Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Effect Of Environmental Conditions On German Cockroach (Blattella Germanica) Behavior And Survival, Allison Lopina

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

German cockroaches (Blattella germanica L.) remain one of the most challenging indoor pests to manage, due to resistance to many commonly used insecticides, and necessary contact/interaction with common management tactics. As such, it is critical to fully understand their aggregation, movement, and longevity, such that treatments can be optimally placed to result in maximal efficacy. The first part of this study explored the effects of multiple factors (harborage width, harborage materials, heat, resource-harborage distance) on initial site selection, and how environmental modifications and infestation density impact harborage site switching. The second half of the study aimed to explore the …

Equid Major Histocompatibility Complex (Mhc) Evolution & Genome Organization, Lauren C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

The evolution of modern horses has a well-documented fossil record and has long been of interest to the genetics community. Although non-caballine equids (e.g. zebras, donkeys, and asses) can hybridize with horses, the resulting offspring are typically infertile. Despite these reproductive barriers, genomic analyses reveal regions of high sequence similarity among equid species. This dissertation investigates the role of historical introgression in the evolution of modern Equus species. The first chapter re-evaluates earlier findings derived from a limited horse population and a single reference genome. The variants of the identified regions were pushed through Ensembl’s Variant Effect Predictor to assess …

Using Camera-Based Unmarked Spatial Capture-Recapture Modeling To Estimate Reintroduced Elk (Cervus Canadensis) Population Parameters And Distribution In Southeastern Kentucky, Claire Marie Muia

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Estimation of population parameters is important for wildlife management decisions. Elk reintroduced to southeastern Kentucky experienced early irruptive population growth and are currently monitored using a statewide harvest-based statistical population reconstruction model (SPR) across the Kentucky Elk Restoration Zone (KERZ). Because the SPR model is spatially coarse and difficult to scale to the smaller management units comprising the KERZ, we conducted a spatially explicit capture-recapture study using a clustered camera-trapping array deployed for 10 weeks from June–August 2024 to estimate elk population parameters within Management Unit 4. Due to a lack of resights of GPS-marked elk, population parameters were estimated …

Spatiotemporal Variability And Functional Redundancy Obscure Effects Of Urbanization On Strawberry Pollinators, Kyla D. Schulte, Caleb J. Wilson, Anna Tawril, Mary A. Jamieson

Entomology Faculty Publications

Pollination services across rural–urban gradients may vary as land cover and other environmental attributes differentially influence pollinators. Most studies examining crop pollination, however, have been conducted in rural environments, while research in urban areas has lagged behind despite growing interest in urban agriculture. In this study, we hypothesized that increased urbanization would alter pollinator community composition due to a reduction in natural areas within the surrounding landscape, potentially decreasing pollinator abundance. To evaluate this hypothesis, we conducted a three-year study using strawberries as a focal study crop. We characterized the abundance, diversity, and community composition of bees across 10 farms …

