Molecular Genetics Commons^™

Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Hoxb6: An Exploration Into The Divergence Of Genomic Dna Sequence And Gene Expression Across Teleost Fishes Post-Genome Duplication, Amber Lynn Rittgers, Pierre Le Pabic, Adam Davis

Georgia Journal of Science

Hoxb6 is an evolutionarily conserved developmental regulatory gene that functions, in part, to pattern several organs and organ systems within the embryonic trunk during vertebrate embryogenesis. The cis-regulatory circuitry mediating trunk expression in mouse (Mus musculus) may be conserved across gnathostome vertebrates, as several other species show similar trunk expression patterns, including chicken (Gallus gallus), dogfish shark (Scyliorhinus canicula), and several teleost fishes. A whole genome duplication event that occurred in the lineage leading to teleost fishes has generated at least two Hoxb6 genes, hoxb6a and b6b. Two teleost fishes of the …

Functional Genetic Approaches To Provide Evidence For The Role Of Toolkit Genes In The Evolution Of Complex Color Patterns In Drosophila Guttifera, Mujeeb Olushola Shittu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Toolkit genes are set of genes that orchestrate the development of basic body plan of animals, and they are highly conserved in all animals. The co-option of the toolkit genes into the pigmentation pathway has led to the evolution of novel species. This study focuses on understanding how the complex color patterns in animals develop by using the Drosophila species in the quinaria group as models. We developed an mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) protocol, which allowed us to study gene expression patterns in the abdomen of developing pupae of non-model Drosophila species (Chapter 2). Through ISH, we found that …

Interrelationships Among Monorchiid Trematodes With Special Emphasis On Some Northwestern Atlantic Genera, Apryle Panyi

Master's Theses

The Monorchiidae Odhner, 1911 is a cosmopolitan family of flukes (Trematoda: Digenea) comprising species that parasitize the digestive tract of estuarine and marine fishes as adults. Compared with other oceans, recent morphological or molecular taxonomic work conducted on monorchiid species from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean has been sparse (Manter, 1931; Overstreet, 1969; Andres et al., 2018; Wee et al., 2018, 2019, 2020). Therefore, the present work investigated the interrelationships of some monorchiids from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean with emphasis on several genera and investigated if Lasiotocus minutus (Manter, 1931) Thomas, 1959 constitutes a complex of cryptic species. New morphological and …

Molecular Differentiation Of Astragalus Species And Varieties From The Western United States: The Chloroplast Dna Bridge Between Evolution And Molecular Systematics, Marwa Neyaz, Daniel Cook, Rebecca Creamer

Poisonous Plant Research (PPR)

Locoweeds are the most widespread poisonous plant problem in the world and have been reported in the Western United States since the 1800s, causing tremendous losses in livestock. Consumption of locoweeds by grazing animals stimulates the neurological disease, locoism, characterized by weight loss, ataxia, and lack of muscular coordination. The name locoweed is used for Astragalus and Oxytropis species known to contain swainsonine, the toxic principle produced by the plant endophytic fungus Undifilum. Astragalus includes 2,500-3,000 species and many varieties that have almost identical morphological characteristics that overlap among species, leading to improper identification. Therefore, the aim of this study …

Gene Expression Pattern Analysis Of Anterior Hox Genes During Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Embryonic Development Reveals Divergent Expression Patterns From Other Teleosts, Adam Davis

Georgia Journal of Science

The regional identity of organs and organ systems along the anterior-posterior axis during embryonic development is patterned, in part, by Hox genes, which encode transcription factor proteins that activate or repress the expression of downstream target genes. Divergent nested Hox gene expression patterns may have had a role in facilitating morphological divergence of structures, such as the pharyngeal jaw apparatus, among evolutionarily divergent teleost fishes. Recent studies from several evolutionarily divergent teleosts, such as the Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) and the Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), have shown the presence of divergent expression patterns of several Hox …

