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Articles 391 - 420 of 1126

Full-Text Articles in Biology

Surveillance And Dynamics Of Bacteria And Resistance Genes In Humans And Hospitals, Alaric Wences D'Souza Dec 2021

Surveillance And Dynamics Of Bacteria And Resistance Genes In Humans And Hospitals, Alaric Wences D'Souza

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Bacteria live in, on, and around us. These bacteria affect human health through beneficial commensal interactions that promote normal development and through harmful infections or perturbations leading to disease. Understanding the prevalence, spread, and resilience of these bacteria in humans and human environments is critical to clinical medicine and epidemiology. I investigated environmental and human resident bacteria to understand dynamics in bacterial communities and how these dynamics may impact human health.Hospitals are one critical location of human-bacterial interactions. Bacteria can contaminate hospital surfaces from patients or environmental sources and subsequently transmit from surfaces to vulnerable patients. I analyzed bacteria from …


On The Challenges And Rewards Of Analyzing Molecular Dynamics At The Terabyte And Millisecond Scale, Justin Roy Porter Dec 2021

On The Challenges And Rewards Of Analyzing Molecular Dynamics At The Terabyte And Millisecond Scale, Justin Roy Porter

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Markov state models (MSMs) are powerful tools for estimating and concisely representing the conformational ensemble accessible to biological macromolecules, particularly proteins. Conformational ensembles are of special importance biological function, both in health and disease, because biology derives from molecules’ entire conformational distribution rather than any single structure. Consequently, MD is poised to become a powerful tool for personalized medicine and for the study of molecular sequence-function relationships generally. However, because of their hyperdimensionality and size, just generating MD datasets and Markov state models (MSMs) that represent biologically relevant molecules is a substantive technical challenge. Then, even …


Influence Of Aging And Cerebrovascular Disease On Neuroimaging Measures Of Alzheimer Disease, Lauren Nicole Koenig Dec 2021

Influence Of Aging And Cerebrovascular Disease On Neuroimaging Measures Of Alzheimer Disease, Lauren Nicole Koenig

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The overall goal of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of how Alzheimer disease relates to normal aging and cerebrovascular disease to impact neuroimaging measures in a clinically meaningful way. Both aging and cerebrovascular disease are known to influence measures of Alzheimer disease, making it difficult to separate what changes are attributable specifically to Alzheimer disease. We hypothesize that a better understanding of these relationships will allow future studies to appropriately take these factors into account. In Chapters 2 and 3 we attempt to separate out the influences of normal aging and Alzheimer disease on measures of atrophy. …


Deconvolving Genomic Regulatory Heterogeneity With Self-Reporting Transposons, Arnav Moudgil Dec 2021

Deconvolving Genomic Regulatory Heterogeneity With Self-Reporting Transposons, Arnav Moudgil

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

A cell’s identity is a function of the genes expressed in that cell, which are in turn regulated by transcription factors. Over the last decade, single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has emerged as a powerful class of techniques to characterize cellular diversity in heterogeneous tissues. These methods barcode transcripts by their cell-of-origin and assign them to specific genes. The resulting high-dimensional data are further processed to reveal clusters of cells sharing transcriptional states. Annotating these clusters, based on either known or discovered marker genes, offers a glimpse into the dynamic composition of an organ or biological process. While single-cell RNA-seq excels …


Defining The Epigenetic And Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms By Which Hrsv Ns1 Alters Host Transcriptional Response, Nina Rose Beri Dec 2021

Defining The Epigenetic And Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms By Which Hrsv Ns1 Alters Host Transcriptional Response, Nina Rose Beri

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.