Land Use Change Consistently Reduces Α- But Not Β- And Γ-Diversity Of Bees., Toby P N Tsang, A A Amado De Santis, Gabriela Armas-Quiñonez, John S Ascher, Eva Samanta Ávila-Gómez, András Báldi, Kimberly M Ballare, Mario V Balzan, Weronika Banaszak-Cibicka, Svenja Bänsch, Yves Basset, Adam J Bates, Jessica M Baumann, Mariana Beal-Neves, Ashley Bennett, Antonio Diego M Bezerra, Betina Blochtein, Riccardo Bommarco, Berry Brosi, Laura A Burkle, Luísa G Carvalheiro, Ignacio Castellanos, Marcela Cely-Santos, Hamutahl Cohen, Drissa Coulibaly, Saul A Cunningham, Sarah Cusser, Isabelle Dajoz, Deborah A Delaney, Ek Del-Val, Monika Egerer, Markus P Eichhorn, Eunice Enríquez, Martin H Entling, Natalia Escobedo-Kenefic, Pedro Maria Abreu Ferreira, Gordon Fitch, Jessica R K Forrest, Valérie Fournier, Robert Fowler, Breno M Freitas, Hannah R Gaines-Day, Benoît Geslin, Jaboury Ghazoul, Paul Glaum, Jose L Gonzalez-Andujar, Adrian González-Chaves, Heather Grab, Claudio Gratton, Solène Guenat, Catalina Gutiérrez-Chacón, Mark A Hall, Mick E Hanley, Annika Hass, Ernest Ireneusz Hennig, Martin Hermy, Juliana Hipólito, Andrea Holzschuh, Sebastian Hopfenmüller, Keng-Lou James Hung, Kristoffer Hylander, Jordi Izquierdo, Mary A Jamieson, Birgit Jauker, Steve Javorek, Shalene Jha, Björn K Klatt, David Kleijn, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Anikó Kovács-Hostyánszki, Jochen Krauss, Michael Kuhlmann, Patricia Landaverde-González, Tanya Latty, Misha Leong, Susannah B Lerman, Yunhui Liu, Ana Carolina Pereira Machado, Anson Main, Rachel Mallinger, Yael Mandelik, Bruno Ferreira Marques, Kevin Matteson, Frédéric Mccune, Ling-Zeng Meng, Jean Paul Metzger, Paula María Montoya-Pfeiffer, Carolina Morales, Lora Morandin, Jane Morrison, Sonja Mudri-Stojnić, Pakorn Nalinrachatakan, Olivia Norfolk, Mark Otieno, Mia G Park, Stacy M Philpott, Gideon Pisanty, Montserrat Plascencia, Simon G Potts, Eileen F Power, Kit Prendergast, Robyn D Quistberg, Davi De Lacerda Ramos, André Rodrigo Rech, Victoria Reynolds, Miriam H Richards, Stuart P M Roberts, Malena Sabatino, Ulrika Samnegård, Hillary Sardiñas, Karina Sánchez-Echeverría, Fernanda Teixeira Saturni, Jeroen Scheper, Amber R Sciligo, C Sheena Sidhu, Brian J Spiesman, Tuanjit Sritongchuay, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Katharina Stein, Alyssa B Stewart, Jane C Stout, Hisatomo Taki, Pornpimon Tangtorwongsakul, Caragh G Threlfall, Carla Faleiro Tinoco, Teja Tscharntke, Katherine J Turo, Chatura Vaidya, Rémy Vandame, Carlos H Vergara, Blandina F Viana, Eric Vides-Borrell, Natapot Warrit, Elisabeth Webb, Catrin Westphal, Jennifer B Wickens, Neal M Williams, Nicholas S G Williams, Caleb J Wilson, Panlong Wu, Elsa Youngsteadt, Yi Zou, Lauren C Ponisio, Timothy C Bonebrake

Entomology Faculty Publications

Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α-diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ-diversity), either due to reduced β-diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased β-diversity dampening diversity loss. Additionally, studies often focus on taxonomic diversity, while other important biodiversity components, including phylogenetic diversity, can exhibit differential responses. Here, we evaluated how agricultural and urban land use alters the taxonomic and phylogenetic α-, β-, and γ-diversity of an important pollinator taxon-bees. Using a multicontinental dataset of 3117 bee …

Molecular Mechanisms And Comparative Transcriptomics Of Diapause In Two Corn Rootworm Species (Diabrotica Spp.), Melise C. Lecheta, Chad Nielson, B. Wade French, Emily Nadeau, Nicholas M. Teets

Entomology Faculty Publications

Diapause is a programmed developmental arrest that can occur at any developmental stage depending on species, but the mechanisms that underscore embryonic diapause are poorly understood. Here, we identified molecular mechanisms underscoring distinct phases of diapause in the Diabrotica spp. complex. This species complex in- cludes economically significant agricultural pests, notably the western corn rootworm (WCR) and northern corn rootworm (NCR), which cause major losses in maize production. Rootworms undergo an obligate embryonic diapause to synchronize their life cycles with host plants, and we sequenced transcriptomes from both species at five time points (pre-diapause, diapause initiation, diapause maintenance, diapause termination, …

Investigating Relatedness Within Breeding Units Of The Highly Social Bushtit (Psaltriparus Minimus), Fiona Skye Connelly

