Mortality Index Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Megan N. Ashworth

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are associated with immediate and long-term consequences that can be divided into primary and secondary injuries. A primary injury results due to the direct damage inflicted on the brain by the hit, whereas a secondary injury takes more time to manifest due to the cascade of molecular events that lead to cellular damage and death within the brain. This study analyzes mortality as a secondary injury following traumatic brain injury in the presence of a human neurodegenerative genetic risk factor, APOE ε4. The High Impact Trauma (HIT) device developed by Katzenberger et al. (2013) was utilized …

Do Duckweeds Adapt To Water And Microbes?, Ava M. Rose

Honors Theses and Capstones

Organisms in their home environment sometimes outperform transplanted individuals native to other areas, in a phenomenon termed local adaptation. While local adaptation is traditionally considered to be driven by the abiotic factors of an environment, scientists have recently increased consideration of biotic factors. Specifically, of interest to many is host-associated microbiomes, which can alter host trait expression. As the desire to commercialize microbiome treatments for agriculture and medicine grows, it is important to analyze the potential value of local microbiomes, which may be adapted to their hosts, or to which local hosts may have adapted. Using Lemna minor (duckweed) as …

An Updated Outline For Clearing And Staining Of Preserved Specimens, Sadie E. Smith

Honors Theses and Capstones

This protocol outlines a enhanced clearing and staining procedure for persevered specimens, focusing on the visualization of cartilage and bone in small taxa. With origins from O. Shultze's diaphonization methodology in 1897, the process of clearing and staining improves the clarity and contrast of intricate tissues. It is essential for studies in developmental biology, histology and anatomy. This protocol covers the key steps of the process while detailing the materials, solutions and estimated timeline for each step pertaining to specific taxa. The aim of the protocol is to standardize and provide guidance for procedures in the Biological Sciences department at …

Examining Genome Size And Nutrient Influence On Damage Patterns, And Plant-Invertebrate Community Dynamics, Hailee B. Petosky

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Genome size (GS) varies widely among angiosperms and has been shown to mediate plant responses to nutrients. Variations of GS drastically impact plant growth, fitness, and competitive responses, influencing plant functioning, nutrient requirements, and potentially, consumptive interactions. Specifically, plants with larger genomes vary in their cellular nutrient requirements, affecting tissue quality, nutrient constraints, and invertebrate interactions. Furthermore, environmental nutrient enrichments are a key driver affecting ecosystem functioning and species interactions. Plant communities are impacted by both top-down and bottom-up controls of herbivores and nutrients, respectively, and alterations to these interactions may cause cascading trophic level effects to influence damage patterns …

The Effects Of Early Exposure To Prescription/Illicit Drugs And Drug Metabolites On Larval Zebrafish Behavioral And Motor Function Development, Jacob Thomas, Dena Weinberger, Bikram Subedi, Brandon Capps

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

THE EFFECTS OF EARLY EXPOSURE TO PRESCRIPTION/ILLICIT DRUGS AND DRUG METABOLITES ON LARVAL ZEBRAFISH BEHAVIORAL AND MOTOR FUNCTION DEVELOPMENT

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Biology

Murray State University

Murray, Kentucky

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters In Science

By Jacob Thomas, B.S., Murray State University

December 2024

Acknowledgements

Brandon Capps, who pretty much did a whole third of the legwork on this project and saved me lots of headaches;

Chandler Maddox, one of the University of Kentucky’s finest undergrads who came in from the top rope with a folding chair …

Optimization Of An Immune Assay To Detect Binding Of Nod2 To Staphylococcus Aureus, Precious Mckenzie

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus, a gram-positive, commensal bacterium, is the cause of a multitude of opportunistic diseases and infections. While S. aureus has evolved ways to escape innate immune responses in the host, the mechanisms are not fully understood. One area of active research involves mechanisms by which S. aureus avoids detection by Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs), such as Nuclear Oligomerization Domain 2 (NOD2), present on the surface of and inside innate immune cells. This study aimed to design and optimize an assay that can be utilized to investigate S. aureus components that contribute to the activation of NOD2 receptors. The …

Pseudomonas Mosselii Improves Cold Tolerance Of Asian Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) In A Genotype-Dependent Manner By Increasing Proline In Japonica And Reduced Glutathione In Indica Varieties, Nasim Maghboli Balasjin, James Maki, Michael Schläppi

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Cold stress is an important factor limiting rice production and distribution. Identifying factors that contribute to cold tolerance in rice is of primary importance. While some plant specific genetic factors involved in cold tolerance have been identified, the role of the rice microbiome remains unexplored. In this study, we evaluated the influence of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) with the ability of phosphate solubilization on rice cold tolerance and survival. To reach this goal, inoculated and uninoculated 2-week-old seedlings were cold stressed and evaluated for survival and other phenotypes such as electrolyte leakage (EL) and necessary elements for cold tolerance. …

It’S A Trap?! Escape From An Ancient, Ancestral Sex Chromosome System And Implication Of Foxl2 As The Putative Primary Sex-Determining Gene In A Lizard (Anguimorpha; Shinisauridae), Brendan J. Pinto, Stuart V. Nielsen, Kathryn A. Sullivan, Ashmika Behere, Shannon E. Keating, Mona Van Schingen-Khan, Truong Q. Nguyen, Thomas Ziegler, Jennifer Pramuk, Melissa A. Wilson, Tony Gamble

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Although sex determination is ubiquitous in vertebrates, mechanisms of sex determination vary from environmentally to genetically influenced. In vertebrates, genetic sex determination is typically accomplished with sex chromosomes. Groups like mammals maintain conserved sex chromosome systems, while sex chromosomes in most vertebrate clades are not conserved across similar evolutionary timescales. One group inferred to have an evolutionarily stable mode of sex determination is Anguimorpha, a clade of charismatic taxa including monitor lizards, Gila monsters, and crocodile lizards. The common ancestor of extant anguimorphs possessed a ZW system that has been retained across the clade. However, the sex chromosome system in …

Differential Conservation And Loss Of Chicken Repeat 1 (Cr1) Retrotransposons In Squamates Reveal Lineage-Specific Genome Dynamics Across Reptiles, Simone M. Gable, Nicholas A. Bushroe, Jasmine M. Mendez, Adam Wilson, Brendan J. Pinto, Tony Gamble, Marc Tollis

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive DNA sequences which create mutations and generate genetic diversity across the tree of life. In amniote vertebrates, TEs have been mainly studied in mammals and birds, whose genomes generally display low TE diversity. Squamates (Order Squamata; including ∼11,000 extant species of lizards and snakes) show as much variation in TE abundance and activity as they do in species and phenotypes. Despite this high TE activity, squamate genomes are remarkably uniform in size. We hypothesize that novel, lineage-specific genome dynamics have evolved over the course of squamate evolution. To understand the interplay between TEs and host …

Tarantula Toxin Transcripts And Toxin Structure Prediction By Alphafold, Christine Vega, Rebekkah Sepulveda, Ying Jia

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Tarantula venom predominantly comprises peptides and small proteins (venom toxins). To explore this further, we generated a combined gland cDNA library from five different tarantula species. Subsequently we randomly sequenced 752 clones, which led to the identification of sixteen distinct toxin groups, including one novel group. Each group consists of a minimum of three identical sequences. A comprehensive analysis of these toxin groups was carried out, and we simulated the 3D structures of certain predicted toxins. These transcripts can be used to the production of venom toxins through recombinant techniques, offering promising applications in various biomedical applications.