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2012

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Articles 1111 - 1140 of 1224

Full-Text Articles in Biology

The Role Of Clay Minerals In The Transformation Of E. Coli, Ekaterini Porttellou Jan 2012

The Role Of Clay Minerals In The Transformation Of E. Coli, Ekaterini Porttellou

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Glia-Mediated Neurodegeneration In The Drosophila Melanogaster Cns, Ivan J. Santiago Jan 2012

Glia-Mediated Neurodegeneration In The Drosophila Melanogaster Cns, Ivan J. Santiago

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Role Of Glia Subsets In Neurodegeneration And Life Span Reduction; Gain-Of-Function Phenotypes Following Glia Specific Overexpression Of Rap/Fzr, An Activator Of The Anaphase-Promoting Complex, Amandeep Kaur Jan 2012

Role Of Glia Subsets In Neurodegeneration And Life Span Reduction; Gain-Of-Function Phenotypes Following Glia Specific Overexpression Of Rap/Fzr, An Activator Of The Anaphase-Promoting Complex, Amandeep Kaur

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Φ 6 Polymerase Conformation; Rna Packaging Portal Stability., Elena Futerman Jan 2012

Φ 6 Polymerase Conformation; Rna Packaging Portal Stability., Elena Futerman

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Anatomical Analysis Of The Feedback Projections From Extrastriate Cortex To Area 18 In Ferret Visual Cortex, Moody Saint Louis Jan 2012

Anatomical Analysis Of The Feedback Projections From Extrastriate Cortex To Area 18 In Ferret Visual Cortex, Moody Saint Louis

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to characterize the cortical inputs to area 18 of ferret visual cerebral cortex. Contrary to feedforward connections, feedback connections are presumed to have a modulatory influence on the responses of lower order neurons providing information already processed. Input from feedback connections can supposedly elicit changes in the response to stimuli within the receptive field and may be involved in the role of discriminating objects relative to the background. The aim of our set of experiments was to fully analyze and compare the anatomical characteristics of feedback connections to area 18 from extrastriate areas as …


The Molecular And Genetic Characterization Of L(3)Hem2 And L(3)Hem1, Putative Novel Alleles Of The Neurogenic Gene, Neuralized, Maria A. Otazo Jan 2012

The Molecular And Genetic Characterization Of L(3)Hem2 And L(3)Hem1, Putative Novel Alleles Of The Neurogenic Gene, Neuralized, Maria A. Otazo

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Aging, Stem Cells And The Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis, Dave Comstock Jan 2012

Aging, Stem Cells And The Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis, Dave Comstock

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Morphological And Neuroanatomical Changes Associated With The Induction Of Neurodegeneration And Life Span Reduction In Drosophila Melanogaster By Glia Targeted Expression Of Cdh1/Rap/Fzr, An Activator Of The Anaphase Promoting Complex, Israel Nnah Jan 2012

Morphological And Neuroanatomical Changes Associated With The Induction Of Neurodegeneration And Life Span Reduction In Drosophila Melanogaster By Glia Targeted Expression Of Cdh1/Rap/Fzr, An Activator Of The Anaphase Promoting Complex, Israel Nnah

Dissertations and Theses

"The retina aberrant in pattern (rap) gene encodes the Fizzy-related protein (Fzr), an activator of the E3 ubiquitin ligase complex: the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C). APC/C facilitates the cell cycle stage-specific degradation of cyclins and other mitotic regulators, resulting in the inactivation of Cdk (Cyclin Dependent Kinase) complexes, thus promoting completion of mitosis. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that Rap/Fzr (the Drosophila homolog of the mammalian Cdh1) regulates glia differentiation and promotes neuron formation. Recent studies have shown that the glia specific over expression of Rap/Fzr causes progressive neurodegeneration and life span reduction preceded by temperature sensitive paralysis, …