The Origin And Evolution Of Flower Characters In Angiosperms With A Case Study On The Genetic Basis Of Zygomorphic Corolla Development In Bee And Hummingbird Pollinated Species Of Schizanthus (Solanaceae), Ghadeer Bukhari

Theses and Dissertations

This Ph.D. dissertation investigates two main projects separated into two chapters, one for each. The first chapter explores the evolution of flowering plants (angiosperms), a macro-scale study. The second project is on a micro-scale that focus on exploring the genes that regulate the similarities and the differences of flower morphology reflecting their different pollination syndromes in two species of Schizanthus (Solanaceae), i.e., S. pinnatus, a bee-pollinated flower, and S. grahamii, a hummingbird- pollinated flower.

In the first chapter, I used floral diagrams to study the origin and the evolution of floral traits in angiosperms, a new set of morphological data …

Spatial And Temporal Genetic Structure Of Winter-Run Steelhead (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) Returning To The Mad River, California, Steven R. Fong

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Distinct populations of steelhead in the wild are in decline. The propagation of steelhead in hatcheries has been used to boost population numbers for recreational fisheries and for use in conservation. However, hatchery breeding practices of steelhead can result in changes in genetic structure. I investigated the genetic structure of winter-run steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) returning to the Mad River, California, where a hatchery has been used enhance production for recreational fisheries since 1971. Genetic variability in Mad River steelhead was evaluated using 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among 4203 individuals, including the Mad River and nearby locations, and …

Temperate Eurasian Origins Of Hawaiian Chenopodium (Amaranthaceae) Plus Description Of A New Species Endemic To Moloka‘I, Jason T. Cantley, Angela J. Mcdonnell, J Branson, S R. Long, W Garnett, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

Chenopodium taxa of Hawai‘i are tetraploids distinguished from other members of the circumglobally distributed genus by minute morphological characters. Because of these reasons, the geographic origin of Hawaiian Chenopodium has remained unclear. Across the Hawaiian Archipelago, Chenopodium taxa are morphologically variable and grow in highly disparate xeric habitats, especially in terms of precipitation, temperature, wind, salt spray, and solar irradiation. Habitats include dry subalpine shrublands, sandy beach strand of atolls in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, dry forests, and precipitously tall sea cliffs of northwestern Moloka‘i. From the Moloka‘i sea cliffs, which are battered by high energy winds, salt spray, and …

Geographic Population Structure And Taxonomic Identity Of Rhinichthys Osculus, The Santa Ana Speckled Dace, As Elucidated By Nuclear Dna Intron Sequencing, Liane Raynette Greaver

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Rhinichthys osculus (Cyprinidae), the speckled dace, is the most widely distributed freshwater fish in the western United States. The southern California populations of R. osculus are identified as the Santa Ana speckled dace (SASD), though the SASD has not yet been formally recognized as a distinct taxon. Current mtDNA analysis performed in the Metcalf Lab has shown a reciprocally monophyletic relationship among three California regions; southern, central coast, and Owens Valley. Similarly, microsatellite genotyping has shown significant levels of geographic population structure. The purpose of this study was to provide nuclear DNA sequence data to determine the taxonomic status of …

Mixing It Up: The Impact Of Episodic Introgression On The Evolution Of High-Latitude Mesocarnivores, Jocelyn P. Colella

Biology ETDs

At high latitudes, climatic oscillations have triggered repeated episodes of organismal divergence by geographically isolating populations. For terrestrial species, extended isolation in glacial refugia – ice-free regions that enable terrestrial species persistence through glacial maxima – is hypothesized to stimulate allopatric divergence. Alternatively, upon glacial recession, divergent populations expanded from independent glacial refugia and often contacted other diverging populations. In the absence of reproductive isolating mechanisms, this biogeographic process may trigger hybridization and ultimately, gene flow between divergent taxa. My dissertation research aims to understand how these episodic periods of isolation and contact have impacted the evolution of high latitude …

Phylogenetic History Of The Amy Gene Cluster In Catarrhines, Christian M. Gagnon

Theses and Dissertations

This study phylogenetically analyzed 30 AMY-related genes from 11 primates. The results show the gradual expansion of the AMY gene family which could have allowed primates to adapt to various ecological landscapes and maximize energy intake from starch-rich foods in periods of food scarcity.

