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

Biology Commons

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

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Biology

Examination Of Methylation Status And Occupancy Of Dna Methylation Modifying Proteins On Regulatory Regions Of The Dax-1 Gene, Caroline P. Riedstra Aug 2021

Examination Of Methylation Status And Occupancy Of Dna Methylation Modifying Proteins On Regulatory Regions Of The Dax-1 Gene, Caroline P. Riedstra

Master's Theses

Epigenetic modifications influence gene expression and thereby play a pivotal role in development and disease. Misregulation and mutations in the DAX-1 gene, or Dosage-Sensitive Sex Reversal, Adrenal Hypoplasia Congenita, Critical Region on the X chromosome, gene 1, have been implicated in Adrenal Hypoplasia Congenita (AHC) and Dosage Sensitive Sex Reversal (DSS). The orphan nuclear hormone receptor DAX-1 is expressed predominantly in tissues such as the testes, ovaries, breast, adrenal cortex, and lung. Critically, DAX-1 may serve as an indicator of aberrant growth in these tissues. Here we hypothesize that DAX-1 is epigenetically regulated, specifically in cancer cells, thereby reducing its …


Assessing Seasonal Changes In Body Condition For Spotted (Phoca Largha), Ringed (Pusa Hispida), And Bearded (Erignathus Barbatus) Seals, Michelle Hartwick Aug 2020

Assessing Seasonal Changes In Body Condition For Spotted (Phoca Largha), Ringed (Pusa Hispida), And Bearded (Erignathus Barbatus) Seals, Michelle Hartwick

Master's Theses

Anthropogenic global warming is causing unprecedented changes to occur within Arctic ecosystems. As sea ice continues to decline in both thickness and extent, ice-adapted species will be particularly affected. Specifically, Arctic seals are reliant on sea ice during critical life-history stages and many of their preferred prey depend on reliable patterns in annual sea ice cover. Thus, ongoing changes will likely affect the ability of Arctic seals to carry out key life-history tasks and maintain positive energy balance. One way to assess energy reserves is through examination of body condition. For seals, this is often done by measuring overall blubber …


Investigating The Relationship Between Hormone Receptors Dax-1 And Estrogen Receptor Within Prostate Cancer Cell Lines, Meghana G. Vijayraghavan Dec 2019

Investigating The Relationship Between Hormone Receptors Dax-1 And Estrogen Receptor Within Prostate Cancer Cell Lines, Meghana G. Vijayraghavan

Master's Theses

Prostate cancer (PCa) is estimated to be the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the United States in 2019. While most prostate tumors rely on androgens for growth signaling, there are subsets of tumors that become androgen-resistant, therefore resisting conventional androgen-depravation therapy. Consequently, research has focused on targeting different hormone receptors for novel therapeutics. One such receptor is Dosage-sensitive sex reversal, adrenal hypoplasia critical region, on chromosome X, gene 1 (DAX-1). DAX-1 is known to interact with other hormone receptors, such as androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptors (ERs) to suppress the proliferative effects …


Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), Madelene Shehan May 2019

Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), Madelene Shehan

Master's Theses

The ubiquity of play among juvenile mammals suggests it provides adaptive benefits, potentially through influences on the development of temperament in young animals. Juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) must balance competing demands for boldness and caution imposed by the fundamental trade-off between their short active season and their vulnerability to predation. In this study, I evaluated whether play helps to facilitate the development of an appropriate balance between boldness and caution in juvenile U. beldingi.I observed the play behavior of juvenile U. beldingiand conducted flight-initiation distance tests to measure boldness-caution at the beginning and toward …


Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data Of South And Southeast Asian Amphibians, Alexandra Gonzalez May 2018

Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data Of South And Southeast Asian Amphibians, Alexandra Gonzalez

Master's Theses

In the midst of the sixth mass extinction event which is currently underway, it appears that amphibians are one of the most impacted vertebrates. Over 6,500 amphibian species are listed on the IUCN Red List (an assessment tool which provides species’ conservation status, perceived threats, and distribution range). While it is well-known that populations under multiple stressors are more likely to undergo significant declines, there are little to no resources available for visualizing how these threats may work synergistically and interact within a species’ range. This is especially the case for Southeast Asian amphibians, which much less attention has been …


The Role Of Orphan Nuclear Receptor Dax-1 (Nr0b1) In Human Breast Cancer Cells: Expression, Proliferation And Metastasis, Erin Dishington Dec 2017

The Role Of Orphan Nuclear Receptor Dax-1 (Nr0b1) In Human Breast Cancer Cells: Expression, Proliferation And Metastasis, Erin Dishington

Master's Theses

The orphan nuclear hormone receptor DAX-1 (Dosage Sensitive Sex Reversal, Adrenal Hypoplasia Congenita on the X Chromosome, gene 1) plays an important role in the development of adrenal and gonadal tissues and functions as a global negative-regulator of steroidogenesis. In addition, it is known to be involved in several diseases including some cancers. Herein, we describe our examination of the role of DAX-1 in breast cancer, specifically its influence on proliferation and metastasis and its expression during progressive stages of disease. In an effort to understand how DAX-1 influences breast cancer cell proliferation and metastasis, we used MCF7 breast cancer …


The Roles Of Human Cytomegalovirus Us27 Gene Product During Virus Infection, Carolyn C. Tu Aug 2015

The Roles Of Human Cytomegalovirus Us27 Gene Product During Virus Infection, Carolyn C. Tu

