Biology Commons^™

Presynaptic Depression In Phasic Motor Nerve Terminals And Influence Of 5-Ht On Vesicle Dynamics, A. F. M. Johnstone, S. S. Kellie, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

Synaptic depression that is induced by electrical stimulation of the glutamatergic neuromuscular junction (NMJ) of the crayfish can be offset by recruitment of vesicles from a presynaptic reserve pool. This recruitment occurs following treatment of the NMJ with serotonin (5-HT), which results in a delay in the onset of synaptic depression induced by high frequency stimulation. The results of this study demonstrate that the releasable vesicles are insufficiently replenished during high frequency stimulation and that the readily releasable pool of vesicles (RRP) can be enhanced by the reserve pool (RP) in the presence of 5-HT. Anatomical visualization of vesicular pools …

Functional Characterization Of Upd3 In Drosophila Development, Liqun Wang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The JAK/STAT pathway is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathway that is well conserved and highly re-utilized in many mammalian and Drosophila developmental processes. Compared to dozens of ligands and receptors in mammalian JAK/STAT, Drosophila JAK/STAT pathway is simpler with one receptor and three ligands, Upd, Upd2 and Upd3, which have similar amino acid sequences. Previous literature shows that upd and upd2 exhibit the same dynamic striped expression pattern in embryos and have semi-redundant functions during embryogenesis. Do Upd and Upd3 also have redundant functions? To answer this question, the functions of Upd3 in Drosophila development were investigated in this …

Comparative Biology Of Seed Dormancy-Break And Germination In Convolvulaceae (Asterids, Solanales), Kariyawasam Marthinna Gamage Gehan Jayasuriya

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The biology of seed dormancy and germination of 46 species representing 11 of the 12 tribes in Convolvulaceae were compared in laboratory (mostly), field and greenhouse experiments. Seeds were tested for kind of dormancy and storage behavior; artificial or simulated natural treatments were applied to break physical dormancy (PY); the initial route of water entry (“water gap”) into seeds was identified; the morphoanatomy of the water gap was compared in seeds of 17 species; ontogenetical differences between water gap and seed coat away from the hilum were described in Ipomoea lacunosa seeds; cycling of sensitivity to dormancy break was elucidated …

The Influence Of Ca2+ Regulation In Synaptic Facilitation Of Motor Nerve Terminals In Crayfish And Drosophila As Well As In The Physiological Regulation Of Larval Drosophila Heart, Mohati Desai-Shah

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Intracellular Ca²⁺ ions are highly regulated in animal cells for them to function normally. Since the tight regulation of [Ca²⁺]i is so ubiquitous among cells, it is not surprising that altered function in [Ca²⁺]i regulation is associated with a myriad of disease states in humans. This is particularly evident in pacing myocytes and nerve terminals related to synaptic transmission. A common thread through this dissertation is on the role of three regulators proteins that are common to many cell types. These are the plasmalemmal Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger (NCX), the Ca²⁺-ATPase (PMCA) …

Towards Cloning The Clk-3 Gene In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Suchita Umesh Desai

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Mutations in the clk-1, clk-2, clk-3 and gro-1 genes in Caenorhabditis elegans show alterations in developmental and behavioral timing and lifespan, collectively termed the Clk phenotype. While the clk-1, clk-2, and gro-1 genes have been cloned, clk-3 gene has not been identified. Gene expression changes in clk-3 mutant worms were determined using microarray expression data. I examined genes in the region to which clk-3 gene maps, for strongly reduced expression in the clk-3 mutants and identified thirteen clk-3 candidate genes. RNAi feeding vectors for all these candidate genes were picked and cultured from the RNAi library. …

A Non-Circadian Role For Clock-Genes In Sleep Homeostasis: A Strain Comparison, Paul Franken, Ryan Thomason, H. Craig Heller, Bruce F. O'Hara

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: We have previously reported that the expression of circadian clock-genes increases in the cerebral cortex after sleep deprivation (SD) and that the sleep rebound following SD is attenuated in mice deficient for one or more clock-genes. We hypothesized that besides generating circadian rhythms, clock-genes also play a role in the homeostatic regulation of sleep. Here we follow the time course of the forebrain changes in the expression of the clock-genes period (per)-1, per2, and of the clock-controlled gene albumin D-binding protein (dbp) during a 6 h SD and subsequent recovery sleep in three inbred strains of mice for which …

