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Articles 151 - 180 of 602

Full-Text Articles in Biology

Scaling Flow Path Processes To Fluvial Landscapes: An Integrated Field And Model Assessment Of Temperature And Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics In A River-Floodplain-Aquifer System, Ashley M. Helton, Geoffrey C. Poole, Robert A. Payn, Clemente Izurieta, Jack Arthur Stanford Oct 2012

Scaling Flow Path Processes To Fluvial Landscapes: An Integrated Field And Model Assessment Of Temperature And Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics In A River-Floodplain-Aquifer System, Ashley M. Helton, Geoffrey C. Poole, Robert A. Payn, Clemente Izurieta, Jack Arthur Stanford

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Biogeochemical cycling within river ecosystems is strongly influenced by geomorphic and hydrologic dynamics. To scale point observations of temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) to a hydrologically complex and dynamic three-dimensional river-floodplain-aquifer system, we integrated empirical models of temperature and biotic oxygen utilization with a recently published hydrogeomorphic model. The hydrogeomorphic model simulates channel flow, floodplain inundation, and surface-subsurface water exchange on the 16 km(2) Nyack Floodplain, Middle Fork Flathead River, Montana, USA. Model results were compared to observed data sets of DO to test the hypothesis that complexity in spatiotemporal patterns of biogeochemistry emerges from a comparatively simple representation of …


Arenavirus Infection Induces Discrete Cytosolic Structures For Rna Replication, Nicholas L. Baird, Joanne York, Jack H. Nunberg Oct 2012

Arenavirus Infection Induces Discrete Cytosolic Structures For Rna Replication, Nicholas L. Baird, Joanne York, Jack H. Nunberg

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Arenaviruses are responsible for acute hemorrhagic fevers with high mortality and pose significant threats to public health and biodefense. These enveloped negative-sense RNA viruses replicate in the cell cytoplasm and express four proteins. To better understand how these proteins insinuate themselves into cellular processes to orchestrate productive viral replication, we have identified and characterized novel cytosolic structures involved in arenavirus replication and transcription. In cells infected with the nonpathogenic Tacaribe virus or the attenuated Candid#1 strain of Junin virus, we find that newly synthesized viral RNAs localize to cytosolic puncta containing the nucleoprotein (N) of the virus. Density gradient centrifugation …


The Importance Of Host Plant Limitation For Caterpillars Of An Arctiid Moth (Platyprepia Virginalis) Varies Spatially, Richard Karban, Patrick Grof-Tisza, John L. Maron, Marcel Holyoak Oct 2012

The Importance Of Host Plant Limitation For Caterpillars Of An Arctiid Moth (Platyprepia Virginalis) Varies Spatially, Richard Karban, Patrick Grof-Tisza, John L. Maron, Marcel Holyoak

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Spatial dynamic theories such as source–sink models frequently describe habitat-specific demographies, yet there are surprisingly few field studies that have examined how and why interacting species vary in their dynamics across multiple habitat types. We studied the spatial pattern of interaction between a chewing herbivore and its primary larval host plant in two habitat types. We found that the interaction between an arctiid caterpillar (Platyprepia virginalis) and its host (Lupinus arboreus) differed in wet vs. upland dry habitats, as did yearly population dynamics for the caterpillar. In upland sites, there was a strong positive relationship between …


Neo-Allopatry And Rapid Reproductive Isolation, Daniel Montesinos, Gilberto Santiago, Ragan M. Callaway Oct 2012

Neo-Allopatry And Rapid Reproductive Isolation, Daniel Montesinos, Gilberto Santiago, Ragan M. Callaway

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Over the past 3 centuries, many species have been dispersed beyond their natural geographic limits by humans, but to our knowledge, reproductive isolation has not been demonstrated for such neo-allopatric species. We grew seeds from three species of Centaurea (Centaurea solstitialis, Centaurea calcitrapa, and Centaurea sulphurea) that are native to Spain and have been introduced into California, and we tested to what extent seed production was affected by pollen source. Compared with within-population crosses, seed production decreased by 52% and 44%, respectively, when C. solstitialis and C. sulphurea from California were pollinated with conspecific pollen from native populations in Spain. …


