Biology Commons^™

Genetic Determinants Of Variation In The Gh/Igf-1 Axis And Their Relationship To Cardiometabolic Health, Rafael Luis Aguirre Guillen

Theses and Dissertations

Background: In a study of Mexican Americans, we performed analyses of GEI and pleiotropy in the axis in relation to MS. GH/IGF-1 axis components were studied. Model parameters and likelihoods were estimated by maximum likelihood.

Results: Pleiotropy was observed for IGFBP3 (p

Conclusions: IGF-I and IGFBP3 are genetically correlated with MS whereas MS influences the additive genetic variance in IGFBP1 variables mainly but also in IGF-I somewhat by virtue of the VH exhibited by IGF-I/IGFBP1.

Genetics And Morphology Of Invasive Tubastraea Species Within The Gulf Of Mexico: A Case Study Of Species Misidentification And Distribution, Amelia E. Mcclure

Theses and Dissertations

The invasive corals, Tubastraea coccinea and Tubastraea micrathus, are known to thrive in reefs within the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Many studies have indicated that species within this genus are spreading throughout the western Atlantic due to their successful invasion on degraded and artificial reef systems. In the Northern GOM, artificial reefs have been created from decommissioned oil rigs and sunken vessels to provide a hard substrate for coral growth. Although, this method is demonstrating success, it is also facilitating, the dispersal of undesired species. The species, T. coccinea and T. micranthus, were thought to be the only …

Uncovering The Zeb1 Interactome To Identify Novel Regulators Of Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Roxsan Manshouri

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, due in part to the robust affinity of lung cancer cells to metastasize. Understanding the processes that contribute to metastasis provides promise for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. Epithelial-tomesenchymal transition (EMT) is a proposed model for the initiation of metastasis. During EMT cell adhesion and polarity is reduced, allowing epithelial cancer cells to dissociate from the primary tumor and invade distant organs. The transcription factor zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) has been reported to uniquely correlate with NSCLC disease progression and to …

The Role Of Membrane Domains In Protein And Lipid Sorting During Endocytic Traffic, Blanca B. Diaz-Rohrer

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The lipid and protein composition of the plasma membrane (PM) must be tightly controlled to maintain cellular functionality, despite constant, rapid endocytosis. Because de novo synthesis of proteins and lipids is energetically costly, the cell depends on active recycling to return endocytosed membrane components back to the PM. For most proteins, the mechanisms and pathways of their PM retention remain unknown. The work presented here shows that association with ordered membrane microdomains is fully sufficient for PM recycling and that abrogation of raft partitioning leads to their degradation in lysosomes. These findings support a model wherein ordered membrane domains mediate …

Assessing The Rehabilitation Status Of The Reflooded Bahia Grande, Texas Based On Trace Gas Fluxes, Benthic Macroinvertebrates, And Fish Community Data Along Salinity And Seagrass Gradients, Catherine M. Eckert

Theses and Dissertations

The Bahia Grande is a 6,500-acre tidal basin located at the southernmost tip of Texas. Tidal flow into this coastal estuary was cut off by construction projects in the 1930s, causing the basin to dry up for ~70 years. In 2005, a pilot channel was built to reconnect the estuary to tidal waters, allowing the basin to refill. However, the pilot channel, in addition to other barriers within the basin, do not allow for adequate tidal exchange, leading to intermittent, extreme hypersalinity. Presumably because of the extreme hypersalinity in parts of the Bahia Grande, seagrass beds, which play vital roles …

Investigation Of The Amino Acids Responsible For Isomerase Activity Through Mutagenesis Of Bilin Lyase Mpew From Synechococcus Sp. A15-62, Kourtney Weaver

Senior Honors Theses

Synechococcus sp. A15-62 is a marine cyanobacterium that undergoes Type IV chromatic acclimation (CA4) by altering the bilin content of the phycobilisome (PBS) or light harvesting complex to match the light color of its environment. The PBS is a protein complex comprised of rods containing phycobiliproteins (PBP) and linker proteins. In this species, phycoerythrin I and phycoerythrin II (PEI and PEII) are the phycobiliproteins located on the distal ends of the rods and the alpha () subunits of these proteins are the ones with altered bilin content during CA4. Bilin chromophores such as phycoerythrobilin (PEB) and phycourobilin (PUB) are bound …

