, the timepoint when neuroblasts first begin to delaminate from the otic placode. The mutants used in this study were Nd1-cre: Gata3 f/f mutants. In situ was performed to determine gene expression within the cochlea, and immunohistochemistry was …

The Interconnectivity Of Parkinson's Disease And Type Two Diabetes Mellitus, Erica Olfson

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis is about the biochemical connection between Parkinson's disease and Type II Diabetes Mellitus.

The Giant Axolotl Genome Uncovers The Evolution, Scaling, And Transcriptional Control Of Complex Gene Loci, Siegfried Schloissnig, Akane Kawaguchi, Sergej Nowoshilow, Francisco Falcon, Leo Otsuki, Pietro Tardivo, Nataliya Timoshevskaya, Melissa C. Keinath, Jeramiah J. Smith, S. Randal Voss, Elly M. Tanaka

Biology Faculty Publications

Vertebrates harbor recognizably orthologous gene complements but vary 100-fold in genome size. How chromosomal organization scales with genome expansion is unclear, and how acute changes in gene regulation, as during axolotl limb regeneration, occur in the context of a vast genome has remained a riddle. Here, we describe the chromosome-scale assembly of the giant, 32 Gb axolotl genome. Hi-C contact data revealed the scaling properties of interphase and mitotic chromosome organization. Analysis of the assembly yielded understanding of the evolution of large, syntenic multigene clusters, including the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) and the functional regulatory landscape of the Fibroblast Growth …

The Effect Of Alcalase Concentration On The Proteins From The Shells Of Litopenaeus Setiferus (White Shrimp), Liam T. Quan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Chitin is a naturally abundant polymer that also happens to be biodegradable. Chitin can be used in a variety of different products such as biodegradable plastics, papers, medical products, foods, and medical treatments. To extract chitin, shells must be demineralized and deproteinized. The goal of this experiment was to examine the effect of the protease Alcalase in the deproteinization of litopenaeus setiferus shells. The hypothesis was that if the concentration of Alcalase increased, then the absorbance of proteins in the spectrophotometer reading would increase. The null hypothesis was that if the concentration increased there would be no change in absorption. …

Assessing Intervals Of Epigallocatechin Gallate (Egcg) And Cannabidiol (Cbd) On Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Cell Reproduction As A Possible Application On Cancer Cell Proliferation, Spandana Anchoori

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Improved De Novo Alignment Of A Girardia Dorotocephala Ma-C2 (2n = 24) Transcriptome, Labib Rouhana, J F. Ryan, Eugene M. P. Almazan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Improved De novo alignment of a Girardia dorotocephala MA-C2 (2n = 24) transcriptome.

Crippling Rapid Evolution Of Metastasis And Drug Resistance In A549 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells With The Clinically Relevant Hsp90 Inhibitor Auy922, Nickolas Anthony Bacon

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The ability for species to evolve new features in response to changing circumstances in order to survive and propagate is a ubiquitous observation on both the macroscopic and microscopic levels of living systems. It should be no surprise, then, that diseases such as cancer utilize their own forms of adaptation to perpetuate themselves when exposed to external threats. Indeed, concepts drawn from Darwinian evolution are now widely accepted to help explain certain aspects of carcinogenesis and malignant progression, the sum of which have come to be known as the theory of tumor evolution. Since metastasis and drug resistance are features …

Incorporation Of Feeding Functional Group Information Informs Explanatory Patterns Of Long-Term Population Changes In Fish Assemblages, Jason C. Doll, Stephen J. Jacquemin

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to evaluate long term trends of fish taxa in southern Lake Michigan while incorporating their functional roles to improve our understanding of ecosystem level changes that have occurred in the system over time. The approach used here highlighted the ease of incorporating ecological mechanisms into population models so researchers can take full advantage of available long-term ecosystem information. Long term studies of fish assemblages can be used to inform changes in community structure resulting from perturbations to aquatic systems and understanding these changes in fish assemblages can be better contextualized by grouping species according …

Vertebrate Subfossil Localities In Taylorsville Metropark, Montgomery County, Ohio, Usa, Ryan Shell, Kristin Zimmerman, David Peterman, Charles Ciampaglio, Lauren Fuelling, Stephen J. Jacquemin

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Karst features in the Silurian dolomites of Taylorsville MetroPark (Dayton Metropolitan Area, Ohio, United States) were explored from 2017 to 2018 to identify sites of paleontological interest. Initial landscape surveys recovered 124 skeletal elements (from 12 sites) that were attributed to 17 vertebrate species--including evidence of such extirpated animals as bobcats (Lynx rufus) and rattlesnakes (Crotalus sp.). Of the 12 sites, 9 sites contained remains from the historical era and 3 sites contained much older remains (n = 17) that were radiocarbon dated to approximately 1,400 years before present (YBP). Human remains at one site, butchered bones at another, and …