Community Impacts Of Prosopis Juliflora Invasion: Biogeographic And Congeneric Comparisons, Rajwant Kaur, Wilfredo L. Gonzáles, Luis Daniel Llambi, Pascual J. Soriano, Ragan M. Callaway, Marnie E. Rout, Timothy J. Gallaher, Inderjit Sep 2012

Community Impacts Of Prosopis Juliflora Invasion: Biogeographic And Congeneric Comparisons, Rajwant Kaur, Wilfredo L. Gonzáles, Luis Daniel Llambi, Pascual J. Soriano, Ragan M. Callaway, Marnie E. Rout, Timothy J. Gallaher, Inderjit

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We coordinated biogeographical comparisons of the impacts of an exotic invasive tree in its native and non-native ranges with a congeneric comparison in the non-native range. Prosopis juliflora is taxonomically complicated and with P. pallida forms the P. juliflora complex. Thus we sampled P. juliflora in its native Venezuela, and also located two field sites in Peru, the native range of Prosopis pallida. Canopies of Prosopis juliflora, a native of the New World but an invader in many other regions, had facilitative effects on the diversity of other species in its native Venezuela, and P. pallida had both negative and …


Poliovirus Infection Transiently Increases Copii Vesicle Budding, Meg Trahey, Hyung Suk Oh, Craig E. Cameron, Jesse C. Hay Sep 2012

Poliovirus Infection Transiently Increases Copii Vesicle Budding, Meg Trahey, Hyung Suk Oh, Craig E. Cameron, Jesse C. Hay

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Poliovirus (PV) requires membranes of the host cell's secretory pathway to generate replication complexes (RCs) for viral RNA synthesis. Recent work identified the intermediate compartment and the Golgi apparatus as the precursors of the replication "organelles" of PV (N. Y. Hsu et al., Cell 141:799-811, 2010). In this study, we examined the effect of PV on COPII vesicles, the secretory cargo carriers that bud from the endoplasmic reticulum and homotypically fuse to form the intermediate compartment that matures into the Golgi apparatus. We found that infection by PV results in a biphasic change in functional COPII vesicle biogenesis in cells, …


The Conflict Within And The Escalating War Between The Sex Chromosomes, Jeffrey M. Good Sep 2012

The Conflict Within And The Escalating War Between The Sex Chromosomes, Jeffrey M. Good

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Transcriptome-Based Exon Capture Enables Highly Cost-Effective Comparative Genomic Data Collection At Moderate Evolutionary Scales, Ke Bi, Dan Vanderpool, Sonal Singhal, Tyler Linderoth, Craig Moritz, Jeffrey M. Good Aug 2012

Transcriptome-Based Exon Capture Enables Highly Cost-Effective Comparative Genomic Data Collection At Moderate Evolutionary Scales, Ke Bi, Dan Vanderpool, Sonal Singhal, Tyler Linderoth, Craig Moritz, Jeffrey M. Good

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: To date, exon capture has largely been restricted to species with fully sequenced genomes, which has precluded its application to lineages that lack high quality genomic resources. We developed a novel strategy for designing array-based exon capture in chipmunks (Tamias) based on de novo transcriptome assemblies. We evaluated the performance of our approach across specimens from four chipmunk species. Results: We selectively targeted 11,975 exons (similar to 4 Mb) on custom capture arrays, and enriched over 99% of the targets in all libraries. The percentage of aligned reads was highly consistent (24.4-29.1%) across all specimens, including in multiplexing up …


Microbial Degradation Of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid On The Greenland Ice Sheet, Marek Stibal, Jacob Baelum, William E. Holben, Sebastian R. Sørensen, Anders Jensen, Carsten S. Jacobsen Aug 2012

Microbial Degradation Of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid On The Greenland Ice Sheet, Marek Stibal, Jacob Baelum, William E. Holben, Sebastian R. Sørensen, Anders Jensen, Carsten S. Jacobsen