Mutants And Assay System To Identify Usp/Rxr Ligands, Grace Jones, Davy Jones

Biology Faculty Patents

The invention relates to mutant nuclear hormone receptors that encode mutant nuclear hormone receptors, in which particular amino acid residues are substituted with respect to wild type, so as to be able to detect ligand binding to the mutant receptor by either a change in a physical property of the mutant receptor and/or an transcriptional induction of a nuclear hormone receptor construct. The invention also relates to a nuclear hormone receptor response element denoted by the formula YDRXZ comprising a direct repeat (DR) comprising two half sites separated by X nucleic acid bases; wherein Z indicates the presence of at …

Ambystoma: Perspectives On Adaptation And The Evolution Of Vertebrate Genomes, Jeramiah James Smith

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Tiger salamanders, and especially the Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), are important model organisms in biological research. This dissertation describes new genomic resources and scientific results that greatly extend the utility of tiger salamanders. With respect to new resources, this dissertation describes the development of expressed sequence tags and assembled contigs, a comparative genome map, a web-portal that makes genomic information freely available to the scientific community, and a computer program that compares structure features of organism genomes. With respect to new scientific results, this dissertation describes a quantitative trait locus that is associated with ecologically and evolutionarily relevant …

Recent Advances In Basic Neurosciences And Brain Disease: From Synapses To Behavior, Guo-Qiang Bi, Vadim Bolshakov, Guojun Bu, Catherine M. Cahill, Zhou-Feng Chen, Graham L. Collingridge, Robin L. Cooper, Jens R. Coorssen, Alaa El-Husseini, Vasco Galhardo, Wen-Biao Gan, Jianguo Gu, Kazuhide Inoue, John Isaac, Koichi Iwata, Zhengping Jia, Bong-Kiun Kaang, Mikito Kawamata, Satoshi Kida, Eric Klann, Tatsuro Kohno, Min Li, Xiao-Jiang Li, John F. Macdonald, Karim Nader, Peter V. Nguyen, Uhtaek Oh, Ke Ren, John C. Roder, Michael W. Salter, Weihong Song, Shuzo Sugita, Shao-Jun Tang, Yuanxiang Tao, Yu Tian Wang, Newton Woo, Melanie A. Woodin, Zhen Yan, Megumu Yoshimura, Ming Xu, Zao C. Xu, Xia Zhang, Mei Zhen, Min Zhuo

Biology Faculty Publications

Understanding basic neuronal mechanisms hold the hope for future treatment of brain disease. The 1st international conference on synapse, memory, drug addiction and pain was held in beautiful downtown Toronto, Canada on August 21-23, 2006. Unlike other traditional conferences, this new meeting focused on three major aims: (1) to promote new and cutting edge research in neuroscience; (2) to encourage international information exchange and scientific collaborations; and (3) to provide a platform for active scientists to discuss new findings. Up to 64 investigators presented their recent discoveries, from basic synaptic mechanisms to genes related to human brain disease. This meeting …

Sal-Site: Integrating New And Existing Ambystomatid Salamander Research And Informational Resources, Jeramiah J. Smith, Srikrishna Putta, John A. Walker, D. Kevin Kump, Amy K. Samuels, James R. Monaghan, David W. Weisrock, Chuck Staben, S. Randal Voss

Biology Faculty Publications

Salamanders of the genus Ambystoma are a unique model organism system because they enable natural history and biomedical research in the laboratory or field. We developed Sal-Site to integrate new and existing ambystomatid salamander research resources in support of this model system. Sal-Site hosts six important resources: 1) Salamander Genome Project: an information-based web-site describing progress in genome resource development, 2) Ambystoma EST Database: a database of manually edited and analyzed contigs assembled from ESTs that were collected from A. tigrinum tigrinum and A. mexicanum, 3) Ambystoma Gene Collection: a database containing full-length protein-coding sequences, 4) Ambystoma Map and Marker …

Monitoring Heart Rate In Drosophila Larvae By Various Approaches, Sameera Dasari, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Monitoring Carbon Dioxide Production By Drosophila Larvae, Robin L. Cooper, D. Nicholas Mcletchie

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Monitoring Activity Of Drosophila Larvae: Impedance & Video Microscopy Measures, Ann Simone Cooper, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Two Drosophila Suppressors Of Cytokine Signaling (Socs) Differentially Regulate Jak And Egfr Pathway Activities, Jason S. Rawlings, Gabriela Rennebeck, Susan M.W. Harrison, Rongwen Xi, Douglas A. Harrison