The Tree Biodiversity Network (Biotree-Net): Prospects For Biodiversity Research And Conservation In The Neotropics, Luis Cayuela, Lucía Gálvez-Bravo, Ramón Pérez Pérez, Fábio S. De Albuquerque, Duncan J. Golicher, Rakan A. Zahawi, Neptalí Ramírez-Marcial, Cristina Garibaldi, Richard Field, José M. Rey Benayas, Mario González-Espinosa, Patricia Balvanera, Miguel Ángel Casto;;P, Blanca L. Figueroa-Rangel, Daniel M. Griffith, Gerald A. Islebe, Daniel L. Kelly, Miguel Olvera-Vargas, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Eduardo Velázquez, Guadalupe Williams-Linera, Steven W. Brewer, Angélica Camacho-Cruz, Indiana Coronado, Ben De Jong, Íñigo Granzow-De La Cerda, Javier Fernández, William Fonseca, Luis Galindo-Jaimes, Thomas W. Gillespie, Benigno González-Rivas, James E. Gordon, Johanna Hurtado, José Linares, Susan G. Letcher, Scott A. Mangan, Jorge A. Meave, Ernesto V. Méndez, Victor Meza, Susana Ochoa-Gaona, Chris J. Peterson, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Kymberley A. Snarr, Fernando Tun Dzul, Mirna Valdez-Hernández, Karin M. Viergever, David A. White, John N. Williams, Francisco J. Bonet, Regino Zamora Jan 2012

The Tree Biodiversity Network (Biotree-Net): Prospects For Biodiversity Research And Conservation In The Neotropics, Luis Cayuela, Lucía Gálvez-Bravo, Ramón Pérez Pérez, Fábio S. De Albuquerque, Duncan J. Golicher, Rakan A. Zahawi, Neptalí Ramírez-Marcial, Cristina Garibaldi, Richard Field, José M. Rey Benayas, Mario González-Espinosa, Patricia Balvanera, Miguel Ángel Casto;;P, Blanca L. Figueroa-Rangel, Daniel M. Griffith, Gerald A. Islebe, Daniel L. Kelly, Miguel Olvera-Vargas, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Eduardo Velázquez, Guadalupe Williams-Linera, Steven W. Brewer, Angélica Camacho-Cruz, Indiana Coronado, Ben De Jong, Íñigo Granzow-De La Cerda, Javier Fernández, William Fonseca, Luis Galindo-Jaimes, Thomas W. Gillespie, Benigno González-Rivas, James E. Gordon, Johanna Hurtado, José Linares, Susan G. Letcher, Scott A. Mangan, Jorge A. Meave, Ernesto V. Méndez, Victor Meza, Susana Ochoa-Gaona, Chris J. Peterson, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Kymberley A. Snarr, Fernando Tun Dzul, Mirna Valdez-Hernández, Karin M. Viergever, David A. White, John N. Williams, Francisco J. Bonet, Regino Zamora

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Biodiversity research and conservation efforts in the tropics are hindered by the lack of knowledge of the assemblages found there, with many species undescribed or poorly known. Our initiative, the Tree Biodiversity Network (BIOTREE-NET), aims to address this problem by assembling georeferenced data from a wide range of sources, making these data easily accessible and easily queried, and promoting data sharing. The database (GIVD ID NA-00-002) currently comprises ca. 50,000 tree records of ca. 5,000 species (230 in the IUCN Red List) from >2,000 forest plots in 11 countries. The focus is on trees because of their pivotal role in …


The Versatile Molecular Complex Component Lc8 Promotes Several Distinct Steps Of Flagellar Assembly, Anjali Gupta, Dennis R. Diener, Priyanka Sivadas, Joel L. Rosenbaum, Pinfen Yang Jan 2012

The Versatile Molecular Complex Component Lc8 Promotes Several Distinct Steps Of Flagellar Assembly, Anjali Gupta, Dennis R. Diener, Priyanka Sivadas, Joel L. Rosenbaum, Pinfen Yang

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

LC8 is present in various molecular complexes. However, its role in these complexes remains unclear. We discovered that although LC8 is a subunit of the radial spoke (RS) complex in Chlamydomonas flagella, it was undetectable in the RS precursor that is converted into the mature RS at the tip of elongating axonemes. Interestingly, LC8 dimers bound in tandem to the N-terminal region of a spoke phosphoprotein, RS protein 3 (RSP3), that docks RSs to axonemes. LC8 enhanced the binding of RSP3 N-terminal fragments to purified axonemes. Likewise, the N-terminal fragments extracted from axonemes contained LC8 and putative spoke-docking proteins. Lastly, …