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Cooperative breeding systems represent an array of varied reproductive strategies and remain a topic of interest in behavioral ecology (i.e., Riehl 2013, Cornwallis et al. 2017). Different manifestations of cooperative breeding, such as cooperative polyandry, no doubt have unique evolutionary pressures tied to local ecologies which have led to their proliferation. Of particular interest are species that show flexibility in their use of reproductive strategies, wherein individuals may choose one strategy over another given a specific circumstance. Here, I used double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (i.e., ddRAD-seq) to investigate bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) reproductive strategies and the relatedness between …

Repeated Shifts In Sociality Are Associated With Fine-Tuning Of Highly Conserved And Lineage-Specific Enhancers In A Socially Flexible Bee, Beryl M. Jones, Andrew E. Webb, Scott M. Geib, Sheina Sim, Rena M. Schweizer, Michael G. Branstetter, Jay D. Evans, Sarah D. Kocher

Entomology Faculty Publications

Comparative genomic studies of social insects suggest that changes in gene regulation are associated with evolutionary transitions in social behavior, but the activity of predicted regulatory regions has not been tested empirically. We used self-transcribing active regulatory region sequencing, a high-throughput enhancer discovery tool, to identify and measure the activity of enhancers in the socially variable sweat bee, Lasioglossum albipes. We identified over 36,000 enhancers in the L. albipes genome from 3 social and 3 solitary populations. Many enhancers were identified in only a subset of L. albipes populations, revealing rapid divergence in regulatory regions within this species. Population-specific enhancers …

Arthropod Arbiters: Natural Enemy Communities Mediate The Effects Of Landscape And Local-Scale Complexity On Lygus-Induced Crop Loss In Organic Strawberries, Adrian Lu, David J. Gonthier, Amber Sciligo, Karina Garcia, Taiki Chiba, Gila Juárez, Claire Kremen

Entomology Faculty Publications

Sustainable pest management requires growers and regional land managers to consider the relationships among pest management practices, pest and natural enemy communities, crop loss, and multi-scalar habitat complexity. However, the causal links among these variables, in particular potential interactions between landscape and local-scale habitat complexity, remain underexplored. In the context of organically managed strawberry crops in California’s Central Coast, we tested the independent effects of landscape and local habitat complexity gradients on arthropod communities and crop loss using a piecewise structural equation model (PSEM). We found that landscape-scale woody habitat proportion indirectly decreased crop loss through its positive effect on …

Checklist And Key To Species Of Stink Bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) Of Kentucky, United States Of America, Armando Falcon-Brindis, Raul Villanueva

Entomology Faculty Publications

Stink bugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) have received a lot of attention as there are many economically important pest species. However, the status of species richness, distribution, and taxonomy remain overlooked and outdated in Kentucky (USA). Having such information at a regional scale is crucial to allow the development of suitable pest management and conservation programs. Here, the stink bug fauna of Kentucky was ex- amined from museum specimens, literature, and public online repositories. Overall, 42 species in 28 genera and three subfamilies (Asopinae, Podopinae, and Pentatominae) are listed from Kentucky. Thirteen species are new records for Kentucky, 10 species are considered …

Evaluation Of Ten Alternative Treatments For The Management Of Harlequin Bug (Murgantia Histrionica) On Brassica Crops, Sarah Clark, Ricardo Bessin, David J. Gonthier, Jonathan L. Larson

Entomology Faculty Publications

Harlequin bug (Murgantia histrionica) poses a significant threat to cruciferous vegetable crops, leading to economic losses and challenges in sustainable agriculture. This 2-year field study evaluated the efficacy of exclusion netting and selected biopesticides in controlling harlequin bug populations in a field-grown broccoli crop. Treatments included an untreated control, industry standards Azera and Entrust, and ProtekNet mesh netting. Additionally, three commercial essential oil treatments including Essentria IC-3, Nature-Cide, and Zero Tolerance were tested along with two bokashi fermented composting products BrewKashi and Oriental Herbal Nutrient (OHN). During both the first and second year of the study, none of the commercially …