A Study On The Hormonal Regulation And Novel Role Of Na+ Leak Channel, Non-Selective (Nalcn) In Human Myometrial Smooth Muscle Cells, Chinwendu Amazu Dec 2021

A Study On The Hormonal Regulation And Novel Role Of Na+ Leak Channel, Non-Selective (Nalcn) In Human Myometrial Smooth Muscle Cells, Chinwendu Amazu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

During pregnancy, the uterus transitions from a quiescent state to an excitable, highly contractile state to deliver the fetus. Two important contributors essential for this transition are progesterone (P4) and estrogen (E2), which promote quiescence or contraction, respectively, by acting on the myometrial smooth muscle cells (MSMCs). While these hormones regulate uterine contractions, it is unclear how they affect electrical activity of MSMCs, which underlies uterine contractile activity. Our lab recently identified Na+ leak channel, non-selective (NALCN) as a component of the leak current in human MSMCs and showed that mice lacking NALCN in the uterus have dysfunctional labor. In …


Regional Reprogramming And The Small Intestine: Analysis And Modeling Of Adaptive Regeneration Of The Epithelium, Sarah Elizabeth Waye Dec 2021

Regional Reprogramming And The Small Intestine: Analysis And Modeling Of Adaptive Regeneration Of The Epithelium, Sarah Elizabeth Waye

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The small intestine in homeostasis is capable of regular regeneration, but in cases of massive injury like Short Bowel Syndrome, the innate human response often fails to fully compensate for the loss of nutrient absorptive surface area that accompanies bowel resection. Murine models display an active compensatory reaction deemed “adaptation” in which the surface area of the bowel is increased to accommodate nutrient absorptive needs. This observation has highlighted several gaps in knowledge regarding bowel adaptation. Firstly, what occurs on a molecular level in murine models during adaptation? Secondly, how can the findings in mice be applied to humans in …


Identification Of Multi-Tissue Protein Quantitative Trait Loci And Causal Inference Of Protein Effects In Neurological And Other Complex Human Diseases Via Mendelian Randomization, Chengran Yang Dec 2021

Identification Of Multi-Tissue Protein Quantitative Trait Loci And Causal Inference Of Protein Effects In Neurological And Other Complex Human Diseases Via Mendelian Randomization, Chengran Yang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting 6.2 million people mostly aged 65 years or older in the United States as of early 2021. AD has been widely studied and characterized worldwide, but there is still no effective treatment or cure. Even the latest FDA-approved treatment, Aducanumab, cannot stop decline or improve cognition. To develop a truly effective treatments, researchers keep discovering genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. Protein biomarkers are keys to bridge the mechanisms to disease. Here, I first used a high-throughput proteomic dataset from three tissues (CSF, plasma, and brain) with array-based genotype …


Regulatory Effects Of The E. Coli Recbcd Nuclease Domain On Dna Unwinding Kinetics, Nicole Fazio Dec 2021

Regulatory Effects Of The E. Coli Recbcd Nuclease Domain On Dna Unwinding Kinetics, Nicole Fazio

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

I have examined the effects of deleting the nuclease domain of the E. coli helicase RecBCD on the rates of ATP-independent DNA melting, single stranded (ss) DNA translocation, and double stranded (ds) DNA unwinding by RecBCD. The canonical role of the nuclease domain is DNA degradation, but the removal of this domain showed unexpected effects on other RecBCD activities including DNA binding, melting, and unwinding. This thesis presents a mechanistic study of DNA unwinding by RecBCD and a RecBCD variant with the nuclease domain deleted (RecBΔnucCD). I examined the rates of ssDNA translocation and dsDNA unwinding by RecBCD and RecBΔnucCD …


The Role Of Neuronal Atp-Sensitive Potassium Channels In Learning And Memory, Shaul Vladimir Yahil Dec 2021

The Role Of Neuronal Atp-Sensitive Potassium Channels In Learning And Memory, Shaul Vladimir Yahil

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels link cellular metabolism and membrane excitability in many tissues, including brain and pancreas. Gain-of-function (GOF) mutations to KATP channels cause neonatal diabetes, with some patients exhibiting developmental delay, epilepsy, and neonatal diabetes (DEND) syndrome. Diabetic symptoms have been attributed to loss of membrane excitability and insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells, though the origin of neurological deficits and the effects of neuronal KATP-GOF mutations more generally remain elusive. In this dissertation, I will present evidence that mice expressing KATP-GOF mutations pan-neuronally (nKATP-GOF) demonstrated sensorimotor and cognitive deficits, whereas hippocampus-specific hKATP-GOF mice exhibited predominantly learning and memory deficits. …