Exploring The Physiology And Evolution Of Hornworts, Tanner A. Robison

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Plants contain organelles called chloroplasts, which is where photosynthesis takes place. Chloroplasts also contain their own DNA, which is separate from the DNA in the nucleus. This DNA does not change much over evolutionary time, so it can be used to investigate relationships between organisms. Here we created a tool that makes it easier to analyze this chloroplast DNA as well making it easier to share complete chloroplast genomes on public databases. In addition, we also found a mobile element in the chloroplast DNA of a group of ferns, which appears to be driving structural changes in their genomes.

Neuromodulation With Electromagnetic Stimulation For Seizure Suppression: From Electrode To Magnetic Coil, Hui Ye, Stephanie Kaszuba

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Non-invasive brain tissue stimulation with a magnetic coil provides several irreplaceable advantages over that with an implanted electrode, in altering neural activities under pathological situations. We reviewed clinical cases that utilized time-varying magnetic fields for the treatment of epilepsy, and the safety issues related to this practice. Animal models have been developed to foster understanding of the cellular/molecular mechanisms underlying magnetic control of epileptic activity. These mechanisms include (but are not limited to) (1) direct membrane polarization by the magnetic field, (2) depolarization blockade by the deactivation of ion channels, (3) alteration in synaptic transmission, and (4) interruption of ephaptic …

Determining The Role Of Human Plasma In Amyloid Fiber Synthesis, Carlee Renee Confer

Theses and Dissertations

The presence of plaques and tangles in the human brain is a major feature observed in several neuropathological diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Due to the high morbidity and mortality rates of such diseases, research on the characteristics and functions of these highly ordered structures aims to expand the understanding of how the presence of these plaques lead to cognitive decline. Many studies have led to the development of models that suggest that the presence of amyloid plaques and tangles within the brain induce a cytotoxic cycle that results in the suffocation and death of neurons within the brain. A …

Transcriptomic Data Support A Nocturnal Bottleneck In The Ancestor Of Gecko Lizards, Brendan J. Pinto, Stuart V. Nielsen, Tony Gamble

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Gecko lizards are a species-rich clade of primarily-nocturnal squamate reptiles. In geckos, adaptations to nocturnality have dramatically reshaped the eye. Perhaps the most notable change is the loss of rod cells in the retina and subsequent “transmutation” of cones into a rod-like morphology and physiology. While many studies have noted the absence of some rod-specific genes, such as the visual pigment Rhodopsin (RH1), these studies have focused on just a handful of species that are nested deep in the gecko phylogeny. Thus, it is not clear whether these changes arose through convergence, are homologous and ubiquitous across geckos, or restricted …

Diversification And Biogeography Of An Indo-Pacific Bird Radiation (Pachycephalidae), Serina S. Brady

Biology ETDs

The utility of islands as natural laboratories of evolution is exemplified in the patterns of differentiation in widespread, phenotypically variable lineages. Pachycephalidae is one of the most complex avian radiations spanning the vast archipelagos of the Indo-Pacific, making it an ideal group to study the patterns and processes of diversification on islands. Here, we present a robust phylogenetic hypothesis for all five genera within Pachycephalidae, based on thousands of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) generated with a target-capture approach and high-throughput sequencing. We clarify certain taxonomic relationships within Pachycephala and discover that Wallacea plays a much larger role in pachycephalid evolutionary history …

Development Of Multiplex Pcr Assay As A Basis For Predicting Pigment Related Features, Stephanie A. Rodriguez