Row Covers Limit Pests And Disease And Increase Profit In Organic Acorn Squash, Kathleen Fiske, Nieyan Cheng, Ryan Kuesel, Wendong Zhang, Ricardo Bessin, Mark A. Williams, David J. Gonthier

Entomology Faculty Publications

Organic cucurbit growers face many challenges to production including insect pests, insect-vectored diseases, and non-vectored diseases. While Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI) -listed pesticides underperform at suppressing pests and diseases, some alternative pest management strategies hold promise, but little research exists on their cost-effectiveness. We compared the efficacy of mesotunnel systems (nylon-mesh netting row covers deployed over bent metal hoops) and OMRI-listed pesticides (fungicides and insecticides) on acorn squash across 2 years. During the early part of the season, before row covers were removed for pollination, we found 1.7 (2020) and 0.3 (2021) times more cucumber beetles in the uncovered …

Single-Cell Analysis Identifies Plk1 As A Driver Of Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment In Luad, Yifan Kong, Chaohao Li, Jinpeng Liu, Sai Wu

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

PLK1 (Polo-like kinase 1) plays a critical role in the progression of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Recent studies have unveiled that targeting PLK1 improves the efficacy of immuno- therapy, highlighting its important role in the regulation of tumor immunity. Nevertheless, our understanding of the intricate interplay between PLK1 and the tumor microenvironment (TME) remains incomplete. Here, using genetically engineered mouse model and single- cell RNA-seq analysis, we report that PLK1 promotes an immunosuppressive TME in LUAD, characterized with enhanced M2 polarization of tumor associated macrophages (TAM) and dampened antigen presentation process. Mechanistically, elevated PLK1 coin- cides with increased secretion of CXCL2 …

Paradox Lost: Wide Gape In The Ordovician Brachiopod Rafinesquina Explains How Unattached Filter-Feeding Strophomenoids Thrived On Muddy Substrates, Benjamin F. Dattilo, Rebecca L. Freeman, Kyle Hartshorn, David Peterman, Aaron Morse, David L. Meyer, Lindsay G. Dougan, James W. Hagadorn

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Strophomenoid brachiopods had thin, concavo-convex shells, were ubiquitous colonizers of Palaeozoic muddy seafloors, and are hypothesized to have filter-fed in a concave-upward orientation. This orientation would elevate their line of commissure out of potentially lethal lophophore-clogging mud. The paradox is that epi- biont distributions on strophomenoids support a convex-upward life position, as do studies of strophome- noid stability and trace fossils formed by strophomenoid sediment-clearing. A premise of the concave-upward orientation hypothesis is a narrow gape, which causes narrow, high velocity inhalant currents, leaving strophomenoids vul- nerable to sediment entrainment. Herein we investigate the gape angle of Rafinesquina using serial …

Toward Transparent Taxonomy: An Interactive Web-Tool For Evaluating Competing Taxonomic Arrangements, Oksana V. Vernygora, Felix A. H. Sperling, Julian R. Dupuis

Entomology Faculty Publications

Informative and consistent taxonomy above the species level is essential to communication about evolution, biodiversity and conservation, and yet the practice of taxonomy is considered opaque and subjective by non-taxonomist scientists and the public alike. While various proposals have tried to make the basis for the ranking and inclusiveness of taxa more transparent and objective, widespread adoption of these ideas has lagged. Here, we present TaxonomR, an interactive online decision-support tool to evaluate alternative taxonomic classifications. This tool implements an approach that quantifies the criteria commonly used in taxonomic treatments and allows the user to interactively manipulate weightings for different …

Impacts Of Anthropogenic Sedimentation On Shell-Bed Habitats In Lake Tanganyika, Africa, Michael Soreghan, Andrew Cohen, Michael M. Mcglue, Kevin M. Yeager, Emily Ryan, Alison Johns, Ishmael Kimirei