Weedy Rice As A Model System For The Study Of Microevolutionary Interactions In Agricultural Contexts, Marshall Jon Wedger Dec 2021

Weedy Rice As A Model System For The Study Of Microevolutionary Interactions In Agricultural Contexts, Marshall Jon Wedger

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Just under one-half of the global population relies on cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) astheir primary source of calories, making the optimization of rice agriculture immensely important. One of the primary constraints to rice agriculture is the de-domesticated (feral) form of rice known as ‘weedy rice’ that aggressively competes for space, soil nutrients, and light. Heavy infestation can reduce crop yields by as much as 80%. As a closely-related weedy descendant of cultivated rice, chemical control is difficult in rice fields, and physical weeding is labor intensive, time consuming, and largely ineffective due to early life-stage mimicry of the crop. Weedy …


Genetic Risk Factors For Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Insights From Hipsc-Cerebral Organoids, Michelle L. Wegscheid Dec 2021

Genetic Risk Factors For Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Insights From Hipsc-Cerebral Organoids, Michelle L. Wegscheid

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) characterized by remarkable phenotypic variability, where affected children manifest a spectrum of central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities, including brain tumors, impairments in attention, behavior, learning disabilities, and an increased incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A significant barrier to the implementation of precision medicine strategies for children with NF1 is a lack of prognostic risk factors to guide clinical management. However, emerging population-based genotype-phenotype association studies have suggested that the germline NF1 gene mutation may represent one clinically actionable risk factor for NF1-associated neurodevelopmental abnormalities. As a critical step in …


Human Plcg2 Haploinsufficiency Results In A Novel Immunodeficiency, Joshua Brandon Alinger Dec 2021

Human Plcg2 Haploinsufficiency Results In A Novel Immunodeficiency, Joshua Brandon Alinger

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

NK cells are critical for the recognition and lysis of herpesvirus-infected cells. Patients with NK cell immunodeficiency may suffer from unusually severe and/or recurrent herpesvirus infections; however, the genetic cause is frequently unknown. PLCG2 encodes a signaling protein in NK cell and B cell receptor signaling, in which dominant-negative or gain-of-function mutations may cause cold urticaria, antibody deficiency, or autoinflammation. However, loss-of-function mutations and PLCG2 haploinsufficiency have never been reported in human disease. We examined 2 families with autosomal dominant NK cell immunodeficiency with dual high-dimensional techniques, mass cytometry and whole-exome sequencing, to identify the cause of disease. We identified …


Slo2.1 Channels: A New Molecular Mechanism To Regulate Uterine Excitability, Juan Jose Ferreira Dec 2021

Slo2.1 Channels: A New Molecular Mechanism To Regulate Uterine Excitability, Juan Jose Ferreira

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

At the end of pregnancy, the uterus transitions from a non-contractile state to a highly contractile state. Two processes primarily drive this transition. First, from the 28th week of pregnancy until labor, the resting membrane potential of uterine (myometrial) smooth muscle cells (MSMCs) gradually becomes more positive (depolarizes) (Parkington et al. 1999). Second, at the end of pregnancy, MSMCs express more oxytocin receptors and become more sensitive to oxytocin (Kimura et al. 1996). However, the detailed mechanisms by which these processes occur have not been determined. My central hypothesis was that the Na+-activated K+ channel SLO2.1 plays a key role …


Developments In Proteomics, Trans-Splicing Technology And Endogenous Transcript Manipulation, Justin Alexander Melendez Dec 2021

Developments In Proteomics, Trans-Splicing Technology And Endogenous Transcript Manipulation, Justin Alexander Melendez