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) receives organic carbon (OC) of anthropogenic origin, including pesticides, from the atmosphere and/or local sources, and the fate of these compounds in the ice is currently unknown. The ability of supraglacial heterotrophic microbes to mineralize different types of OC is likely a significant factor determining the fate of anthropogenic OC on the ice sheet. Here we determine the potential of the microbial community from the surface of the GrIS to mineralize the widely used herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Surface ice cores were collected and incubated for up to 529 days in microcosms simulating in situ …


Distorting The Process Of Scientific Inquiry, Richard L. Hutto Aug 2012

Distorting The Process Of Scientific Inquiry, Richard L. Hutto

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Activation Of P115-Rhogef Requires Direct Association Of Gα13 And The Dbl Homology Domain, Zhe Chen, Liang Guo, Jana Hadas, Stephen Gutowski, Stephen R. Sprang, Paul C. Sternweis Jul 2012

Activation Of P115-Rhogef Requires Direct Association Of Gα13 And The Dbl Homology Domain, Zhe Chen, Liang Guo, Jana Hadas, Stephen Gutowski, Stephen R. Sprang, Paul C. Sternweis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

RGS-containing RhoGEFs (RGS-RhoGEFs) represent a direct link between the G(12) class of heterotrimeric G proteins and the monomeric GTPases. In addition to the canonical Dbl homology (DH) and pleckstrin homology domains that carry out the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) activity toward RhoA, these RhoGEFs also possess RGS homology (RH) domains that interact with activated α subunits of G(12) and G(13). Although the GEF activity of p115-RhoGEF (p115), an RGS-RhoGEF, can be stimulated by Gα(13), the exact mechanism of the stimulation has remained unclear. Using combined studies with small angle x-ray scattering, biochemistry, and mutagenesis, we identify an additional binding …


Dissection Of The Role Of The Stable Signal Peptide Of The Arenavirus Envelope Glycoprotein In Membrane Fusion, Emily L. Messina, Joanne York, Jack H. Nunberg Jun 2012

Dissection Of The Role Of The Stable Signal Peptide Of The Arenavirus Envelope Glycoprotein In Membrane Fusion, Emily L. Messina, Joanne York, Jack H. Nunberg

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The arenavirus envelope glycoprotein (GPC) retains a stable signal peptide (SSP) as an essential subunit in the mature complex. The 58-amino-acid residue SSP comprises two membrane-spanning hydrophobic regions separated by a short ectodomain loop that interacts with the G2 fusion subunit to promote pH-dependent membrane fusion. Small-molecule compounds that target this unique SSP-G2 interaction prevent arenavirus entry and infection. The interaction between SSP and G2 is sensitive to the phylogenetic distance between New World (Junin) and Old World (Lassa) arenaviruses. For example, heterotypic GPC complexes are unable to support virion entry. In this report, we demonstrate that the hybrid GPC …


Growth And Competitive Effects Of Centaurea Stoebe Populations In Response To Simulated Nitrogen Deposition, Wei-Ming He, Daniel Montesinos, Giles C. Thelan, Ragan M. Callaway Apr 2012

Growth And Competitive Effects Of Centaurea Stoebe Populations In Response To Simulated Nitrogen Deposition, Wei-Ming He, Daniel Montesinos, Giles C. Thelan, Ragan M. Callaway

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Increased resource availability can promote invasion by exotic plants, raising concerns over the potential effects of global increases in the deposition of nitrogen (N). It is poorly understood why increased N favors exotics over natives. Fast growth may be a general trait of good invaders and these species may have exceptional abilities to increase growth rates in response to N deposition. Additionally, invaders commonly displace locals, and thus may have inherently greater competitive abilities. The mean growth response of Centaurea stoebe to two N levels was significantly greater than that of North American (NA) species. Growth responses to N did …


Ngf Causes Trka To Specifically Attract Microtubules To Lipid Rafts, Shona Pryor, Gretchen Mccaffrey, Lindsay R. Young, Mark L. Grimes Apr 2012