Student Theses

Currently, short tandem repeats are used in forensic DNA typing to identify the DNA profiles recovered from evidence samples and deceased individuals. Recently, SNPs that are related to pigmentation have been researched for their use in the identification of phenotypic traits. The development of a SNP panel that could successful identify the eye and skin color of an individual, would be immensely useful in missing person cases or mass disaster victim identification. Eight SNPs were selected into a SNaPshot assay that could accurately predict eye and skin color, five for eye color and six for skin color. Development of the …

The Impact Of Temperature On The Early Stages Of The Development Of The Body Axis In The Model Species Astyanax Mexicanus (Teleostei: Characidae), Sara Mohammad Alharbi

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Environmental fluctuations can change the phenotypic traits of ectotherms. Ectotherms such as fishes are very susceptible to changes in temperature. Recent studies on adults of the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, indicate that variation in temperature during development significantly impacts vertebral number and body shape. Since vertebral number and somite number are related, I examined whether temperature significantly impacts somitogenesis and the early development of the body axis in this species. Fertilized eggs of the surface form of lab-reared Astyanax mexicanus were subjected to temperature treatments of 20°C, 24°C, and 28°C, and fixed hourly as they developed until they hatched. Embryos …

Developing A Transfection Method For Didymium Iridis, Uriel Adolfo Baray

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The plasmodial slime mold and member of Mycetozoa, Didymium iridis, has been studied in a variety of contexts such as RNA editing (Traphagen et al., 2010; Hendrickson and Silliker, 2010a; Hendrickson and Silliker, 2010b), mitochondrial inheritance (Silliker et al., 2002), biological speciation (Betterley and Collins, 1983; Clark et al., 1991) and mating competency (Shipley and Holt, 1982). Further studies are hindered by the lack of a transfection protocol, which would allow for gene manipulation in D. iridis (hereafter Didymium). Transfection methods developed in the related slime molds, Physarum polycephalum (Burland et al., 1993) and Dictyostelium discoideum (Fey et al., 1995; …

Songbird Use Of Problem-Solving Feeders In Urban And Rural Areas, Kayce Miller

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral flexibility is important for animals to adapt to novel situations in their environment. It has been suggested that birds living in complex environments (e.g., urban areas) should be more flexible than conspecifics in less complex environments. Birds are a particularly well studied group, where novel foraging problems are used to assess flexibility and problem-solving performance of urban and rural animals of the same species; however, this is most frequently done in a lab setting with wild-caught birds originating from different habitats. Using a field-based method to test problem-solving performance should give additional insight into other factors influencing birds’ flexibility. …

Vines In The Neotropics: Phylogenomics, Biogeography And Systematics In Passion Flowers (Passiflora Subgenus Decaloba Section Decaloba), Serena Acha

Dissertations

With 600 species, Passiflora is a large, morphologically complex and broadly distributed genus in Passifloraceae that represents a major challenge to scientists interested in understanding the evolutionary history of tropical vines. Passiflora has been divided into subgenera, super sections and sections. One of the most enigmatic and species-rich (~120 spp.) groups in Passiflora is section Decaloba, which occurs in the Neotropics and is particularly diverse in Andean montane forests. In this study, we used phylogenomic and population genomic approaches to investigate the evolutionary history, biologeography, species boundaries, and taxonomy of Passiflora section Decaloba. We sampled herbarium specimens, extracted …

Oral Microbiome Diversity In Chimpanzees From Gombe National Park, Andrew T. Ozga, Ian C. Gilby, Rebecca Nockerts, Michael L. Wilson, Anne Pusey, Anne C. Stone

Biology Faculty Articles

Historic calcified dental plaque (dental calculus) can provide a unique perspective into the health status of past human populations but currently no studies have focused on the oral microbial ecosystem of other primates, including our closest relatives, within the hominids. Here we use ancient DNA extraction methods, shotgun library preparation, and next generation Illumina sequencing to examine oral microbiota from 19 dental calculus samples recovered from wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) who died in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. The resulting sequences were trimmed for quality, analyzed using MALT, MEGAN, and alignment scripts, and integrated with previously published dental …