Multi-Locus Phylogenetic Inference Of The Howler Monkey (Alouatta) Radiation In South America., Esmeralda Ferreira

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Howler monkeys (Alouatta) are the most widely distributed New World primates, ranging from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. They occur in tropical rain forests, flooded and gallery forests, and deciduous and semi-deciduous environments. Despite their importance as seed dispersers, howlers have also been known to be ecological indicators. Available phylogenetic hypotheses for this genus have used chromosomal characters, morphological characteristics, and a limited number of molecular markers and specimens. In spite of these analyses, branching patterns among howler species lineages conflict between studies or remain unresolved. Using 14 unlinked non-coding intergenic nuclear regions under both a concatenated …

Testing For Cryptic Diversity And Inference Of Population Structure In The Cosmopolitan Hoplonemertean Emplectonema Gracile (Nemertea), Paul L. Delaney Iv

Theses and Dissertations

Emplectonema gracile (Johnston 1837) is a hoplonemertean of marine intertidal hard-bottom communities and is distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Although possessing a planktonic larval stage in its life history, the range of such cosmopolitan marine invertebrate species is often explained by cryptic speciation and anthropogenic transport. The purpose of this study is to test for possible cryptic species using mtDNA markers (COI and 16S rDNA) and to investigate population structure in E. gracile over a portion of its geographic range using mtDNA markers and ddRADseq nuclear SNP data. The results of both phylogenetic- and tree-based species delimitation revealed that E. …

Insects And The Evolution Of Developmental Pathways: Functional Analysis Of Genetic Sex Determination Mechanisms In Oncopeltus Fasciatus, Josefine Just

Honors Theses

Natural selection alters genetic pathways over evolutionary time. However, different pathways have been shown to maintain mutations at varying rates, leading to different levels of conservation across developmental pathways. Sex determination pathways, in particular, show vast diversity across animals despite the fundamental conservation of biological sex itself. Here, I investigated the sex determination pathway of the hemimetabolous insect, Oncopeltus fasciatus. The large milkweed bug, O. fasciatus, is part of the order Hemiptera, which provides a relevant outgroup study to other insects in which sex determination has been studied to date. I studied three sex determination genes, intersex, fruitless …

Confirming World-Wide Distribution Of An Agriculturally Important Lacewing, Chrysoperla Zastrowi Sillemi, Using Songs, Morphology, Mitochondrial Gene Sequencing, And Phylogenetic Reconstruction, Zoe Mandese

Honors Scholar Theses

The Chrysoperla carnea-group of green lacewings is a cryptic species complex. Species within the group are morphologically similar, yet isolated from one another via reproductive mating song. Chrysoperla zastrowi, a species within the carnea-group, is currently described with a distribution ranging from South Africa to the Middle East and India. However, recent collections of carnea-group lacewings from Guatemala and California were preliminarily identified as Chrysoperla zastrowi based upon similarities in their vibrational courtship songs. This analysis aims to place six specimens, collected by collaborators in Guatemala, Armenia, Iran, and California, into a pre-existing phylogeny of the …

The Transcriptome Of The Bermuda Fireworm Odontosyllis Enopla (Annelida: Syllidae): A Unique Luciferase Gene Family And Putative Epitoky-Related Genes, Mercer R. Brugler, M. Teresa Aguado, Michael Tessler, Mark Siddall

Publications and Research

The Bermuda fireworm Odontosyllis enopla exhibits an extremely tight circalunar circadian behavior that results in an impressive bioluminescent mating swarm, thought to be due to a conventional luciferase-mediated oxidation of a light-emitting luciferin. In addition, the four eyes become hypertrophied and heavily pigmented, and the nephridial system is modified to store and release gametes and associated secretions. In an effort to elucidate transcripts related to bioluminescence, circadian or circalunar periodicity, as well as epitoky-related changes of the eyes and nephridial system, we examined the transcriptomic profile of three female O. enopladuring a bioluminescent swarm in Ferry Reach, Bermuda. …