Whatchu Breathin'?: Sick Building Syndrome And Seasonal Occurrence Of Fungi, Jessica Stapleton Jan 2012

Whatchu Breathin'?: Sick Building Syndrome And Seasonal Occurrence Of Fungi, Jessica Stapleton

Masters Theses

This study was designed to evaluate the presence of sick building syndrome in a classroom at Unity High School (Mendon, Illinois) and contrast differences in the number of fungal spores per cubic meter of air in different rooms in the building and between seasons. Air and surface samples were taken to analyze the number of fungal spores per cubic meter and to evaluate generic fungal diversity. Factors influencing the number of fungal spores per cubic meter and genera of fungal isolates were year-round temperature control in the classroom and the presence or absence of students. Some of the fungi isolated …


Bioavailability, Bioaccumulation, And Trophic Transfer Of Trace Metals In The Tims Branch-Steed Pond Tributary, Paul Gethyn Edwards Jan 2012

Bioavailability, Bioaccumulation, And Trophic Transfer Of Trace Metals In The Tims Branch-Steed Pond Tributary, Paul Gethyn Edwards

Masters Theses

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) is a 777 km2 former nuclear weapon material production and current research facility located along the Savannah River in west-central South Carolina. In 1954, direct environmental discharges were released from "M-Area", a fuel and aluminum-clad Uranium (U) nuclear reactor target manufacturing facility through a drainage ditch into the Tims Branch-Steed Pond water system. The wastewater discharges released into Tims Branch contained large volumes of inorganic wastes including depleted and natural U, aluminum (Al), and Nickel (Ni) along with smaller quantities of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), and …


Leptodactylus Pentadactylus, Miriam M. Heyer, W. R. Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá Jan 2012

Leptodactylus Pentadactylus, Miriam M. Heyer, W. R. Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Adult Leptodactylus pentadactylus (Figure 1) are large, the head is about as wide as long, and the hind limbs are moderately long (Table 1; Heyer and Thompson [2000] provided definitions of adult size and leg length categories for Leptodactylus). Male vocal sacs are not visible externally or are moderately expanded as a single sac. Sexually active males usually do not have hypertrophied forearms (the largest male examined, 195 mm SVL, has very weakly hypertrophied forearms), only the largest males have a single small to moderate size black spine on each thumb. No males have chest spines. Dorsolateral folds are …


Egg Recognition And Cowbird Egg Ejection Behavior In The American Robin (Turdus Migratorius), Allison Karlien Lang Jan 2012

Egg Recognition And Cowbird Egg Ejection Behavior In The American Robin (Turdus Migratorius), Allison Karlien Lang

Masters Theses

American Robins (Turdus migratorius) typically eject parasitic cowbird eggs from their nests. In order to successfully remove parasitic eggs, robins must first be able to differentiate between their own and foreign eggs and then remove the unwanted egg(s). This study addressed these behaviors. A robin's ability to recognize its own eggs was tested by adding artificial cowbird eggs to robin nests at various parasite-tohost egg ratios which created three treatments: (1) a majority of robin eggs in the nest, (2) an equal number of robin and cowbird eggs, and (3) a majority of cowbird eggs. At 89% of nests (51 …


Comparison Of Silver Carp Population Demographics In An Impounded And A Free Flowing River, Jason G. Stuck Jan 2012

Comparison Of Silver Carp Population Demographics In An Impounded And A Free Flowing River, Jason G. Stuck

Masters Theses

The silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, is an invasive species that has received increased attention due to the proximity of the population in the Illinois River to the economically important Great Lakes and the species ability to dominate the aquatic biomass of an ecosystem. We sought to assess the population demographics of silver carp on two different river ecosystems, the Illinois River and Wabash River. The Illinois River is channelized and dammed for commercial barges, whereas the Wabash River is the longest free flowing river east of the Mississippi River and is still connected to its natural flood plain. Silver carp …