Single-Molecule Imaging Of Hiv-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Dynamics And Gag Lattice Association Exposes Determinants Responsible For Virus Incorporation, Nairi Pezeshkian, Nicholas S. Groves, Schuyler B. Van Engelenburg

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

The HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) is sparsely incorporated onto assembling virus particles on the host cell plasma membrane in order for the virus to balance infectivity and evade the immune response. Env becomes trapped in a nascent particle on encounter with the polymeric viral protein Gag, which forms a dense protein lattice on the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. While Env incorporation efficiency is readily measured biochemically from released particles, very little is known about the spatiotemporal dynamics of Env trapping events. Herein, we demonstrate, via high-resolution single-molecule tracking, that retention of Env trimers within single virus assembly sites …

High Concentrations Of Trimethylamines In Slime Glands Inhibit Skein Unraveling In Pacific Hagfish, Gaurav Jain, Marie Starksen, Kashika Singh, Christopher Hoang, Paul Yancey, Charlene Mccord, Douglas S. Fudge

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Hagfish defend themselves from fish predators by producing large volumes of gill-clogging slime when they are attacked. The slime consists of seawater and two major components that are ejected from the slime glands: mucus and threads. The threads are produced within specialized cells and packaged into intricately coiled bundles called skeins. Skeins are kept from unraveling via a protein adhesive that dissolves when the skeins are ejected from the slime glands. Previous work revealed that hagfish slime glands have high concentrations of methylamines including trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), trimethylglycine (betaine) and dimethylglycine (DMG); however, the function of these compounds in the …

The Role Of Multidrug Resistance Regulators Mara, Soxs, Rob And Rama In Regulating Virulence Traits In Salmonella Enterica, Srinivas Thota

Dissertations

Enteric pathogens sense numerous signals specific to the anatomical location in the intestine and integrate them with the complex regulatory networks to temporally and spatially regulate their virulence genes. MarA, SoxS, Rob and RamA are homologous transcription factors that belong to AraC family of proteins in Salmonella enterica that primarily were thought to be involved in rendering antibiotic resistance to bacteria by up regulating efflux pumps and down regulating outer membrane porins. The fact that these transcription factors respond to the same intestinal compounds that regulate virulence genes in Salmonella motivated us to look for other roles of these transcription …

The Opioid Crisis Examined, Anatolly Zekhtser

BIO4960: Practicum in Biology I

The Opioid Crisis is a national crisis affecting public, social, and economic healthcare. Nearly 50,000 deaths were caused by opioid overdoses in 2017. Current treatments of opioid addictions include the use of methadone and buprenorphine. These medications have been known to reduce opioid dependency, lower tolerances, increase the opioid overdose threshold, and lower overdose mortality. An analysis was conducted on prominent research studies investigating the effectiveness, safety, side effects, and influence of Methadone and Buprenorphine. The meta-analysis confirmed that both drugs are effective opioid agonists that contribute to decreased opioid dependence and increased opioid abstinence. Due to a series of …

The Missing Metric: An Evaluation Of Fungal Importance In Wetland Assessments, Megan A. Rúa

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

To preserve wetland ecosystem function, federal and state agencies have developed assessment procedures to better manage remaining wetland areas. Currently, wetland assessments do not consider microorganisms when determining wetland quality. This is notable, because fungi are often the primary decomposers of organic material and thus important players in nutrient cycling. The objective of this study is to quantify how wetland quality, as measured using the Ohio Rapid Assessment Method (ORAM), relates to fungal community composition. We sampled soils from six depressional emergent marshes in Ohio belonging to each of the three ORAM quality categories, assessed soil physicochemical properties, and recovered …

Red Grouper Skull, Jessica Urban, Miranda Brohman, Zachery Young

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

No abstract provided.