Ngf Causes Trka To Specifically Attract Microtubules To Lipid Rafts, Shona Pryor, Gretchen Mccaffrey, Lindsay R. Young, Mark L. Grimes

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Membrane protein sorting is mediated by interactions between proteins and lipids. One mechanism that contributes to sorting involves patches of lipids, termed lipid rafts, which are different from their surroundings in lipid and protein composition. Although the nerve growth factor (NGF) receptors, TrkA and p75(NTR) collaborate with each other at the plasma membrane to bind NGF, these two receptors are endocytosed separately and activate different cellular responses. We hypothesized that receptor localization in membrane rafts may play a role in endocytic sorting. TrkA and p75(NTR) both reside in detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs), yet they responded differently to a variety of conditions. …


Different Selective Pressures Lead To Different Genomic Outcomes As Newly-Formed Hybrid Yeasts Evolve, Jeff S. Piotrowski, Saisubramanian Nagarajan, Evgueny Kroll, Alison Stanbery, Kami E. Chiotti, Arthur L. Kruckeberg, Barbara Dunn, Gavin Sherlock, Frank Rosenzweig Apr 2012

Different Selective Pressures Lead To Different Genomic Outcomes As Newly-Formed Hybrid Yeasts Evolve, Jeff S. Piotrowski, Saisubramanian Nagarajan, Evgueny Kroll, Alison Stanbery, Kami E. Chiotti, Arthur L. Kruckeberg, Barbara Dunn, Gavin Sherlock, Frank Rosenzweig

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Interspecific hybridization occurs in every eukaryotic kingdom. While hybrid progeny are frequently at a selective disadvantage, in some instances their increased genome size and complexity may result in greater stress resistance than their ancestors, which can be adaptively advantageous at the edges of their ancestors' ranges. While this phenomenon has been repeatedly documented in the field, the response of hybrid populations to long-term selection has not often been explored in the lab. To fill this knowledge gap we crossed the two most distantly related members of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto group, S. cerevisiae and S. uvarum, and established a …


Population-Level Compensation Impedes Biological Control Of An Invasive Forb And Indirect Release Of A Native Grass, Yvette K. Ortega, Dean E. Pearson, Lauren P. Waller, Nancy J. Sturdevant, John L. Maron Apr 2012

Population-Level Compensation Impedes Biological Control Of An Invasive Forb And Indirect Release Of A Native Grass, Yvette K. Ortega, Dean E. Pearson, Lauren P. Waller, Nancy J. Sturdevant, John L. Maron

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The intentional introduction of specialist insect herbivores for biological control of exotic weeds provides ideal but understudied systems for evaluating important ecological concepts related to top-down control, plant compensatory responses, indirect effects, and the influence of environmental context on these processes. Centaurea stoebe (spotted knapweed) is a notorious rangeland weed that exhibited regional declines in the early 2000s, attributed to drought by some and to successful biocontrol by others. We initiated an experiment to quantify the effects of the biocontrol agent, Cyphocleonus achates, on Ce. stoebe and its interaction with a dominant native grass competitor, Pseudoroegneria spicata, under …


Cell Signaling. Structural Origins Of Receptor Bias, Stephen R. Sprang, Jackson Chief Elk Mar 2012

Cell Signaling. Structural Origins Of Receptor Bias, Stephen R. Sprang, Jackson Chief Elk

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Agonists can elicit pathway-specific conformational changes in a G protein–coupled receptor.


Postdispersal Seed Predation Limits The Abundance Of A Long-Lived Perennial Forb (Lithospermum Ruderale), Mary Carolyn Bricker, John L. Maron Mar 2012

Postdispersal Seed Predation Limits The Abundance Of A Long-Lived Perennial Forb (Lithospermum Ruderale), Mary Carolyn Bricker, John L. Maron

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Loss of seeds to consumers is common in plant communities, but the degree to which these losses influence plant abundance or population growth is often unclear. This is particularly the case for postdispersal seed predation by rodents, as most studies of rodent seed predation have focused on the sources of spatiotemporal variation in seed loss but not quantified the population consequences of this loss. In previous work we showed that seed predation by deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) substantially reduced seedling recruitment and establishment of Lithospermum ruderale (Boraginaceae), a long-lived perennial forb. To shed light on how rodent seed …