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Technological innovation drives scientific discovery, unlocks new avenues of research, and allows us to ask questions in ways that were previously unavailable. With each technological advance, our ability to perturb and explore biological systems has grown in ways previously unimagined. The theme of my thesis is the development of new technologies in biology. To this end, I have worked on three technologies that contribute to the areas of protein sequencing, RNA barcoding for trans-splicing and single-cell applications, and a new method for transcriptional knockdown. In my first project, digital analysis of proteins by end sequencing (DAPES), we set out to …


The Effects Of Molecular Chaperone Modulation On Protein Folding, Prion Formation, And Prion Propagation In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Leeran Blythe Dublin Ryan Dec 2021

The Effects Of Molecular Chaperone Modulation On Protein Folding, Prion Formation, And Prion Propagation In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Leeran Blythe Dublin Ryan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Proper and efficient protein folding is vital for cell survival. Many factors affect protein folding fidelity and prion formation, including molecular chaperone availability and activity. Research has shown that modulating chaperone availability and function can affect protein misfolding and aggregation, as well as de novo prion formation and propagation. However, the factors involved and underlying mechanisms influencing prion formation and protein folding are largely unknown. The following work aims to elucidate these areas. The Nascent Polypeptide-Associated Complex (NAC) is the first point of chaperone contact for nascent polypeptides. Previous work has shown that disruption of the NAC leads to improved …


Causal Function And Bias Correlation Of The Orbitofrontal Cortex In Economic Choices, Shi Weikang Dec 2021

Causal Function And Bias Correlation Of The Orbitofrontal Cortex In Economic Choices, Shi Weikang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Economic choices entail two mental processes, value calculation and value comparison (Niehans, 1990). Studies in the last twenty years have shown that neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) could support both processes. Namely, in the studies in which monkeys chose between two juice options with various amounts, three functional cell groups had been found in the OFC: offer value cells encode the value of individual juices, chosen juice cells encode the choice in a binary way and chosen value cells encode the value of the chosen juice (Padoa-Schioppa and Assad, 2006). These results suggest a decision circuit within OFC with …


Role Of Interferon Receptors In Sting-Associated Autoinflammatory Disease In Mice, William Alexander Stinson Dec 2021

Role Of Interferon Receptors In Sting-Associated Autoinflammatory Disease In Mice, William Alexander Stinson

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, the cGAS-STING pathway has emerged as a principal component of innate DNA sensing. Its activation of type I interferon (IFN) elicits host immune activation and in the absence of cGAS or STING, mice are rendered critically susceptible to infection by viruses and bacteria. Breakdowns in the molecules that regulate this pathway can promote unrestrained cGAS-STING activation and the development of various forms of autoimmune disease. For instance, gain-of-function mutations in STING cause autoinflammatory lung disease in mice and STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI) in humans. However, our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie STING-dependent …


Regulation Of Metabolic Stress By The Snhg3 Locus, Arthur Curtis Sletten Dec 2021

Regulation Of Metabolic Stress By The Snhg3 Locus, Arthur Curtis Sletten

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Dyslipidemia and lipotoxicity are pathologic signatures of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Excess lipid causes cell dysfunction and induces cell death through pleiotropic mechanisms that link to oxidative stress. However, pathways that regulate the response to metabolic stress are not fully understood. To identify novel genes involved in metabolic stress, our group performed an unbiased forward genetic screen for lipotoxicity resistance. My studies focused on characterizing one of the mutant cell lines isolated from this screen, in which promoter trap mutagenesis disrupted one allele of the small nucleolar RNA hosting gene 3 (Snhg3). I demonstrate that diminished expression …


Cancer Epigenome Reprogramming, Jennifer Ann Karlow Dec 2021

Cancer Epigenome Reprogramming, Jennifer Ann Karlow

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The identification of recurrent genetic mutations in cancer and their functionalcharacterization has provided a strong foundation for our understanding of tumorigenesis. The more recent observation of recurrent and specific epigenetic changes also present in cancer has widened this view, now establishing cancer as a disease of both genetic and epigenetic misregulation. Enhancers, genomic regions primarily responsible for tissue-specific gene expression, have been shown to be frequent targets of both genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. The observation that DNA methylation within regulatory regions has traditionally correlated with reduced gene expression, coupled with the known role of enhancers in regulating tissuespecific gene expression, …


