Biology Commons^™

Diverse Cell Junctions With Unique Molecular Composition In Tissues Of A Sponge (Porifera), Jennyfer M. Mitchell, Scott A. Nichols

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

The integrity and organization of animal tissues depend upon specialized protein complexes that mediate adhesion between cells with each other (cadherin-based adherens junctions), and with the extracellular matrix (integrin-based focal adhesions). Reconstructing how and when these cell junctions evolved is central to understanding early tissue evolution in animals. We examined focal adhesion protein homologs in tissues of the freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri (phylum Porifera; class Demospongiae). Our principal findings are that (1) sponge focal adhesion homologs (integrin, talin, focal adhesion kinase, etc.) co-precipitate as a complex, separate from adherens junction proteins; (2) that actin-based structures resembling focal adhesions form at …

Repeated Vaginal Exposures To The Common Cosmetic And Household Preservative Methylisothiazolinone Induce Persistent, Mast Cell-Dependent Genital Pain In Nd4 Mice, Erica Arriaga-Gomez, Jacyln Kline, Elizabeth Emanuel, Nefeli Neamonitaki, Tenzin Yangdon, Hayley Zacheis, Dogukan Pasha, Jinyoung Lim, Susan Bush, Beebie Boo, Hanna Mengistu, Ruby Kinnamon, Robin Shields-Cutler, Wattenberg Wattenberg, Devavani Chatterjea

Faculty Publications

A history of allergies doubles the risk of vulvodynia-a chronic pain condition of unknown etiology often accompanied by increases in numbers of vulvar mast cells. We previously established the biological plausibility of this relationship in mouse models where repeated exposures to the allergens oxazolone or dinitrofluorobenzene on the labiar skin or inside the vaginal canal of ND4 Swiss Webster outbred mice led to persistent tactile sensitivity and local increases in mast cells. In these models, depletion of mast cells alleviated pain. While exposure to cleaning chemicals has been connected to elevated vulvodynia risk, no single agent has been linked to …

Global Imprint Of Mycorrhizal Fungi On Whole-Plant Nutrient Economics, Colin Averill, Jennifer M. Bhatnagar, Michael C. Dietze, William D. Pearse, Stephanie N. Kivlin

Biology Faculty Publications

Mycorrhizal fungi are critical members of the plant microbiome, forming a symbiosis with the roots of most plants on Earth. Most plant species partner with either arbuscular or ectomycorrhizal fungi, and these symbioses are thought to represent plant adaptations to fast and slow soil nutrient cycling rates. This generates a second hypothesis, that arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal plant species traits complement and reinforce these fungal strategies, resulting in nutrient acquisitive vs. conservative plant trait profiles. Here we analyzed 17,764 species level trait observations from 2,940 woody plant species to show that mycorrhizal plants differ systematically in nitrogen and phosphorus economic traits. …

Venom Diversity And Evolution In The Most Divergent Cone Snail Genus Profundiconus, Guilia Fassio, Maria Vittoria Modica, Lou Mary, Paul Zaharias, Alexander E. Fedosov, Juliette Gorson, Yuri I. Kantor, Mandë E. Holford, Nicolas Puillandre

Publications and Research

Profundiconus is the most divergent cone snail genus and its unique phylogenetic position, sister to the rest of the family Conidae, makes it a key taxon for examining venom evolution and diversity. Venom gland and foot transcriptomes of Profundiconus cf. vaubani and Profundiconus neocaledonicus were de novo assembled, annotated, and analyzed for differential expression. One hundred and thirty-seven venom components were identified from P. cf. vaubani and 82 from P. neocaledonicus, with only four shared by both species. The majority of the transcript diversity was composed of putative peptides, including conotoxins, profunditoxins, turripeptides, insulin, and prohormone-4. However, there were also …

Antibiotics Overuse And Bacterial Resistance, Mir Saleem, Brett Deters, Adam De La Bastide, Martha Korzen