A Multi-Scale Investigation Of Habitat Selectivity In Coastal Plain Stream Fishes, Hayley A. Robinson

Honors College Theses

Studying the habitat use of Coastal Plain fishes enables us to develop a deeper understanding of how fishes thrive in this highly variable environment. Based on previous research by Dr. Roberts and his students, Coastal Plain fishes seem to sort into two groups: (1) species selecting stream reaches that continue to flow throughout the summer (i.e., fluvial species [F]) and (2) species occurring in streams that may stop flowing in late summer (i.e., nonfluvial species [NF]). For this study, I took a detailed look at eight of these species, spanning the F-NF gradient, and asked which environmental variables (e.g., water …

Rapid Fabrication Of Custom Microfluidic Devices For Research And Educational Applications, Megan Levis, Fernando Ontiveros, Jonathan Juan, Anthony Kavanagh, Jeremiah J. Zartman

Biology Faculty/Staff Publications

Microfluidic devices allow for the manipulation of fluids, particles, cells, micro-sized organs or organisms in channels ranging from the nano to submillimeter scales. A rapid increase in the use of this technology in the biological sciences has prompted a need for methods that are accessible to a wide range of research groups. Current fabrication standards, such as PDMS bonding, require expensive and time consuming lithographic and bonding techniques. A viable alternative is the use of equipment and materials that are easily affordable, require minimal expertise and allow for the rapid iteration of designs. In this work we describe a protocol …

Molecular Survey Of Helminths Infecting Ground Dwelling Birds In The Grouse Subfamily Tetraoninae, Briana M. Sesmundo

Honors College Theses

Alaskan grouse and ptarmigan (Galliformes) are important avian game species in Alaska. Interestingly, gallids harbor a fairly diverse helminth fauna, particularly cestodes, which may make birds with high parasite loads more susceptible to predation. Unfortunately, there is limited information available on the helminth fauna of Alaskan gallids, and no molecular surveys. The present study aims to develop baseline data on diversity of intestinal and subcutaneous (filariid) helminth infections in galliforms using morphological and molecular (DNA) approaches. These data can then be used to better understand changes in helminth community structure given current environmental volatility. The intestines, cloaca, liver and kidneys …

Analysis Of The Temporal Patterning Of Notch Downstream Targets During Drosophila Melanogaster Egg Chamber Development, Molly A. Rowe

Honors College Theses

Living organisms require complex signaling interactions and proper regulation of these interactions to influence biological processes. Of these complex networks, one of the most distinguished is the Notch pathway. Dysregulation of this pathway often results in defects during organismal development and can be a causative mechanism for initiation and progression of cancer. Despite previous research entailing the importance of this signaling pathway and the organismal processes that it is involved in, less is known concerning the major Notch downstream targets, especially the onset and sequence in which they are modulated during normal development. As timing of regulation may be linked …

Sea Robin, Prionotus Carolinus , Neurocranium, Alexandra L. Jackson, Mia I. Andahazy, David Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

No abstract provided.

Sea Robin (Prionotus Carolinus) Neurocranium, Brittany A. Malin, Mykenzee L. Munaco, David W. Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

Neurocranium from 7.7cm total length (TL) Sea Robin (Prionotus carolinus), collected from a preserved mixed-fishes set from Carolina Biological Supply Company

Thermal Stress Responses Of Sodalis Glossinidius, An Indigenous Bacterial Symbiont Of Hematophagous Tsetse Flies, Jose Santinni Roma, Shaina D’Souza, Patrick J. Somers, Leah F. Cabo, Ruhan Farsin, Serap Aksoy, Laura J. Runyen-Janecky, Brian L. Weiss

Biology Faculty Publications

Tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) house a taxonomically diverse microbiota that includes environmentally acquired bacteria, maternally transmitted symbiotic bacteria, and pathogenic African trypanosomes. Sodalis glossinidius, which is a facultative symbiont that resides intra and extracellularly within multiple tsetse tissues, has been implicated as a mediator of trypanosome infection establishment in the fly’s gut. Tsetse’s gut-associated population of Sodalis are subjected to marked temperature fluctuations each time their ectothermic fly host imbibes vertebrate blood. The molecular mechanisms that Sodalis employs to deal with this heat stress are unknown. In this study, we examined the thermal tolerance and heat shock response of …