Influence Of Focal Activity On Macroscale Brain Dynamics In Health And Disease, Zachary Pollack Rosenthal Dec 2021

Influence Of Focal Activity On Macroscale Brain Dynamics In Health And Disease, Zachary Pollack Rosenthal

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Macroscopic recordings of brain activity (e.g. fMRI, EEG) are a sensitive biomarker of the neural networks supporting neurocognitive function. However, it remains largely unclear what mechanisms mediate changes in macroscale networks after focal brain injuries like stroke, seizure, and TBI. Recently, optical neuroimaging in animal models has emerged as a powerful tool to begin addressing these questions. Using widefield imaging of cortical calcium dynamics in mice, this dissertation investigates the mechanisms by which focal disruptions in activity alter brain-wide functional dynamics. In two chapters, I demonstrate 1) that focal sensory stimulation elicits state-dependent, global slow waves propagating from primary somatosensory …


Dissecting The Molecular Mechanism Of Familial Cardiomyopathies, Sarah Ruth Clippinger Schulte Dec 2021

Dissecting The Molecular Mechanism Of Familial Cardiomyopathies, Sarah Ruth Clippinger Schulte

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Familial cardiomyopathies, including hypertrophic (HCM), restrictive (RCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), are the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young people. These diseases, which are characterized by altered cardiac contractility and remodeling of the heart, can lead to heart failure. These diseases are primarily caused by point mutations in sarcomeric proteins that generate or regulate heart contraction, such as troponin T. In the heart, the troponin complex together with tropomyosin lie along the actin filament and regulate myosin’s ability to bind actin and produce force. Here I show how mutations in troponin T affect contractility at the molecular level …


On Arousal And The Internal Regulation Of Brain Function: Theory And Evidence Across Modalities And Species, Ryan Raut Dec 2021

On Arousal And The Internal Regulation Of Brain Function: Theory And Evidence Across Modalities And Species, Ryan Raut

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The brain is an organ. It is subject to the same physiological regulatory processes that engage the rest of the body’s organs, sculpted over hundreds of millions of years to sustain life so effectively. The central message of this thesis is that the holistic functioning of the brain, rather than operating at some level above or independent from these systemic regulatory processes, is deeply related to them. In short, as our limited attention spans might suggest: brain function is internally regulated. I propose that this internal regulation is a primary function of intrinsic brain activity. Chapter 2 provides a theoretical …


Structural Variants Are A Major Source Of Gene Expression Differences In Humans And Often Affect Multiple Nearby Genes, Alexandra Jane Scott Dec 2021

Structural Variants Are A Major Source Of Gene Expression Differences In Humans And Often Affect Multiple Nearby Genes, Alexandra Jane Scott

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Structural variants (SVs), including copy number variants (CNVs), balanced rearrangements, and mobile element insertions (MEIs), are an important source of diversity in the human genome but their functional effects are not well understood. SVs are technically difficult to detect and genotype1, and mapping is dependent on deep whole genome sequencing (WGS) which was, until recently, unaffordable for large cohorts. For these reasons SVs are not included in most genome-wide studies of functional variants, despite the fact that SVs are known causal agents in multiple clinical disorders2-16. However, recent advancements in high-throughput sequencing technologies that allow for widespread use of WGS, …


Deep Multi-Omics Investigations Elucidate Novel Oncogenesis Paradigms, Therapeutic Targets, And Mechanisms Of Treatment Resistance In Cancer, Daniel Cui Zhou Dec 2021

Deep Multi-Omics Investigations Elucidate Novel Oncogenesis Paradigms, Therapeutic Targets, And Mechanisms Of Treatment Resistance In Cancer, Daniel Cui Zhou