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Lake Tanganyika, in central Africa, contains a diverse and endemic fauna under threat from global climate change, overfishing, and nearshore sediment pollution. Previous studies of sediment pollution focused justifiably on impacts along rocky shorelines where diversity is high, but Lake Tanganyika also contains widespread shelly accumulations (shell beds) unprecedented in the modern East African lakes, but where impacts are less con- strained. Here we integrate multiple datasets from three sites along the Tanzanian shoreline to explore how variation in sedimentation rates and sediment quality impacts shell-bed substrate and diversity and abundance of ostracodes and sponges across sites that exhibit varying …

Considerations And Applications Of Environmental Dna In Biodiversity Studies, Sarah Tomke

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling—the detection of species through genetic material shed into the environment—has become an efficient and reliable method for biodiversity assessments. The method has grown in popularity due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature, and has revolutionized monitoring efforts for rare, elusive, and cryptic species for which traditional sampling approaches are often costly and ineffective. Hundreds of studies have utilized this technique to study species occupancy, delineate distributions, and assess relative community composition. Although eDNA sampling is an effective strategy for many conservation and ecological studies, recently, light has been shed on some of its potential drawbacks and …

Dynamic Patterns Of Resource Selection In Northern Bobwhite Across The Annual Cycle In A Region With Poor Edaphic Conditions, Autumn S. Randall

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Developing successful management strategies requires an understanding of how an organism's resource needs change over the course of its life cycle. For almost a century, northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have been declining range-wide, mostly as a result of habitat loss and degradation. Resource selection studies conducted at coarse-temporal resolutions and in areas with fertile soils form the majority of current management recommendations for bobwhites. In this thesis, we quantified resource selection patterns for 1,302 bobwhites in a region with poor soil conditions with respect to several common management practices (fire, fallow fields, supplemental feeding, and brush management …

Cyp6g2 Is The Major P450 Epoxidase Responsible For Juvenile Hormone Biosynthesis In Drosophila Melanogaster, Qiangqiang Jia, Liu Yang, Jiamin Wen, Suning Liu, Di Wen, Wei Luo, Weihua Wang, Subba R. Palli, Li Sheng

Entomology Faculty Publications

Background Juvenile hormones (JH) play crucial role in regulating development and reproduction in insects. The most common form of JH is JH III, derived from MF through epoxidation by CYP15 enzymes. However, in the higher dipterans, such as the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, a bis-epoxide form of JHB3, accounted most of the JH detected. Moreover, these higher dipterans have lost the CYP15 gene from their genomes. As a result, the identity of the P450 epoxidase in the JH biosynthesis pathway in higher dipterans remains unknown.

Results In this study, we show that Cyp6g2 serves as the major JH epoxidase responsible for …

Go West: Population Genomics Reveals Unexpected Population Fluctuations And Little Gene Flow In Western Hemisphere Populations Of The Predatory Lady Beetle, Hippodamia Convergens, Arun Sethuraman, Schyler O. Nunziata, Angela Jones, John J. Obrycki, David W. Weisrock

Entomology Faculty Publications

Hippodamia convergens—the convergent lady beetle, has been used extensively in aug- mentative biological control of aphids, thrips, and whiteflies across its native range in North America, and was introduced into South America in the 1950s. Overwintering H. convergens populations from its native western range in the United States are com- mercially collected and released across its current range in the eastern USA, with little knowledge of the effectiveness of its augmentative biological control. Here we use a novel ddRADseq-based SNP/haplotype discovery approach to estimate its range- wide population diversity, differentiation, and recent evolutionary history. Our results indicate (1) significant population …

The Mechanoreceptor Piezo Is Required For Spermatogenesis In Bombyx Mori, Zhongjie Zhang, Xiaojing Liu, Bo Hu, Kai Chen, Ye Yu, Chenxin Sun, Dalin Zhu, Hua Bai, Subba Reddy Palli, Anjiang Tan

Entomology Faculty Publications

Background The animal sperm shows high diversity in morphology, components, and motility. In the lepidopteran model insect, the silkworm Bombyx mori, two types of sperm, including nucleate fertile eupyrene sperm and anucleate unfertile apyrene sperm, are generated. Apyrene sperm assists fertilization by facilitating the migration of eupyrene spermatozoa from the bursa copulatrix to the spermatheca. During spermatogenesis, eupyrene sperm bundles extrude the cytoplasm by peristaltic squeezing, while the nuclei of the apyrene sperm bundles are discarded with the same process, forming matured sperm.