Functional Studies Of The E. Coli Proc And A Putative Ortholog Mrub_1345, Maureen Azar, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

This project is part of the Meiothermus ruber genome analysis project, which uses the bioinformatics tools associated with the Guiding Education through Novel Investigation –Annotation Collaboration Toolkit (GENI-ACT) to predict gene function. We investigated the biological function of Escherichia coli and Meiothermus ruber proC genes using the complementation assay. In this research project, mutants of varying severity to the functional state of the protein were developed. The results showed that two or more amino acid deletions reduced or eliminated ProC function. Amino acid substitutions, on the other hand, were not severe enough to impact ProC function. Double and triple mutants …

Phylogeny And Evolutionary Genomics Of Non-Photosynthetic Diatoms, Anastasiia Onyshchenko

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diatoms are prolific photosynthesizers responsible for some 20% of global primary production. In real terms, the oxygen in one of every five breaths traces back to photosynthesis by marine diatoms. Among the tens of thousands of diatom species, a small handful of colorless diatom species in the genus Nitzschia have lost photosynthesis altogether and rely exclusively on extracellular organic carbon for growth. I used DNA sequence data to reconstruct the phylogeny of this group, and found that nonphotosynthetic diatoms are monophyletic, indicating that photosynthesis was lost just one time over the course of some 200 million years of diatom evolution. …

Using Molecular Markers To Trace The Population History Of Volant Organisms At Differing Temporal Scales, Noah A. Burg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using molecular markers to test phylogenetic and phylogeographic hypotheses is critical for tracking the population origin of invasive, introduced species (Chapter 2, Chapter 4) and to identify the systematic relationships of disparate lineages at both shallow and deep evolutionary time scales (Chapters 3, Chapter 4). In this thesis, Sanger Sequencing was used to generate datasets based on fresh and preserved tissue from specimens collected in the field, as well as museum tissue vouchers granted from various institutions in the US and Europe. In combining these source materials, data were generated for three focal studies: 1) In the first research section …

Advancing Behavioural Genomics By Considering Timescale, Clare C. Rittschof, Kimberly A. Hughes

Entomology Faculty Publications

Animal behavioural traits often covary with gene expression, pointing towards a genomic constraint on organismal responses to environmental cues. This pattern highlights a gap in our understanding of the time course of environmentally responsive gene expression, and moreover, how these dynamics are regulated. Advances in behavioural genomics explore how gene expression dynamics are correlated with behavioural traits that range from stable to highly labile. We consider the idea that certain genomic regulatory mechanisms may predict the timescale of an environmental effect on behaviour. This temporally minded approach could inform both organismal and evolutionary questions ranging from the remediation of early …

A Model Species For Agricultural Pest Genomics: The Genome Of The Colorado Potato Beetle, Leptinotarsa Decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Sean D. Schoville, Yolanda H. Chen, Martin N. Andersson, Joshua B. Benoit, Anita Bhandari, Julia H. Bowsher, Kristian Brevik, Kaat Cappelle, Mei-Ju M. Chen, Anna K. Childers, Christopher Childers, Olivier Christiaens, Justin Clements, Elise M. Didion, Elena N. Elpidina, Patamarerk Engsontia, Markus Friedrich, Inmaculada García-Robles, Richard A. Gibbs, Chandan Goswami, Alessandro Grapputo, Kristina Gruden, Marcin Grynberg, Bernard Henrissat, Emily C. Jennings, Jeffery W. Jones, Megha Kalsi, Sher A. Khan, Abhishek Kumar, Fei Li, Vincent Lombard, Subba Reddy Palli, June-Sun Yoon