Biology Faculty Articles

Antibiotic usage has become very widespread, as they are used to treat so many infectious diseases today. Antimicrobial agents exert their actions via different mechanisms including blockage of cell wall synthesis, interference of protein and/or nucleic acid synthesis, interruption of cell membrane structure, and inhibition of a metabolic pathway. The treatment of bacterial infections with antimicrobial agents has become more difficult due to the capability of bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics. Erroneous diagnosing, misconceptions, and improper physician-patient dynamics have led to overuse of antibiotics and the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. Bacterial colonies have been shown to confer advantageous genetic …

Equine Hoof Stratum Internum K14+Cd105+ Progenitor Cells: Culture, Characterization, And Model Of Epithelial To Mesenchymal Transition, Qingqiu Yang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For the potential benefit of progenitor cells to be realized in cell-based clinical therapies, it is vital to investigate the mechanism between progenitor cells and abnormal tissue formation. Laminitis is a fatal condition that is often presented by equine hoof inflammation and hoof tissue disarrangement. The persistence of abnormal tissue formation after the resolution of equine laminitis suggests there is progenitor cell compromise. So far, there is limited information about equine hoof progenitor cells and the effects of inflammation on hoof progenitor cells. To pursue a better understanding of both hoof progenitor cell and hoof growth as well as find …

Linalool Acts As A Fast And Reversible Anesthetic In Hydra, T. Goel, R. Wang, S Martin, Elizabeth Y. Lanphear , '19, Eva-Maria S. Collins

Biology Faculty Works

The ability to make transgenic Hydra lines has allowed for quantitative in vivo studies of Hydra regeneration and physiology. These studies commonly include excision, grafting and transplantation experiments along with high-resolution imaging of live animals, which can be challenging due to the animal’s response to touch and light stimuli. While various anesthetics have been used in Hydra studies, they tend to be toxic over the course of a few hours or their long-term effects on animal health are unknown. Here, we show that the monoterpenoid alcohol linalool is a useful anesthetic for Hydra. Linalool is easy to use, non-toxic, fast …

Intraspecific And Interspecific Interactions Between Two Species Of North American Vulture At Feeding Sites., Dixie Claire Grammer

Theses and Dissertations

Vultures are a necessity to the natural world. These elite scavengers have the ability to eliminate disease, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens from the environment by simply eating infected carcasses. There are several species of vulture that are threatened with extinction due to a number of reasons, human connotation being one of them. These birds are often persecuted because of their appearance and also because of damage that they have caused. Although at times they may be considered nuisance animals, their need in their environment greatly outweighs the problems they sometimes cause. Research is a way to educate the public …

Core–Shell Nanospheres Behind The Blue Eyes Of The Bay Scallop Argopecten Irradians, Olivia K. Harris, Alexandra C.N. Kingston, Caitlin S. Wolfe, Soumitra Ghoshroy, Sönke Johnsen, Daniel Isaac Speiser

Faculty Publications

The bay scallop Argopecten irradians (Mollusca: Bivalvia) has dozens of iridescent blue eyes that focus light using mirror-based optics. Here, we test the hypothesis that these eyes appear blue because of photonic nanostructures that preferentially scatter short-wavelength light. Using transmission electron microscopy, we found that the epithelial cells covering the eyes of A. irradians have three distinct layers: an outer layer of microvilli, a middle layer of random close-packed nanospheres and an inner layer of pigment granules. The nanospheres are approximately 180 nm in diameter and consist of electron-dense cores approximately 140 nm in diameter surrounded by less electron-dense shells …

Modeling Of Interaction Of Ions With Ether- And Ester-Linked Phospholipids, Matthew W. Saunders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phospholipids are present in all parts of cells and are used in many signalling and struc- tural roles. As structural molecules they act as the main component of cellular membranes. Bilayer properties are heavily influenced by the structure of their component polar lipids, and different lipids are found in different organisms. A distinguishing feature of Archaeal plasma membranes is that their phospholipids contain ether-links, as opposed to bacterial and eukaryotic plasma membranes where phospholipids primarily contain ester-links. In our work we examine the effects of salt on bilayer structure in the case of both ester- and ether-linked lipid bilayers. We …