Effect Of Predation Risk And Food Availability On Parental Care And Nest Survival In Suburban And Wildland Florida Scrub-Jays, Joseph M. Niederhauser Jan 2012

Effect Of Predation Risk And Food Availability On Parental Care And Nest Survival In Suburban And Wildland Florida Scrub-Jays, Joseph M. Niederhauser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individual organisms often use cues from their natural environments to determine many behavioral and life-history "decisions." These "decisions" are usually adaptive, i.e. a response to selection, because the environmental cues on which they are based reliably correlate with increased fitness over time. When the selected behavioral response to a natural cue no longer provides a fitness benefit, then selection for a new response may occur but individuals maintaining the previously selected response may suffer reduced survival and reproduction. Especially in human-modified landscapes individuals making a maladaptive behavioral or life-history choice based on those formerly reliable environmental cues may be faced …


Fine-Scale Geographic Variation Of Stable Isotope And Fatty Acid Signatures Of Three Fish Species In The Indian River Lagoon, Fl, Jennifer Fletcher Odom Jan 2012

Fine-Scale Geographic Variation Of Stable Isotope And Fatty Acid Signatures Of Three Fish Species In The Indian River Lagoon, Fl, Jennifer Fletcher Odom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon, Florida, is a unique closed “bar built” estuary system that has little interchange with the Atlantic Ocean and which is home to many resident species. Three fish species were investigated to see if their isotopic and fatty acid signatures differed based on geographic location. The goal was to assess the degree of resolution of spatial variation that is possible when using stable isotope and fatty acid signature analysis to interpret feeding habits and potential linkages between feeding habits and health status. Spotted seatrout (n=40), pinfish (n=60) and white mullet (n=60) were collected over a 4 week …


Dispersal, Gene Flow, And Adaptive Evolution During Invasion: Testing Range-Limit Theory With The Asian Tiger Mosquito, Kimberly Medley Jan 2012

Dispersal, Gene Flow, And Adaptive Evolution During Invasion: Testing Range-Limit Theory With The Asian Tiger Mosquito, Kimberly Medley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the factors that make non-native species successful invaders is an important step towards mitigating spread. At the same time, species invasions can serve as natural experiments to test range-limit theory. Range-limit theory postulates declines in local abundance (abundant center model) and genetic diversity (central-peripheral hypothesis) towards range edges because of underlying environmental gradients. Such declines constrain adaptation to marginal habitats via gene swamping. However, broader evolutionary theory predicts intermediate rates of immigration into range-edge populations can relieve genetic drift and improve adaptive potential. I tested hypotheses generated from theory while illuminating aspects affecting of the invasion of the Asian …


Quantifying The Impacts Of Oyster Reef Restoration On Oyster Coverage, Wave Attenuation And Seagrass Fragment Retention In Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, Stephanie Garvis Jan 2012

Quantifying The Impacts Of Oyster Reef Restoration On Oyster Coverage, Wave Attenuation And Seagrass Fragment Retention In Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, Stephanie Garvis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project was to determine the effects of oyster reef restoration on oyster coverage, wave height dissipation and seagrass recruitment. First, to assess the current versus historical coverage of natural, dead and restored oyster reefs within Mosquito Lagoon, aerial photographs from 2009, provided by Saint Johns River Water Management District, were digitized using ArcGIS software. Live reefs, restored reefs and dead reefs were screen digitized using a reef ‘signature’ in order to estimate the area of each type of reef. The 2009 maps were used as a guide to digitizing the historical aerial photographs (1943, 1951, 1967, …


Conservation And Population Biology: Genetics, Demography And Habitat Requirements Of The Atlantic Coast Beach Mice, Haakon Myklevoll Kalkvik Jan 2012

Conservation And Population Biology: Genetics, Demography And Habitat Requirements Of The Atlantic Coast Beach Mice, Haakon Myklevoll Kalkvik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The conservation biology field seeks to preserve biodiversity and the processes shaping that variation. Conservation biology is intimately tied to evolutionary research, in order to identify evolutionary distinct lineages that may be in danger of disappearing. Interestingly, patterns and processes of lineage divergence and persistence change with respect to spatial and temporal scale. I seek to evaluate biodiversity, the factors that have shaped this heterogeneity, and how this variability persists. To accomplish this I used a phylogeographic approach as well as niche and population modeling on the Peromyscus maniculatus species group found widely distributed in North America. My emphasis was …