Evaluating Winter Malting Barley Grain Yield With Fractional Green Canopy Cover, Gregory J. Mcglinch, Stephen J. Jacquemin, Laura E. Lindsey

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Because of growth in the craft brewing industry, farmers in the eastern United States are planting winter malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to meet demands for locally sourced grain. However, given that barley is a relatively new crop in this region, basic agronomic information relating to stand assessment is needed. This is particularly relevant in this region, as climatic variability from extreme temperature fluctuations during the winter and spring can reduce a barley stand, creating the need for farmers to estimate grain yield potential. The objective of the research was to evaluate the relationship between spring stem counts, fractional …

Importance Of Fossil And Archaeological Occurrence Data For Understanding The Evolution And Distribution Of The Freshwater Drum (A. Grunniens)., Stephen J. Jacquemin, Lauren J. Fuelling, G. Stringer, A. Smith, Charles N. Ciampaglio

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Importance And Challenges Of Monitoring Harmful Algal Blooms In Grand Lake St Marys, Stephen J. Jacquemin, M. Morden, C. Ewing, J. C. Doll

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Role Of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2 Pathway Due To Preeclampsia: A Review, Firdous Ali

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication that is characterized mainly by hypertension in the mother. The exact pathogenesis of preeclampsia is unknown, although the disease is attributed to a number of factors such as angiogenic factor levels and endothelial dysfunction. Presently, the control program for the disease involves the delivery of the fetus and the placenta. There is a need to develop novel therapies that would control preeclampsia from the moment it is diagnosed to minimize the effects on the mother and child. VEGF is a protein involved in the pathogenesis of the condition. The defect in one of its receptors, …

Modulation Of Pharyngeal Health In Bacterial Diet-Dependent Survival, Deniz Sifoglu

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

MODULATION OF PHARYNGEAL HEALTH IN BACTERIAL DIET-DEPENDENT SURVIVAL

by

DENIZ SIFOGLU

August 2021

Advisor: Dr. Joy Alcedo Major: Biological Sciences Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Both diet and bacterial microbiome modulate insulin signaling, which regulates key physiological processes that are important for survival. However, the mechanisms through which diet and the microbiome modulate insulin signaling remain unclear. To understand these mechanisms, I turned to the nematode worm C. elegans, whose diet consists of different types of bacteria. Like humans and other animals, C. elegans has to modulate its responses to its diet and to bacteria to optimize its survival. Because …

Hypochlorite-Mediated Oxidation Of Dopamine: Implications In Parkinson’S Disease And Manganism, Praneet Kaur Marwah

Wayne State University Dissertations

Both Parkinson’s disease and manganism (a condition caused by chronic exposure to excessive levels of manganese) affect the extrapyramidal system of the brain, disrupt dopaminergic signaling and cause similar motor symptoms. While there is no physiological explanation for the susceptibility of dopamine-rich regions of the brain in both disorders, dopamine itself is a likely candidate. Dopamine can undergo both enzymatic and spontaneous oxidation, and the principal product of dopamine oxidation in vivo is cysteinyl dopamine. We demonstrate here that hypochlorous acid, which is produced in the brain by the enzyme myeloperoxidase, converts cysteinyl dopamine into a neurotoxic dihydrobenzothiazine, DHBT-1, that …

Impact Of Endangered Animal Protection Rights, Policies, And Practices On Zoonotic Disease Spread, Daniella Fedak-Lengel

Honors Projects

Building on field research in Costa Rica and Belize, this honors project analyzes environmental and endangered animal protection policies, rights, and practices in Central America and the Caribbean, and assesses the impact of veterinary science and biological research and practice, particularly conservation biology, on animal welfare concerns. Informed by the recent surge in awareness regarding zoonoses and zoonotic disease transmission, prevention and control, resulting from the current global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the project assesses the need for new and innovative types of collaboration, particularly involving conservation biologists, environmental scientists, public health experts, law and policy makers, and global trade and …

Dna Aptamer-Drug Targeting Chemotherapy: Investigation Of Cell Cycle Inhibition Via S15 Aptamer – Norcantharidin Complex, Shannon Fehr

Senior Honors Theses

Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death in both men and women in the United States (Bray et al., 2018). Cancer treatments are often non-specific and kill many dividing cells within a patient causing unwanted side effects. Norcantharidin (NCTD) is a synthetic FDA approved treatment for cancers including non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). NCTD suppresses cell proliferation by inhibiting cells from exiting the G2 phase of the cell cycle. Aptamers are short single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules with ligand directed self-annealing capabilities allowing selective binding to specific targets. This paper will discuss the hypothesized effects of using …