Invertebrate Retinal Progenitors As Regenerative Models In A Microfluidic System, Caroline D. Pena, Stephanie Zhang, Robert Majeska, Tadmiri Venkatesh, Maribel Vazquez

Publications and Research

Regenerative retinal therapies have introduced progenitor cells to replace dysfunctional or injured neurons and regain visual function. While contemporary cell replacement therapies have delivered retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) within customized biomaterials to promote viability and enable transplantation, outcomes have been severely limited by the misdirected and/or insuffcient migration of transplanted cells. RPCs must achieve appropriate spatial and functional positioning in host retina, collectively, to restore vision, whereas movement of clustered cells differs substantially from the single cell migration studied in classical chemotaxis models. Defining how RPCs interact with each other, neighboring cell types and surrounding extracellular matrixes are critical to …

Testing Protocols For Surveying Captive Limulus Polyphemus Microbiomes, Fabian Leija, Sean A. Neiswenter Dr.

LSAMP Poster Presentations

Limulus polyphemus, the Atlantic horseshoe crab, is a marine arthropod that primarily resides in the shallow intertidal zone of brackish water, water where high salinity seawater meets fresh water. The ecological niche that horseshoe crabs reside in makes them an ideal animal to be placed in an aquarium touch-tank, only needing a shallow pool of water to live comfortably as well as having a tough chitin carapace that won’t be easily damaged by visitors touching them. However, the implications of these human-animal interactions are severely unexplored with limited research being conducted regarding touch-tanks. In contrast, the consequences and hygienic practices …

Sub-Nanomolar Sensitive Gznp3 Reveals Trpml1-Mediated Neuronal Zn2+ Signals, Taylor F. Minckley, Chen Zhang, Dylan H. Fudge, Anna M. Dischler, Kate D. Lejeune, Haoxing Xu, Yan Qin

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

Although numerous fluorescent Zn2+ sensors have been reported, it is unclear whether and how Zn2+ can be released from the intracellular compartments into the cytosol due to a lack of probes that can detect physiological dynamics of cytosolic Zn2+. Here, we create a genetically encoded sensor, GZnP3, which demonstrates unprecedented sensitivity for Zn2+ at sub-nanomolar concentrations. Using GZnP3 as well as GZnP3-derived vesicular targeted probes, we provide the first direct evidence that Zn2+ can be released from endolysosomal vesicles to the cytosol in primary hippocampal neurons through the TRPML1 channel. Such TRPML1-mediated Zn2+ signals are distinct from Ca2+ in that …

Tri‐Trophic Interactions: Bridging Species, Communities And Ecosystems, Luis Abdala-Roberts, Adriana Puentes, Deborah Finke, Robert Marquis, Marta Montserrat, Erik Poelman, Sergio Rasmann, Arnaud Sentis, Nicole Van Dam, Gina Wimp, Kailen Mooney, Christer Björkman

Biology Department Faculty Works

A vast body of research demonstrates that many ecological and evolutionary processes can only be understood from a tri‐trophic viewpoint, that is, one that moves beyond the pairwise interactions of neighbouring trophic levels to consider the emergent features of interactions among multiple trophic levels. Despite its unifying potential, tri‐trophic research has been fragmented, following two distinct paths. One has focused on the population biology and evolutionary ecology of simple food chains of interacting species. The other has focused on bottom‐up and top‐down controls over the distribution of biomass across trophic levels and other ecosystem‐level variables. Here, we propose pathways to …

Genetic Regulatory Variation In Populations Informs Transcriptome Analysis In Rare Disease, Pejman Mohammadi, Stephane E. Castel, Beryl B. Cummings, Jonah Einson, Christina Sousa, Paul Hoffman, Sandra Donkervoort, Zhuoxun Jiang, Payam Mohassel, A. Reghan Foley, Heather E. Wheeler, Hae Kyung Im, Carsten G. Bonnemann, Daniel G. Macarthur, Tuuli Lappalainen