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Structural Analysis And Vaccine Efficacy Of Hla Mutants, Kelly Tomaszewski Dec 2021

Structural Analysis And Vaccine Efficacy Of Hla Mutants, Kelly Tomaszewski

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal of the human skin and also a major human pathogen. Currently, there has been no successful vaccine despite many approaches over the last two decades. S. aureus α-hemolysin (Hla), a potent cytotoxin, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of S. aureus diseases, through the activation of its receptor, ADAM10. We utilized three distinct Hla mutants with differing structural and ADAM10 binding properties to examine for vaccine efficacy. Our studies have demonstrated immunization with each vaccine candidate antigens provided significant protection against S. aureus skin infection yet elicited distinguishable immune responses. We have also generated …


Phenotyping And Preclinical Meta-Analysis Of Behavioral Outcomes From Complete Freund’S Adjuvant-Induced Inflammatory Pain In The Rodent Hind-Paw, Dominika J. Burek Aug 2021

Phenotyping And Preclinical Meta-Analysis Of Behavioral Outcomes From Complete Freund’S Adjuvant-Induced Inflammatory Pain In The Rodent Hind-Paw, Dominika J. Burek

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Pain and opioid use disorder prevalence, diagnoses of mental health disorders, and rate of suicide have all skyrocketed over the last 30 years as a matrix of public health crises. Each reduces quality of life and installs risk of the others; together, they have burdened our country with nearly unmanageable healthcare challenges. Although the critical demand for novel and more effective therapeutics has been clear for decades, relatively little progress has been made to address pain and its comorbidities. Repeated clinical trial failures have called into question the preclinical evidence upon which they are based. Preclinical models of pain-induced negative …


The Immunoregulation Of Autoimmune Diabetes, Hao Hu Aug 2021

The Immunoregulation Of Autoimmune Diabetes, Hao Hu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

How autoimmune diseases are regulated is a long-term research topic in the autoimmunity field. We use autoimmune diabetes as a model to study this. Autoimmune diabetes is a T cell-dependent autoimmune syndrome. The functions of T cells are regulated during their development and activation. Developmentally, T cells will undergo a stringent thymic selection: a process that self-reactive T cells are tolerized to become thymic derived Tregs or can be deleted by apoptosis based on binding affinity and avidity between the TCRs and self-peptide:MHC complexes. After T cells mature, they can also be tolerized in the periphery in many other ways, …


Copper-Mediated Regulation Of A Traditional Iron Uptake System In Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli., George Lwanga Katumba Aug 2021

Copper-Mediated Regulation Of A Traditional Iron Uptake System In Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli., George Lwanga Katumba

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Transition metals constitute an important part of the host-pathogen interface. Iron is an essential nutrient that functions as a cofactor for numerous bacterial and host proteins, as either a ligand for oxygen in carrier proteins or an enzyme catalytic site due to its natural redox properties. As part of the innate immune response, infected hosts sequester iron from pathogens to limit their growth, a phenomenon known as nutritional immunity. On the other hand, copper ions are deployed at infection sites as a potent antimicrobial agent to kill bacteria. The ability to survive within multiple, often harsh, microenvironments is fundamental to …


The Evolutionary History Of Camelina Crantz (Brassicaceae) And Domestication Of The Biofuel Crop, C. Sativa (L.) Crantz, Jordan Brock Aug 2021

The Evolutionary History Of Camelina Crantz (Brassicaceae) And Domestication Of The Biofuel Crop, C. Sativa (L.) Crantz, Jordan Brock

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The mustard family, Brassicaceae, is a large and economically important group of plants comprising ~350 genera and ~4060 species. Within the family, one genus, Camelina, has been neglected and nearly forgotten until recent decades. This genus comprises between 7 – 9 species, and includes Camelina sativa, an ancient oilseed crop cultivated for thousands of years in Europe. An allohexaploid, C. sativa contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and a seed oil composition amenable for production of aviation jet fuel. With a short generation time and ability to be cultivated on marginal soils with few inputs, C. sativa is set …