Master's Theses

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread pathogen that causes lifelong latent infection. Successful persistence of HCMV in healthy individuals involves extensive manipulation of host cellular functions and immune responses. HCMV encodes four genes for putative G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs): US27, US28, UL33, and UL78. The US28 gene product is a functional chemokine receptor that exhibits a variety of signaling outcomes. In contrast, the US27 gene product is an orphan with no known chemokine ligands. We have found that US27 triggers several biological effects: increased cellular proliferation, changes in gene expression, and enhanced signaling of cellular chemokine receptor CXCR4. Enhanced cell …


Transcriptional Regulation By Dax-1 In Pluripotent And Differentiated Cells, Alexandra C. Maramba May 2015

Transcriptional Regulation By Dax-1 In Pluripotent And Differentiated Cells, Alexandra C. Maramba

Master's Theses

DAX-1, an orphan nuclear hormone receptor, acts mainly as a repressor through transcriptional protein complexes. Its unique structure and specific expression raises questions as to what its precise interactions are and how it mediates its repressive function. While it is known to play a role in sexual development and adrenal insufficiency, expression in certain types of cancer suggests additional functions and interactions. Knock in of DAX-1 into a low-DAX-1 expressing cancer cell line has been previously observed to increase apoptosis, while, inversely, down in a high-DAX-1 expressing cancer cell line shows a decrease in apoptosis. Target genes that belong to …


Detection Of Hcmv Viral Il-10 (Vil-10) In Healthy Blood Donors, Vivian P. Young May 2015

Detection Of Hcmv Viral Il-10 (Vil-10) In Healthy Blood Donors, Vivian P. Young

Master's Theses

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is widespread in the general population and can establish lifelong latency with expression of a limited subset of viral genes. The UL111A gene is expressed during both lytic and latent infection, and at least two protein isoforms are produced. During lytic infection, the full length transcript yields cmvIL-10, a potent immunosuppressive viral ortholog of human IL-10 (hIL-10). Alternative splicing of the UL111A transcript yields a truncated protein, LAcmvIL-10, which is expressed during both lytic and latent infection but with a limited range of immunosuppressive functions. The two viral cytokines, collectively termed viral IL-10 (vIL-10), are identical in …


Epigenetic Regulation Of Nuclear Hormone Receptor Dax-1, Michael B. Heskett Dec 2014

Epigenetic Regulation Of Nuclear Hormone Receptor Dax-1, Michael B. Heskett

Master's Theses

DAX-1 (NR0B1) is an orphan nuclear receptor that plays a key role in the development and maintenance of steroidogenic tissue in mammals. Dax-1 is also expressed in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and is required to maintain pluripotency. Duplication of the X-chromosome in the region containing the NR0B1 gene results in sex reversal, and mutations in NR0B1 cause adrenal hypoplasia congenita. DAX-1 has been observed to act as a corepressor of other nuclear receptors including androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor (ER), and steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1). In addition to pluripotent ES cells, DAX-1 is primarily expressed in select tissues of …


Examining The Role Of Dax-1 In Regulation Of Cell Proliferation In Human Breast Cells, Amy E. Scandurra Dec 2014

Examining The Role Of Dax-1 In Regulation Of Cell Proliferation In Human Breast Cells, Amy E. Scandurra

Master's Theses

DAX-1 is a member of the Nuclear Hormone Receptor superfamily and acts as a transcriptional repressor. DAX-1 plays an important role in the development of adrenal and gonadal tissues. In addition to its role in normal cell development and differentiation, DAX-1 appears to have some influence on the progression of cancer. This work aims to examine the role of DAX-1 in regulation of proliferation in breast cancer. In our study, we have expressed DAX-1 in a DAX-1 deficient breast cancer cell line as well as knocked down DAX-1 expression in normal DAX-1 positive breast cells. Through these experiments, we were …


Determining Parentage And The Effects Of Relatedness On Play Partner Preference In Belding's Ground Squirrels, Jessica Weidenbach Dec 2013

Determining Parentage And The Effects Of Relatedness On Play Partner Preference In Belding's Ground Squirrels, Jessica Weidenbach

Master's Theses

I investigated 1) multiple paternity in Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) and 2) social partner preferences in juvenile U. beldingi. Prior work with blood allozymes demonstrated multiple paternity in U. beldingi litters. I evaluated paternity using microsatellite DNA analysis, which is more accurate than examining blood allozymes. My results indicate that multiple paternity in U. beldingi is more extensive than previously shown, occurring in about 90% of litters with more than one juvenile, and averaging 2.95 fathers in multiply sired litters. I also evaluated the hypothesis that play and other social behavior promotes bonding among juvenile female …


Effects Of Experience On Maternal Behavior In Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus Beldingi): Older And Wiser?, Mikael Langner May 2009

Effects Of Experience On Maternal Behavior In Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus Beldingi): Older And Wiser?, Mikael Langner

Master's Theses

Maternal behavior is an important behavior because it influences whether or not raising one’s offspring is successful. Maternal experience is positively correlated with successful maternal behavior. This association is evident when comparing first-time mothers with mothers who have prior experience raising young. Life experience not related to raising young can also positively influence maternal behavior. In this work, the hypothesis that is tested is whether or not maternal experience enhances the ability of a female to assess the threat level of a situation. The model species used to conduct the study is the Belding ground squirrel (Spermophilus beldingi), …