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Transcriptome data can facilitate the interpretation of the effects of rare genetic variants. Here, we introduce ANEVA (analysis of expression variation) to quantify genetic variation in gene dosage from allelic expression (AE) data in a population. Application of ANEVA to the Genotype-Tissues Expression (GTEx) data showed that this variance estimate is robust and correlated with selective constraint in a gene. Using these variance estimates in a dosage outlier test (ANEVA-DOT) applied to AE data from 70 Mendelian muscular disease patients showed accuracy in detecting genes with pathogenic variants in previously resolved cases and led to one confirmed and several potential …

Larger Genomes Linked To Slower Development And Loss Of Late-Developing Traits, Molly C. Womack, Marissa J. Metz, Kim L. Hoke

Biology Faculty Publications

Genome size varies widely among organisms and is known to affect vertebrate development, morphology, and physiology. In amphibians, genome size is hypothesized to contribute to loss of late-forming structures, although this hypothesis has mainly been discussed in salamanders. Here we estimated genome size for 22 anuran species and combined this novel dataset with existing genome size data for an additional 234 anuran species to determine whether larger genome size is associated with loss of a late-forming anuran sensory structure, the tympanic middle ear. We established that genome size is negatively correlated with development rate across 90 anuran species and found …

Hogfish Neurocranium, Christopher Z. Lucero, Michael A. Terlizzi, David Kerstetter

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

No abstract provided.

The Complete Mitochondrial Genome Of An Atlantic Ocean Shortfin Mako Shark, Isurus Oxyrinchus, Jonathan Gorman, Nicholas J. Marra, Mahmood S. Shivji, Bryce J. Stanhope

Biology Faculty Articles

We report the first complete mitochondrial genome of a shortfin mako shark from the Atlantic Ocean. The genome had 16,700 base pairs and contained 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and a non-coding D-loop. There were 81 individual differences compared to the published mitochondrial genome of a shortfin mako from the Pacific Ocean, with most variability found in protein coding genes, especially ND5, ND3, and ND1. These highly variable genes may be useful population markers in future studies, and availability of a second mitogenome will assist with future, genome-scale studies of this IUCN Endangered species.

A Genome-Wide Assessment Of The Ancestral Neural Crest Gene Regulatory Network, Dorit Hockman, Vanessa Chong-Morrison, Stephen A. Green, Daria Gavriouchkina, Ivan Candido-Ferreira, Irving T. C. Ling, Ruth M. Williams, Chris T. Amemiya, Jeramiah J. Smith, Marianne E. Bronner, Tatjana Sauka-Spengler

Biology Faculty Publications

The neural crest (NC) is an embryonic cell population that contributes to key vertebrate-specific features including the craniofacial skeleton and peripheral nervous system. Here we examine the transcriptional and epigenomic profiles of NC cells in the sea lamprey, in order to gain insight into the ancestral state of the NC gene regulatory network (GRN). Transcriptome analyses identify clusters of co-regulated genes during NC specification and migration that show high conservation across vertebrates but also identify transcription factors (TFs) and cell-adhesion molecules not previously implicated in NC migration. ATAC-seq analysis uncovers an ensemble of cis-regulatory elements, including enhancers of Tfap2B, …

Multi‐Scale Integration Of Tree Recruitment And Range Dynamics In A Changing Climate, Paige E. Copenhaver-Parry, Charles J. W. Carroll, Patrick H. Martin, Matthew V. Talluto

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

Aim: The rate and magnitude of climate‐induced tree range shifts may be influenced by range‐wide variation in recruitment, which acts as a bottleneck in tree range dynamics. Here, we compare range predictions made using standard species distribution models (SDMs) and an integrated metamodelling approach that assimilates data on adult occurrence, seedling recruitment dynamics, and seedling survival under both current and future climate, and evaluate the degree to which information provided by seedling data can improve predictions of range dynamics.

Location: The interior west region of the United States.

Time period: 1990–2015.

Major taxa studied: Five widespread conifer tree species.