Results In this study, we describe that a mechanoreceptor BmPiezo, the sole Piezo ortholog in B. mori, …

Movement Behavior And Metapopulation Connectivity Of Stream Salamanders In Response To Disturbance Events, Kathryn M. Greene

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Metapopulations are shaped by the dispersal between populations in a landscape. Disturbance events can disrupt this connectivity resulting in local population extinction. For my dissertation, I used a combination of empirical and theoretical techniques to examine dispersal in response to disturbance and assessed it’s population-level consequences. My research used capture-mark-recapture sampling techniques to evaluate stream salamander movement in response to (1) a supraseasonal drought and (2) mountaintop-removal-mining (MTR) and valley-filling (VF) and (3) agent-based simulation modeling to evaluate population extinction risk in response to varying dispersal and mortality rates.

First, I evaluated the effects of a supraseasonal drought, a severe …

Co-Divergence Of Lemur Hosts And Gut Microbiomes Across Multiple Evolutionary Scales, Mariah E. Donohue

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

This dissertation bridges micro- and macroevolutionary approaches to understand the co-diversification of animal hosts and their gut microbiomes at different evolutionary timescales. I examined these dynamics using wild lemurs, a diverse Primate clade endemic to the island of Madagascar.

First, I tested the relative effects of host phylogenetic relationships, diet, and habitat in shaping the gut microbiome through deep evolutionary time and across distinct microbial kingdoms. I designed a natural experiment sampling feces from rainforest and dry forest lemur communities with similar phylogenetic assemblages and considerable variation in dietary strategy. Then, I amplified and sequenced two metabarcoding genes, the V4 …

The Evolution Of The Metazoan Circadian Molecular Mechanism And The Conservation Of Canonical Circadian Elements, Olivia Waldridge

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The temporal organization of biological activities through circadian rhythms is pivotal for the survival of organisms. Significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular foundations of animal circadian clocks through the characterization of key components such as Clock, Bmal1/Cycle(Cyc), Period (Per), Timeless, and Cryptochrome (Cry) in several model organisms. To determine the universality of this conservation, we investigated the sequences of these genes and their paralogs across 46 animal species that encompass multiple phyla in the metazoan kingdom to resolve the relative timing of duplication and loss events that have diversified core clock components in the metazoan kingdom. Using …

Reproductive Isolation And Gene Flow Across Space, Time And Genomes In Neodiprion Lecontei And N. Pinetum, Ashleigh Nicole Glover

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

To explain biodiversity, evolutionary biologists must understand how independent lineages arise via the evolution of reproductive isolation during the speciation process. Hybridizing taxa provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the evolution of reproductive isolating barriers and genomic divergence, thereby enhancing our understanding of speciation. However, hybridization between diverging taxa can vary across geographic space, the genome, and time. Thus, understanding the factors that promote or inhibit hybridization can provide insight into the biotic, environmental, and genetic causes of divergence and gene flow. Importantly, the mechanisms responsible for generating variation in hybridization dynamics and the consequences of such hybridization remains unknown …

On The Origin And Evolution Of The Mosquito Male-Determining Factor Nix, James K. Biedler, Azedah Aryan, Yumin Qi, Aihua Wang, Ellen O. Martinson, Daniel A. Hartman, Fan Yang, Atashi Sharma, Katherine S. Morton, Mark Potters, Chujia Chen, Stephen L. Dobson, Gregory D. Ebel, Rebekah C. Kadling, Sally Paulson, Rui-De Xue, Michael R. Strand, Zhijian Tu

Entomology Faculty Publications

The mosquito family Culicidae is divided into 2 subfamilies named the Culicinae and Anophelinae. Nix, the dominant male-determining factor, has only been found in the culicines Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, 2 important arboviral vectors that belong to the subgenus Stegomyia. Here we performed sex-specific whole-genome sequencing and RNAseq of divergent mosquito species and explored additional male-inclusive datasets to investigate the distribution of Nix. Except for the Culex genus, Nix homologs were found in all species surveyed from the Culicinae subfamily, including 12 additional species from 3 highly divergent tribes comprising 4 genera, suggesting Nix originated at least 133 to …