A Summary Of Current Research Into Neurodegenerative Disorders Using Drosophila Melanogaster, Chase Cortese

Honors Theses

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease are characterized by damage to neural cells causing widespread neurological deficits. Historically, these diseases were deemed as inevitable declines in cognitive and neurological function that occurred with aging. Recent research has revealed, however, that these diseases have molecular bases allowing potential clinical intervention. The groundbreaking discoveries have been made using differing model organisms, which can replicate the phenotype and physiological cause of these disorders. One major model organism that has been used is the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. They have served various roles in elucidating gene pathways and neurophysiological bases seen in these diseases. …

Minimal Structural Elements Required For Midline Repulsive Signaling And Regulation Of Drosophila Robo1, Haley E. Brown, Timonthy A. Evans

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Roundabout (Robo) family of axon guidance receptors has a conserved ectodomain arrangement of five immunoglobulin-like (Ig) domains plus three fibronectin type III (Fn) repeats. Based on the strong evolutionary conservation of this domain structure among Robo receptors, as well as in vitro structural and domain-domain interaction studies of Robo family members, this ectodomain arrangement is predicted to be important for Robo receptor signaling in response to Slit ligands. Here, we define the minimal ectodomain structure required for Slit binding and midline repulsive signaling in vivo by Drosophila Robo1. We find that the majority of the Robo1 ectodomain is dispensable …

From The Dinner Pot To Smoking Pot; How A Better Understanding Of Cannabidiol In Crayfish Could Alleviate Anxiety And Modulate Hunger, Christopher Michael Timmer

Masters Theses

Anxiety affects approximately 1/3 of the US population and presents in many different forms, ranging from social to panic disorders. It also presents with high comorbidity for other mental disorders. One treatment is Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) which allow for increased activation of serotonin (5-HT) receptors. SSRIs come with an extensive list of side effects, which can fail to maintain quality of life. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a cannabis derived compound which has been shown to decrease anxiety by activation of multiple subtype 5-HT amine receptors. CBD has few side effects, is not psychoactive, and exhibits anti-psychotic properties. The current …

Bdnf-Related Gene Expression Of Laser Capture Microdissected Glutamate Neurons From The Anterior Cingulate Cortex In Mouse Models Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Misty Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting social behaviors. ASD affects 1 in 59 children with males affected more frequently. ASD is postulated to result from excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission imbalances. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling affects ASD by influencing synaptogenesis, plasticity, and survival. Studying early in-utero neuropathological changes within ASD requires the use of animal models. Expression of BDNF-associated genes were analyzed within laser capture microdissected pyramidal neurons from the anterior cingulate cortex of male and female BTBR and valproic acid mouse models. No expression differences were found in any gene comparing the three groups. Gender comparisons …

Determining The Genetic Control Of Neural Tube Malformation Through Genetic Interactions With Idgf3, Elli N. Fox

Honors Projects

Genetic mutations disrupting human neural tube formation can lead to birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. Defects can result in lack of neural tube closure in either the caudal (spina bifida) or cranial (anencephaly) regions. Little is known about the genes that cause these malformations. Researchers have been using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster in an attempt to determine genes responsible for neural tube malformations. Recently, an ortholog of human chitin-like protein, imaginal disc growth factor 3 (Idgf3), has been identified as important in the proper formation of Drosophila egg dorsal appendages. However, the molecular mechanism responsible for …

Table Of Contents

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Identifying Determinants Of Target Specificity In Two Related Bacterial Peptide Toxins, Andrew D. Holmes

Honors Thesis

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems were originally identified as two-component systems ensuring the stable inheritance of plasmids in bacterial populations. Recently, they have been identified on bacterial chromosomes where their functions remain mostly undefined. The par locus of E. faecalis plasmid pAD1 (par_pAD1) was the first TA system defined in a Gram-positive bacterium and a homolog encoded on the E. faecalis chromosome (par_EF0409) was later described. Related loci numbering in the hundreds have been identified throughout Gram-positive bacteria based on homology to the toxin of the system, Fst, and similarities in genetic organization and regulation. Despite …

Investigating The Interactions Between Individual Calmodulin And Hiv-1 Protein Domains, Riley K. Kendall, Jerry Larue

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The World Health Organization found that 37.9 million people were living with HIV by the end of 2018. HIV is a virus that weakens the immune system through viral replication and the destruction of CD4⁺ T-cells, which are white blood cells that detect infection and make antibodies. A cure for HIV has not yet been discovered. HIV-1 contains a Gag polyprotein which regulates the stages of viral replication. Previous studies suggest that the myristoyl group of a matrix protein peptide found on the Gag polyprotein, MA, forms a complex with a calcium-binding, multifunctional regulatory protein called Calmodulin (CaM). CaM …