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The Janus kinase (JAK) cascade is an essential and well-conserved pathway required to transduce signals for a variety of ligands in both vertebrates and invertebrates. While activation of the pathway is essential to many processes, mutations from mammals and Drosophila demonstrate that regulation is also critical. The SOCS (Suppressor Of Cytokine Signaling) proteins in mammals are regulators of the JAK pathway that participate in a negative feedback loop, as they are transcriptionally activated by JAK signaling. Examination of one Drosophila SOCS homologue, Socs36E, demonstrated that its expression is responsive to JAK pathway activity and it is capable of downregulating …

Growth Of Stygobitic (Orconectes Australis Packardi) And Epigean (Orconectes Cristavarius) Crayfishes Maintained In Laboratory Conditions, Ann-Simone Cooper, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

This study reports on maintenance and growth of the cave crayfish, Orconectes australis packardi, and the epigean crayfish, Orconectes cristavarius, with laboratory conditions for 1 and 2 years. The O. a. packardi survived well compared to the O. cristavarius in captivity. The poor survival of the epigean species was probably due to unsuitable conditions. The epigean as well as the cave crayfish molted and grew in captivity, but without any significant difference in molt frequency between species. In the first year, total body length was obtained to assay growth, whereas in the second year the more accurate measure …

From Biomedicine To Natural History Research: Est Resources For Ambystomatid Aalamanders, Srikrishna Putta, Jeramiah J. Smith, John A. Walker, Mathieu Rondet, David W. Weisrock, James Monaghan, Amy K. Samuels, D. Kevin Kump, David C. King, Nicholas J. Maness, Bianca Habermann, Elly Tanaka, Susan V. Bryant, David M. Gardiner, David M. Parichy, S. Randal Voss

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Establishing genomic resources for closely related species will provide comparative insights that are crucial for understanding diversity and variability at multiple levels of biological organization. We developed ESTs for Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) and Eastern tiger salamander (A. tigrinum tigrinum), species with deep and diverse research histories.

RESULTS: Approximately 40,000 quality cDNA sequences were isolated for these species from various tissues, including regenerating limb and tail. These sequences and an existing set of 16,030 cDNA sequences for A. mexicanum were processed to yield 35,413 and 20,599 high quality ESTs for A. mexicanum and A. t. tigrinum, respectively. Because the …

Is Hp1 An Rna Detector That Functions Both In Repression And Activation?, Rebecca Kellum

Biology Faculty Publications

Heterochromatin is defined as regions of compact chromatin that persist throughout the cell cycle (Heitz, 1928). The earliest cytological observations of heterochromatin were followed by ribonucleotide labeling experiments that showed it to be transcriptionally inert relative to the more typical euchromatic regions that decondense during interphase. Genetic studies of rearrangements that place euchromatic genes next to blocks of heterochromatin also pointed out the repressive nature of heterochromatin (Grigliatti, 1991; and references therein). The discovery of the heterochromatin-enriched protein heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) by Elgin and co-workers in the mid-1980s suggested that the distinct cytological features of this chromatin may be …

Anorexia, Bulimia, And Crayfish (Or, Why I Study The Pharmacology Of Serotonin Receptors In Glutamatergic Invertebrate Systems), Garrett Sparks

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Gag Proteins Of The Two Drosophila Telomeric Retrotransposons Are Targeted To Chromosome Ends, Svetlana Rashkova, Sarah E. Karam, Rebecca Kellum, Mary-Lou Pardue

Biology Faculty Publications

Drosophila telomeres are formed by two non-LTR retrotransposons, HeT-A and TART, which transpose only to chromosome ends. Successive transpositions of these telomeric elements yield arrays that are functionally equivalent to the arrays generated by telomerase in other organisms. In contrast, other Drosophila non-LTR retrotransposons transpose widely through gene-rich regions, but not to ends. The two telomeric elements encode very similar Gag proteins, suggesting that Gag may be involved in their unique targeting to chromosome ends. To test the intrinsic potential of these Gag proteins for targeting, we tagged the coding sequences with sequence of GFP and expressed the constructs …

Comparison Of The Quantification Of Caffeine In Human Plasma By Gas Chromatography And Elisa, A. B. Carregaro, W. E. Woods, Thomas Tobin, A. Queiroz-Neto