Beyond Building A Tree: Phylogeny Of Pitvipers And Exploration Of Evolutionary Patterns, Allyson Fenwick Jan 2012

Beyond Building A Tree: Phylogeny Of Pitvipers And Exploration Of Evolutionary Patterns, Allyson Fenwick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As generic and higher-scale evolutionary relationships are increasingly well understood, systematists move research in two directions: 1) understanding specieslevel relationships with dense taxon sampling, and 2) evaluating evolutionary patterns using phylogeny. In this study I address both foci of systematic research using pitvipers, subfamily Crotalinae. For direction one, I evaluate the relationships of 96% of pitvipers by combining independent sets of molecular and phenotypic data. I find the inclusion of species with low numbers of informative characters (i.e. less than 100) negatively impacts resolution of the phylogeny, and the addition of independent datasets has no effect on or a small …


Biophysics, Environmental Stochasticity, And The Evolution Of Thermal Safety Margins In Intertidal Limpets, W. Wesley Dowd, M. W. Denny Jan 2012

Biophysics, Environmental Stochasticity, And The Evolution Of Thermal Safety Margins In Intertidal Limpets, W. Wesley Dowd, M. W. Denny

Biology Faculty Works

As the air temperature of the Earth rises, ecological relationships within a community might shift, in part due to differences in the thermal physiology of species. Prediction of these shifts – an urgent task for ecologists – will be complicated if thermal tolerance itself can rapidly evolve. Here, we employ a mechanistic approach to predict the potential for rapid evolution of thermal tolerance in the intertidal limpet Lottia gigantea. Using biophysical principles to predict body temperature as a function of the state of the environment, and an environmental bootstrap procedure to predict how the environment fluctuates through time, we create …


Biofilm Responses To Salmon Carcass Analog Addition In Central Idaho Streams, Jonathan D. Ebel Jan 2012

Biofilm Responses To Salmon Carcass Analog Addition In Central Idaho Streams, Jonathan D. Ebel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Pacific salmon populations have declined due to human activity in the Pacific Northwest, resulting in decreased delivery of marine-derived nutrients to streams. Managers use artificial nutrient additions to increase juvenile salmon growth and survival and assume that added nutrients stimulate biofilm production, which propagates up the food web to juvenile salmon. We assessed biofilm responses (standing crop, nutrient limitation, and metabolism) to experimental additions of salmon carcass analog in tributaries of the Salmon River, Idaho in 2010 and 2011. Biofilm standing crop and nutrient limitation did not respond to analog, but primary productivity and respiration increased in the subset of …


Antimicrobial Metallic Copper Surfaces Kill Staphylococcus Haemolyticus Via Membrane Damage, Christophe Espirito Santo, Davide Quaranta, Gregor Grass Jan 2012

Antimicrobial Metallic Copper Surfaces Kill Staphylococcus Haemolyticus Via Membrane Damage, Christophe Espirito Santo, Davide Quaranta, Gregor Grass

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Recently, copper (Cu) in its metallic form has regained interest for its antimicrobial properties. Use of metallic Cu surfaces in worldwide hospital trials resulted in remarkable reductions in surface contaminations. Yet, our understanding of why microbes are killed upon contact to the metal is still limited and different modes of action have been proposed. This knowledge, however, is crucial for sustained use of such surfaces in hospitals and other hygiene-sensitive areas. Here, we report on the molecular mechanisms by which the Gram-positive Staphylococcus haemolyticus is inactivated by metallic Cu. Staphylococcus haemolyticus was killed within minutes on Cu but not on …


Leptin Promotes Glioblastoma , Johnathan Lawrence, Nicholas J. Cook, Richard A. Rovin, Robert J. Winn Jan 2012

Leptin Promotes Glioblastoma , Johnathan Lawrence, Nicholas J. Cook, Richard A. Rovin, Robert J. Winn