Methods: …

Production Of Dynein And Kinesin Motor Ensembles On Dna Origami Nanostructures For Single Molecule Observation, Jingjie Hu, Nathan Derr

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Summary

The goal of this protocol is to form ensembles of molecular motors on DNA origami nanostructures and observe the ensemble motility using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy.

Abstract

Cytoskeletal motors are responsible for a wide variety of functions in eukaryotic cells, including mitosis, cargo transport, cellular motility, and others. Many of these functions require motors to operate in ensembles. Despite a wealth of knowledge about the mechanisms of individual cytoskeletal motors, comparatively less is known about the mechanisms and emergent behaviors of motor ensembles, examples of which include changes to ensemble processivity and velocity with changing motor number, location, …

Variable Levels Of Drift In Tunicate Cardiopharyngeal Gene Regulatory Elements, W. Colgan, A. Leanza, A. Hwang, M. B. Debiasse, Isabel Llosa , '20, Daniel Rodrigues , '21, Hriju Adhikari , '20, Guillermo Barreto Corona , '19, Saskia Bock , '20, Amanda T. Carillo-Perez , '19, Meagan Currie , '20, S. Darkoa-Larbi, D. Dellal, Hanna Gutow , '20, P. Hokama, E. Kibby, N. Linhart, S. Moody, Allison Naganuma , '20, D. Nguyen, Ryan Stanton , '20, S. Stark, Cameron Tumey , '21, A. Velleca, J. F. Ryan, Bradley Justin Davidson , '91

Biology Faculty Works

Background: Mutations in gene regulatory networks often lead to genetic divergence without impacting gene expression or developmental patterning. The rules governing this process of developmental systems drift, including the variable impact of selective constraints on different nodes in a gene regulatory network, remain poorly delineated. Results: Here we examine developmental systems drift within the cardiopharyngeal gene regulatory networks of two tunicate species, Corella inflata and Ciona robusta. Cross-species analysis of regulatory elements suggests that trans-regulatory architecture is largely conserved between these highly divergent species. In contrast, cis-regulatory elements within this network exhibit distinct levels of conservation. In particular, while most …

Do Lianas Shape Ant Communities In An Early Successional Tropical Forest?, Benjamin J. Adams, Evan M. Gora, Michiel Van Breugel, Sergio Estrada-Villegas, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Jefferson S. Hall, Stephen P. Yanoviak

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Almost half of lowland tropical forests are at various stages of regeneration following deforestation or fragmentation. Changes in tree communities along successional gradients have predictable bottom‐up effects on consumers. Liana (woody vine) assemblages also change with succession, but their effects on animal succession remain unexplored. Here we used a large‐scale liana removal experiment across a forest successional chronosequence (7–31 years) to determine the importance of lianas to ant community structure. We conducted 1,088 surveys of ants foraging on and living in trees using tree trunk baiting and hand‐collecting techniques at 34 paired forest plots, half of which had all lianas …

Phenotypically Plastic Responses To Predation Risk Are Temperature Dependent, Thomas M. Luhring, Janna M. Vavra, Clayton E. Cressler, John Delong

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Predicting how organisms respond to climate change requires that we understand the temperature dependence of fitness in relevant ecological contexts (e.g., with or without predation risk). Predation risk often induces changes to life history traits that are themselves temperature dependent. We explore how perceived predation risk and temperature interact to determine fitness (indicated by the intrinsic rate of increase, r) through changes to its underlying components (net reproductive rate, generation time, and survival) in Daphnia magna. We exposed Daphnia to predation cues from dragonfly naiads early, late, or throughout their ontogeny. Predation risk increased r differentially across temperatures …

Increased Aggression And Reduced Aversive Learning In Honey Bees Exposed To Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, Sebastian Shepherd, George Hollands, Victoria C. Godley, Suleiman M. Sharkh, Chris W. Jackson, Philip L. Newland