Entomology Faculty Publications

The Colorado potato beetle is one of the most challenging agricultural pests to manage. It has shown a spectacular ability to adapt to a variety of solanaceaeous plants and variable climates during its global invasion, and, notably, to rapidly evolve insecticide resistance. To examine evidence of rapid evolutionary change, and to understand the genetic basis of herbivory and insecticide resistance, we tested for structural and functional genomic changes relative to other arthropod species using genome sequencing, transcriptomics, and community annotation. Two factors that might facilitate rapid evolutionary change include transposable elements, which comprise at least 17% of the genome and …

Examination Of Orthologous Genes (Mrub_2518 And B3728, Mrub_2519 And B3727, Mrub_2520 And B3726, Mrub_2521 And B3725) Responsible For Abc Phosphate Transporters In Two Species M. Ruber And E. Coli, Margaret Meyer, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes b3725, b3726, b3727, b3728 and Mrub_2518, Mrub_2519, Mrub_2520 and Mrub_2521 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict that these genes encode the components of a Phosphate ABC transporter: Orthologous genes Mrub_2518 (DNA coordinates 2565359..2566438) and b3728 encodes the periplasmic phosphate binding component; Orthologous genes Mrub_2519 (DNA coordinates 2566499..2567485) and b3727, and Mrub_2520 (DNA coordinates 2567496..2568326) and b3726 encode for the two transmembrane proteins; Orthologous genes Mrub_2521 (DNA coordinates 2568338..2569159) and b3725 encode for the ATP binding protein within the cytoplasm. Within the two species, M. ruber and E. coli, …

Mrub_1325, Mrub_1326, Mrub_1327, And Mrub_1328 Are Orthologs Of B_3454, B_3455, B_3457, B_3458, Respectively Found In Escherichia Coli Coding For A Branched Chain Amino Acid Atp Binding Cassette (Abc) Transporter System, Bennett Tomlin, Adam Buric, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes Mrub_1325, Mrub_1326, Mrub_1327, and Mrub_1328 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a Branched Chain Amino Acid ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporter: 1) Mrub_1325 (DNA coordinates 1357399-1358130 on the reverse strand) encodes the ATP binding domain; 2) Mrub_1326 (DNA coordinates 1358127-1359899 on the reverse strand) encodes the ATP-binding domain and permease domain; 3) Mrub_1327 (DNA coordinates 1359899-1360930 on the reverse strand) encodes a permease domain; and 4)Mrub_1328 (DNA coordinates 1711022-1712185 on the reverse strand) encodes the substrate binding domain. This system is not predicted to …

Mrub_1283, Mrub_1284 And Mrub_1285 Encode For A Glycine/Betaine Abc Transporter And Are Orthologs Of E. Coli Prov, Prow And Prox, Lan Dang, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

ABC transporters are essential for cellular transport; contribute to maintain the homeostasis of the cells. Generally, ABC transporters are multi-subunit; contain essential cytoplasmic factors which are critical to ATP hydrolysis activity. In this paper, we would like to take a closer look to Mrub_1283, Mrub_1284 and Mrub_1285, three consecutive genes in Meiothermus ruber genome. We hypothesize that these genes are in the same operon and encode for ABC glycine/ betaine transporters. To confirm our hypothesis, we utilizes several bioinformatics tools to predict the potential function of Mrub_1283, Mrub_1284 and Mrub_1285 and to search for their orthologs in Escherichia coli genome. …

Mrub_2120, Mrub_2121, Mrub_2122, Mrub_2123 And Mrub_2124 Are Orthologs Of E. Coli Genes B3458, B3457, B3456, B3455 And B3454, Respectively, And Make Up An Operon That Codes For The Branched-Chain Amino Acid Abc Transporter In Meiothermus Ruber Dsm 1279, Aaron Jones, Madelyn Huber, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes Mrub_2120, Mrub_2121, Mrub_2122, Mrub_2123 and Mrub_2124 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a branched-chain amino acid ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporter: 1) Mrub_2120 (DNA coordinates 2169247-2170416 on the reverse strand) encodes the branched-chain amino acid binding protein that is localized to the periplasm; 2) Mrub_2121 (DNA coordinates 2170433..2171353 on the reverse strand) encodes the first TMD; 3) Mrub_2122 (DNA coordinates 2171365..2172279 on the reverse strand) encodes the second TMD; 4) Mrub_2123 (DNA coordinates 2172276..2173028 on the reverse strand) encodes the first NBD; 5) Mrub_2124 …