Journal Articles

The hormone leptin has a variety of functions. Originally known for its role in satiety and weight loss, leptin more recently has been shown to augment tumor growth in a variety of cancers. Within gliomas, there is a correlation between tumor grade and tumor expression of leptin and its receptor. This suggests that autocrine signaling within the tumor microenvironment may promote the growth of high-grade gliomas. Leptin does this through stimulation of cellular pathways that are also advantageous for tumor growth and recurrence: antiapoptosis, proliferation, angiogenesis, and migration. Conversely, a loss of leptin expression attenuates tumor growth. In animal models …


The Freshwater Crabs Of Ethiopia, Northeastern Africa, With The Description Of A New Potamonautes Cave Species , Neil Cumberlidge, Paul F. Clark Jan 2012

The Freshwater Crabs Of Ethiopia, Northeastern Africa, With The Description Of A New Potamonautes Cave Species , Neil Cumberlidge, Paul F. Clark

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.


Life History Response To Infection And The Potential For Dishonest Signals In The Ground Cricket, Allonemobius Socius, Emily Copeland Jan 2012

Life History Response To Infection And The Potential For Dishonest Signals In The Ground Cricket, Allonemobius Socius, Emily Copeland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In order to maximize fitness, individuals must partition their limited resources among competing physiological processes, creating negative statistical associations between processes known as “life-history trade-offs”. Evidence indicates that individuals tend to decrease their reproductive investment when confronted with a significant immunological challenge in order to increase investment in immune defense. This trade-off is often accompanied by a significant decrease in the sexual signal, which provides an honest signal of the male’s infection status to potential mates. However, if individual residual reproductive value is low, they may instead increase their reproductive investment to maximize reproductive success before the end of their …


Effect Of Low Maternal Aldosterone On Offspring Cardiovascular Development, Travis Dean Mckee Jan 2012

Effect Of Low Maternal Aldosterone On Offspring Cardiovascular Development, Travis Dean Mckee

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Maternal conditions are well known to affect fetal cardiovascular development. This study was designed to investigate in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), the effects of maternal aldosterone suppression on the development of hypertension in the offspring. A sham procedure or a right adrenalectomy combined with cryodestruction of the zona glomerulosa of the left adrenal gland was performed on SHR females. The rats were mated and male offspring were implanted at 11-13 weeks of age with a PA-C40 remote monitoring device placed into the femoral artery to record cardiovascular parameters for 4 weeks. Systolic (mmHg), diastolic (mmHg), and mean blood pressure (mmHg), …


Influences Of Adjacent Land-Use On Avian Community Structure In Sub-Boreal Peatlands Of The Midwest, Lucas J. Wandrie Jan 2012

Influences Of Adjacent Land-Use On Avian Community Structure In Sub-Boreal Peatlands Of The Midwest, Lucas J. Wandrie

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Surrounding land use influences avian community structure; moreover, anthropogenic manipulation of habitat can alter bird species richness and composition. In the first chapter of my thesis work, I conducted avian surveys at 20 sub-boreal peatlands in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin to detect correlations between land development and bird community structure. Peatlands are wetlands that accumulate decaying organic plant material (peat) and provide valuable and diverse habitats to a variety of flora and fauna. I measured urban and cropland development at three spatial scales (500 m, 1000 m, and 2500 m radii). Effects of development on avian communities also were …


A Site Of Alcohol Action At The Nmda Receptor M3-M4 Domain Interface, Hong Ren, Yuanhao Zhao, D.S Dwyer, Robert W. Peoples Jan 2012

A Site Of Alcohol Action At The Nmda Receptor M3-M4 Domain Interface, Hong Ren, Yuanhao Zhao, D.S Dwyer, Robert W. Peoples

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor is a major target of ethanol in the brain. Previous studies have identified positions in the third and fourth membrane-associated (M) domains of the NMDA receptor GluN1 and GluN2A subunits that influence alcohol sensitivity. The structural model of the NMDA receptor, predicted from the structure of the related GluA2 subunit, indicates a close apposition of the alcohol-sensitive positions in M3 and M4 between the two subunit types. We investigated possible interactions between the M3 and M4 domain positions of the two subunit types affecting the ethanol sensitivity of the receptor by using dual substitution mutants. …