Inhibitors Of Membranous Adenylyl Cyclases, Roland Seifert, Gerald H. Lushington, Tung-Chung Mou, Andreas Gille, Stephen R. Sprang Feb 2012

Inhibitors Of Membranous Adenylyl Cyclases, Roland Seifert, Gerald H. Lushington, Tung-Chung Mou, Andreas Gille, Stephen R. Sprang

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Membranous adenylyl cyclases (mACs) constitute a family of nine isoforms with different expression patterns. Studies with mAC gene knockout mice provide evidence for the notion that AC isoforms play distinct (patho)physiological roles. Consequently, there is substantial interest in the development of isoform-selective mAC inhibitors. Here, we review the current literature on mAC inhibitors. Structurally diverse inhibitors targeting the catalytic site and allosteric sites (e.g. the diterpene site) have been identified. The catalytic site of mACs accommodates both purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, with a hydrophobic pocket constituting a major affinity-conferring domain for substituents at the 2'- and 3'-O-ribosyl position of nucleotides. …


An At Mutational Bias In The Tiny Gc-Rich Endosymbiont Genome Of Hodgkinia, James T. Van Leuven, John Mccutcheon Jan 2012

An At Mutational Bias In The Tiny Gc-Rich Endosymbiont Genome Of Hodgkinia, James T. Van Leuven, John Mccutcheon

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The fractional guanine + cytosine (GC) contents of sequenced bacterial genomes range from 13% to 75%. Despite several decades of research aimed at understanding this wide variation, the forces controlling GC content are not well understood. Recent work has suggested that a universal adenine + thymine (AT) mutational bias exists in all bacteria and that the elevated GC contents found in some bacterial genomes is due to genome-wide selection for increased GC content. These results are generally consistent with the low GC contents observed in most strict endosymbiotic bacterial genomes, where the loss of DNA repair mechanisms combined with the …


A New Forest Fire Paradigm: The Need For High-Severity Fires, Monica L. Bond, Rodney B. Siegel, Richard L. Hutto, Victoria A. Saab, Stephen A. Shunk Jan 2012

A New Forest Fire Paradigm: The Need For High-Severity Fires, Monica L. Bond, Rodney B. Siegel, Richard L. Hutto, Victoria A. Saab, Stephen A. Shunk

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Forest fires, particularly those that burn at mixed and high severity (collectively called ‘severe’), have been traditionally perceived as catastrophic events, directing public attention and immense forest management budgets toward fire prevention and suppression. These fires may indeed be catastrophic when measured by losses of human lives and property. However, severe fires in wildland areas are both natural and necessary to maintain the integrity of dynamic, disturbance-adapted forest systems. We propose a change in the current paradigm—which holds that severe forest fires are always harmful—to a new one that embraces their ecological necessity.


The Curious Case Of Arenavirus Entry, And Its Inhibition, Jack H. Nunberg, Joanne York Jan 2012

The Curious Case Of Arenavirus Entry, And Its Inhibition, Jack H. Nunberg, Joanne York

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Arenaviruses comprise a diverse family of enveloped negative-strand RNA viruses that are endemic to specific rodent hosts worldwide. Several arenaviruses cause severe hemorrhagic fevers in humans, including Junin and Machupo viruses in South America and Lassa fever virus in western Africa. Arenavirus entry into the host cell is mediated by the envelope glycoprotein complex, GPC. The virion is endocytosed on binding to a cell-surface receptor, and membrane fusion is initiated in response to physiological acidification of the endosome. As with other class I virus fusion proteins, GPC-mediated membrane fusion is promoted through a regulated sequence of conformational changes leading to …


Fungal Endophytes Directly Increase The Competitive Effects Of An Invasive Forb, Erik T. Aschehoug, Kerry L. Metlen, Ragan M. Callaway, George Newcombe Jan 2012