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

In the present study we evaluated the precision of the ELISA method to quantify caffeine in human plasma and compared the results with those obtained by gas chromatography. A total of 58 samples were analyzed by gas chromatography using a nitrogen-phosphorus detector and routine techniques. For the ELISA test, the samples were diluted to obtain a concentration corresponding to 50% of the absorbance of the standard curve. To determine whether the proximity between the I₅₀ of the standard curve and that of the sample would bring about a more precise result, the samples were divided into three blocks according …

A Role For Nima In The Nuclear Localization Of Cyclin B In Aspergillus Nidulans, L. Wu, S. A. Osmani, Peter M. Mirabito

Biology Faculty Publications

NIMA promotes entry into mitosis in late G2 by some mechanism that is after activation of the Aspergillus nidulans G2 cyclin-dependent kinase, NIMX^CDC2/NIME^{Cyclin B}. Here we present two independent lines of evidence which indicate that this mechanism involves control of NIMX^CDC2/NIME^{Cyclin B} localization. First, we found that NIME^{Cyclin B} localized to the nucleus and the nucleus-associated organelle, the spindle pole body, in a NIMA-dependent manner. Analysis of cells from asynchronous cultures, synchronous cultures, and cultures arrested in S or G2 showed that NIME^{Cyclin B} was predominantly nuclear during interphase, with maximal …

Rust Diseases Of Apple, John R. Hartman

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Three related rust diseases occur on apple trees in Kentucky: cedar-apple rust, cedar-hawthorn rust, and cedarquince rust. Crabapple, hawthorn, mountain ash, pear, and serviceberry are also susceptible to these diseases. All three rusts are caused by different species of the fungus Gymnosporangium, each of which must spend a phase of its life cycle as a parasite on Juniperus species such as native red cedars or ornamental junipers.

Although cedar rusts can cause unsightly growths on Juniperus, they do not usually cause serious damage to these plants. Rust diseases can cause serious losses on apples, however, as a result …

Twig, Branch, And Stem Diseases Of Pine, John R. Hartman

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Tip Blight

Tip blight, caused by the fungus Sphaeropsis sapinea (formerly Diplodia pinea), is a serious disease of mature Austrian, Scots (Scotch), and Mugo pines in Kentucky. In the landscape, tip blight is normally not observed until pines reach about 12 years old and begin to bear cones. Severe infections year after year can greatly weaken and eventually kill affected pines.

[Review Of] The Body In Time, Robert A. Aken

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Acid Ph On Embryonic And Juvenile Freshwater Fish, Barbara A. Ramey, Lee E. Colton

KWRRI Research Reports

The effects of sulfuric acid on embryos, larvae, and juvenile fish were examined using standard bioassay techniques, as well as in a preference/ avoidance behavioral test. The objectives were to compare the sensitivities of the various ages of fish to acid and to assess the use of the behavioral test in a hazard assessment program. In an 8-day static renewal bioassay, embryos and larvae of the fathead minnow were not affected at a pH of 4.92 and above, but pH 3.57 produced complete mortality prior to hatching. In 96- hr acute bioassays, 8-wk juvenile fathead minnows survived 100% at pH's …

Biological And Chemical Evaluation Of The Aquatic Environment Of Selected Undeveloped Kentucky Lake Embayments, Marshall Gordon, Morgan E. Sisk

KWRRI Research Reports

This report describes research involving biological and chemical analysis of two undeveloped embayments on Kentucky Lake, namely Anderson and Vickers Bays. Field and laboratory studies were made to assess current biotic standing crops, limnological conditions, levels of inorganic and organic pollutants in the embayments.

Induced Changes In The Rates Of Uridine-3H Uptake And Incorporation During The G1 And S Periods Of Synchronized Chinese Hamster Cells, Peter J. Stambrook, Jesse E. Sisken

Biology Faculty Publications

The rates of uridine-5-³H incorporation into RNA and the rates of uridine uptake into the acid-soluble pool during the cell cycle of V79 Chinese hamster cells were examined. Cells cultured on Eagle's minimal essential medium supplemented with fetal calf serum, lactalbumin hydrolysate, glutamine, and trypsin displayed rates of incorporation and uptake which increased only slightly during G₁ and accelerated sharply as DNA synthesis commenced. In contrast, cells cultured on minimal essential medium supplemented only with calf serum exhibited rates of incorporation and uptake which increased linearly through both G₁ and S. The transition from one pattern …