Phosphorylation Of Ahr By Plk1 Promotes Metastasis Of Luad Via Dio2-Th Signaling, Chaohao Li, Derek B. Allison, Daheng He, Fengyi Mao, Xinyi Wang, Piotr G. Rychahou, Ibrahim A. Imam, Yifan Kong, Qiongsi Zhang, Yanquan Zhang, Jinghui Liu, Ruixin Wang, Xiongjian Rao, Sai Wu, B. Mark Evers, Qing Shao, Chi Wang, Zhiguo Li, Xiaoqi Liu

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a major cause of death in patients. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), an important transcription factor, is involved in the initiation and progression of lung cancer. Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), a serine/threonine kinase, acts as an oncogene promoting the malignancy of multiple cancer types. However, the interaction between these two factors and their significance in lung cancer remain to be determined. In this study, we demonstrate that PLK1 phosphorylates AHR at S489 in LUAD, leading to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastatic events. RNA-seq analyses reveal that type 2 deiodinase (DIO2) is responsible for EMT and …

A Lamprey Neural Cell Type Atlas Illuminates The Origins Of The Vertebrate Brain, Francesco Lamanna, Francisca Hervas-Sotomayor, A. Phillip Oel, David Jandzik, Daniel Sobrido-Cameán, Gabriel N. Santos-Durán, Megan L. Martik, Jan Stundl, Stephen A. Green, Thoomke Brüning, Katharina Mößinger, Julia Schmidt, Celine Schneider, Mari Sepp, Florent Murat, Jeramiah J. Smith, Marianne E. Bronner, María Celina Rodicio, Antón Barreiro-Iglesias, Daniel M. Medeiros, Detlev Arendt, Henrik Kaessmann

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

The vertebrate brain emerged more than ~500 million years ago in common evolutionary ancestors. To systematically trace its cellular and molecular origins, we established a spatially resolved cell type atlas of the entire brain of the sea lamprey—a jawless species whose phylogenetic position affords the reconstruction of ancestral vertebrate traits—based on extensive single-cell RNA-seq and in situ sequencing data. Comparisons of this atlas to neural data from the mouse and other jawed vertebrates unveiled various shared features that enabled the reconstruction of cell types, tissue structures and gene expression programs of the ancestral vertebrate brain. However, our analyses also revealed …

Impact Of The Dimethyl Sulfoxide Reductase Superfamily On The Evolution Of Biogeochemical Cycles, Michael Wells, Minjae Kim, Denise M. Akob, Partha Basu, John F. Stolz

UK CARES Faculty Publications

The dimethyl sulfoxide reductase (or MopB) family is a diverse assemblage of enzymes found throughout Bacteria and Archaea. Many of these enzymes are believed to have been present in the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all cellular lineages. However, gaps in knowledge remain about how MopB enzymes evolved and how this diversification of functions impacted global biogeochemical cycles through geologic time. In this study, we perform maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses on manually curated comparative genomic and metagenomic data sets containing over 47,000 distinct MopB homologs. We demonstrate that these enzymes constitute a catalytically and mechanistically diverse superfamily defined not …

Data For "Linking Previous Experiences To Behavior And Health In The Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera)"", Rebecca R. Westwick, Clare C. Rittschof, Gavin P. Brackett, Cameron E. Brown, Bethany J. Ison, Zainulabbeudin Syed, Anna M. Foose

Entomology Research Data

An organism’s ability to respond to changing conditions can be vital to its success. Indeed, plasticity is a common feature of living organisms. Much of the research in this area, though, has focused on effects caused by environmental conditions. What has received relatively less attention is how social experiences and broader features of an organism’s social environment can lead to long-lasting changes in health and behavior. This knowledge gap exists despite the well-documented existence of health and behavioral effects after social interactions in certain taxa such as humans.

Social insects such as honey bees provide an excellent opportunity to better …