Fungal Endophytes Directly Increase The Competitive Effects Of An Invasive Forb, Erik T. Aschehoug, Kerry L. Metlen, Ragan M. Callaway, George Newcombe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Competitive outcomes among plants can vary in different abiotic and biotic conditions. Here we tested the effects of two phylotypes of Alternaria endophytes on the growth, competitive effects, and competitive responses of the exotic invasive forb Centaurea stoebe. Centaurea stoebe was a better competitor against North American grass species than grasses from its European home range in the absence of endophytes. However, one endophyte both increased the biomass of C. stoebe and reduced the competitive effect of North American grasses on C. stoebe. The competitive effects of C. stoebe on grass species native to North America were enhanced by both …


The Effect Of Fire On Spatial Separation Between Wolves And Caribou, Hugh S. Robinson, Mark Hebblewhite, Nicholas J. Decesare, Jessie Whittington, Layla Neufeld, Mark Bradley, Marco Musiani Jan 2012

The Effect Of Fire On Spatial Separation Between Wolves And Caribou, Hugh S. Robinson, Mark Hebblewhite, Nicholas J. Decesare, Jessie Whittington, Layla Neufeld, Mark Bradley, Marco Musiani

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Fire management is an important conservation tool in Canada’s national parks. Fires can benefit some species, while others may be negatively impacted. We used GPS and VHF collar data for 47 wolves from 12 separate packs and 153 caribou from 5 separate herds, and resource selection analysis to model the effects of fire on these species’ habitat and potential interactions. Resource selection modeling showed that wolves select for burned areas and areas close to burns, presumably due to the presence of primary prey (i.e., elk and moose), while caribou avoid burns. Fire reduced the amount of high quality caribou habitat …


Genotypic And Phenotypic Variation In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Reveals Signatures Of Secondary Infection And Mutator Activity In Certain Cystic Fibrosis Patients With Chronic Lung Infections, Ashley E. Warren, Carla M. Boulianne-Larsen, Christine B. Chandler, Kami Chiotti, Evgueny Kroll, Scott R. Miller, Francois Taddei, Isabelle Sermet-Gaudelus, Agnes Ferroni, Kathleen Mcinnerney, Michael J. Franklin, Frank Rosenzweig Dec 2011

Genotypic And Phenotypic Variation In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Reveals Signatures Of Secondary Infection And Mutator Activity In Certain Cystic Fibrosis Patients With Chronic Lung Infections, Ashley E. Warren, Carla M. Boulianne-Larsen, Christine B. Chandler, Kami Chiotti, Evgueny Kroll, Scott R. Miller, Francois Taddei, Isabelle Sermet-Gaudelus, Agnes Ferroni, Kathleen Mcinnerney, Michael J. Franklin, Frank Rosenzweig

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Evolutionary adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the cystic fibrosis lung is limited by genetic variation, which depends on rates of horizontal gene transfer and mutation supply. Because each may increase following secondary infection or mutator emergence, we sought to ascertain the incidence of secondary infection and genetic variability in populations containing or lacking mutators. Forty-nine strains collected over 3 years from 16 patients were phenotyped for antibiotic resistance and mutator status and were genotyped by repetitive-sequence PCR (rep-PCR), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Though phenotypic and genetic polymorphisms were widespread and clustered more strongly within than …


Lack Of Fire Has Limited Physiological Impact On Old-Growth Ponderosa Pine In Dry Montane Forests Of North-Central Idaho, Eric Keeling, Anna Sala, Thomas H. Deluca Dec 2011

Lack Of Fire Has Limited Physiological Impact On Old-Growth Ponderosa Pine In Dry Montane Forests Of North-Central Idaho, Eric Keeling, Anna Sala, Thomas H. Deluca

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Reduced frequency of fire in historically fire-adapted ecosystems may have adverse effects on ecosystem structure, function, and resilience. Lack of fire increases stand density and promotes successional replacement of seral dominant trees by late-successional, more shade-tolerant species. These changes are thought to increase competition for limited resources among trees and to increase physiological stress of dominant, fire-adapted species. However, there has been little effort to directly investigate effects of lack of fire on the physiological status of old trees, especially in unlogged, protected forests. At four remote sites in the Selway-Bitterroot region of Idaho, we tested whether the physiological status …