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

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Abstract

Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are a globally significant pollinator species and are currently in decline, with losses attributed to an array of interacting environmental stressors. Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF EMFs) are a lesser-known abiotic environmental factor that are emitted from a variety of anthropogenic sources, including power lines, and have recently been shown to have a significant impact on the cognitive abilities and behaviour of honey bees. Here we have investigated the effects of …

Piezoelastic Pvdf/Tpu Nanofibrous Composite Membrane: Fabrication And Characterization, Eman Elnabawy, Ahmed H. Hassanin, Nader Shehata, Anton Popelka, Remya Nair, Saifallah Yousef, Ishac Kandas

Biology Faculty Publications

Poly (vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers (PVDF NFs) have been extensively used in energy harvesting applications due to their promising piezoresponse characteristics. However, the mechanical properties of the generated fibers are still lacking. Therefore, we are presenting in this work a promising improvement in the elasticity properties of PVDF nanofibrous membrane through thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) additives. Morphological, physical, and mechanical analyses were performed for membranes developed from different blend ratios. Then, the impact of added weight ratio of TPU on the piezoelectric response of the formed nanofibrous composite membranes was studied. The piezoelectric characteristics were studied through impulse loading testing where the …

Regulation Of The Microtubule Cytoskeleton And Cell Wall Development In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Christy J. Fornero

Theses and Dissertations

Regulation of the cortical microtubule cytoskeleton is critical for organized plant cell division. Arabidopsis ton1 and ton2 mutants display random cell division plane placement and lack the plant-specific cortical microtubule array that encircles the nucleus prior to mitosis. In wild type plants, this preprophase band (PPB) of cortical microtubules precisely marks the future division plane. The specific roles of TON1 and TON2 in PPB formation are not yet known. It is suspected that TON1 Recruiting Motif (TRM) proteins may be involved in TON1 and TON2 recruitment to the PPB. Here we describe results for the targeted disruption of a group …

A Current Update On Human Papillomavirus-Associated Head And Neck Cancers., Ebenezer Tumban

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the cause of a growing percentage of head and neck cancers (HNC); primarily, a subset of oral squamous cell carcinoma, oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The majority of HPV-associated head and neck cancers (HPV + HNC) are caused by HPV16; additionally, co-factors such as smoking and immunosuppression contribute to the progression of HPV + HNC by interfering with tumor suppressor miRNA and impairing mediators of the immune system. This review summarizes current studies on HPV + HNC, ranging from potential modes of oral transmission of HPV (sexual, self-inoculation, vertical and horizontal …

Helianthus Maximiliani And Species Fine-Scale Spatial Pattern Affect Diversity Interactions In Reconstructed Tallgrass Prairies, Thomas P. Mckenna, Jack Mcdonnell, Kathryn A. Yurkonis, Caroline Brophy

Biology Faculty Publications

1. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function analyses aim to explain how individual spe‐ cies and their interactions affect ecosystem function. With this study, we asked in what ways do species interact, are these interactions affected by species planting pattern, and are initial (planted) proportions or previous year (realized) propor‐ tions a better reference point for characterizing grassland diversity effects?

2. We addressed these questions with experimental communities compiled from a pool of 16 tallgrass prairie species. We planted all species in monocultures and mixtures that varied in their species richness, evenness, and spatial pattern. We recorded species‐specific biomass production over three …

C. Elegans Synmuv B Proteins Regulate Spatial And Temporal Chromatin Compaction During Development, Meghan Elizabeth Costello, Lisa N. Petrella

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Tissue-specific establishment of repressive chromatin through creation of compact chromatin domains during development is necessary to ensure proper gene expression and cell fate. Caenorhabditis elegans synMuv B proteins are important for the soma/germline fate decision and mutants demonstrate ectopic germline gene expression in somatic tissue, especially at high temperature. We show that C. elegans synMuv B proteins regulate developmental chromatin compaction and that the timing of chromatin compaction is temperature sensitive in both wild type and synMuv B mutants. Chromatin compaction in mutants is delayed into developmental time periods when zygotic gene expression is upregulated and demonstrates an anterior-to-posterior pattern. …