Evolution Of Coordinated Mutagenesis And Somatic Hypermutation In Vh5, Barbara E. Wright, Karen H. Schmidt, Aaron T. Hunt, Dennis K. Reschke, Michael F. Minnick Dec 2011

Evolution Of Coordinated Mutagenesis And Somatic Hypermutation In Vh5, Barbara E. Wright, Karen H. Schmidt, Aaron T. Hunt, Dennis K. Reschke, Michael F. Minnick

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The VH5 human antibody gene was analyzed using a computer program (mfg) which simulates transcription, to better understand transcription-driven mutagenesis events that occur during "phase 1" of somatic hypermutation. Results show that the great majority of mutations in the non-transcribed strand occur within loops of two predicted high-stability stem-loop structures, termed SLSs 14.9 and 13.9. In fact, 89% of the 2505 mutations reported are within the encoded complementarity-determining region (CDR) and occur in loops of these high-stability structures. In vitro studies were also done and verified the existence of SLS 14.9. Following the formation of SLSs 14.9 and 13.9, a …


Escape From Competition: Neighbors Reduce Centaurea Stoebe Performance At Home But Not Away, Ragan M. Callaway, Lauren P. Waller, Alecu Diaconu, Robert Pal, Alexandra R. Collins, Heingz Mueller-Schaerer, John L. Maron Dec 2011

Escape From Competition: Neighbors Reduce Centaurea Stoebe Performance At Home But Not Away, Ragan M. Callaway, Lauren P. Waller, Alecu Diaconu, Robert Pal, Alexandra R. Collins, Heingz Mueller-Schaerer, John L. Maron

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The greater abundance of some exotic plants in their nonnative ranges might be explained in part by biogeographic differences in the strength of competition, but these competitive effects have not been experimentally examined in the field. We compared the effects of neighbors on the growth and reproduction of spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) in Europe, where it is native, and in Montana, where it is invasive. There were strong negative competitive effects of neighboring vegetation on C. stoebe growth and reproduction in Europe. In contrast, identical experiments in Montana resulted in insignificant impacts on C. stoebe. Although the …


Genetics Of Coxiella Burnetii: On The Path Of Specialization, Michael F. Minnick, Rahul Raghavan Nov 2011

Genetics Of Coxiella Burnetii: On The Path Of Specialization, Michael F. Minnick, Rahul Raghavan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Coxiella burnetii is an extremely infectious, zoonotic agent that causes Q fever in humans. With the exception of New Zealand, the bacterium is distributed worldwide. Coxiella is classified as a select agent based on its past and potential use as a bioweapon and its threat to public health. Despite decades of research, we know relatively little regarding Coxiella?s molecular pathogenesis, and a vaccine is not widely available. This article briefly reviews the unusual genetics of C. burnetii; a pathogen that retains telltale genetic mementos collected over the course of its evolutionary path from a free-living bacterium to an obligate intracellular …


Ribozyme Stability, Exon Skipping, And A Potential Role For Rna Helicase In Group I Intron Splicing By Coxiella Burnetii, Linda D. Hicks, Indu Warrier, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick Oct 2011

Ribozyme Stability, Exon Skipping, And A Potential Role For Rna Helicase In Group I Intron Splicing By Coxiella Burnetii, Linda D. Hicks, Indu Warrier, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The 23S rRNA gene of Coxiella burnetii, the agent of Q fever in humans, contains an unusually high number of conserved, selfish genetic elements, including two group I introns, termed Cbu.L1917 (L1917) and Cbu.L1951 (L1951). To better understand the role that introns play in Coxiella's biology, we determined the intrinsic stability time periods (in vitro half-lives) of the encoded ribozymes to be similar to 15 days for L1917 and similar to 5 days for L1951, possibly due to differences in their sizes (551 and 1,559 bases, respectively), relative degrees of compactness of the respective RNA structures, and amounts of single-stranded …