Mrub_1675, Mrub_1676, Mrub_1677, And Mrub_1679 Genes Are Orthologs Of B_3458, B_3457, B_3456, And B_3454 Genes In E. Coli, Respectively, Coding For Abc Transporters. Mrub_1678 And B_3455, Though Perform Similar Tasks, Are Not Orthologous, Ravi Patel, Alaina Hofmann, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes Mrub_1675, Mrub_1676, Mrub_1677, and Mrub_1679 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a Branched chain amino acid (ABC) transporter: Mrub_1675 (DNA coordinates 1711022..1712185 on the reverse strand) encodes the permease component, Mrub_1676 (DNA coordinates 1712313..1713170) encodes for the NBD (aka nucleotide binding domain), Mrub_1677 (DNA coordinates 1713167..1714075 on the reverse strand) encodes the NBD (aka nucleotide binding domain), Mrub_1678 (DNA coordinates 1713167..1714075 on the reverse strand) encodes the TMD (aka transmembrane domain) and Mrub_1679 (DNA coordinates 1714781..1715485 on the reverse strand) encodes …

Mrub_0680, Mrub_0836, And Mrub_0837 Found To Be Orthologous To E. Coli Ccma, Ccmb, And Ccmc, Respectively, Coding For Abc-Transport Proteins Involved In Cytochrome-C Biogenesis, Sarah N. Church, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes Mrub_0680, Mrub_0836 and Mrub_0837(KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a Heme ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporter: 1) Mrub_0836 (DNA coordinates 823734..824399on the reverse strand) encodes the permease component (aka transmembrane domain), predicted to be an ortho; and 2) Mrub_0680(DNA coordinates 659484..660071 on the reverse strand) encodes the ATP-binding domain (aka nucleotide binding domain); and 3) Mrub_0837(DNA coordinates 824570..825262on the reverse strand) encodes the solute binding protein. This gene system encodes a transmembrane exporter and helper proteins which are thought to …

Meiothermus Ruber Mrub_0320 Gene Is An Ortholog Of The B3452 Gene, Mrub_0321 Gene Is An Ortholog Of The B3451 Gene, Mrub_0322 Gene Is An Ortholog Of The B3453 Gene, Mrub_2366 Gene Is An Ortholog Of The B3450 Gene Found In Escherichia Coli, Which Encode For Components Of An Abc Transporter Involved In Sn-Glycerol - 3-Phosphate, Jenna Hall, Dr. Lori Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

In this project we investigated the biological function of the genes mrub_0320, mrub_0321, mrub_0322, and mrub_2366 (KEGG map number 02010). We predict these genes encode components of a sn-glycerol-3-phosphate (ABC) transporter: 1) mrub_0320 (DNA coordinates 288469..289401) encodes the permease component (aka transmembrane domain), predicted to be an ortholog; 2) mrub_0321 (DNA coordinates 289394..290218) encodes another permease domain, and also contains a transcriptional regular; ATP-binding domain (aka nucleotide binding domain); 3) mrub_0322 (DNA coordinates 290234..291541) encodes the solute binding protein; and 4) mrub_2366 (DNA coordinates 2418207..2419352 on the reverse strand) encodes for an ATP-binding domain for multiple sugar-related ABC transport systems …

Floral Symmetry Genes Elucidate The Development And Evolution Of Oil-Bee Pollinated Flowers Of Malpighiaceae And Krameriaceae, Farahnoz N. Khojayori

Theses and Dissertations

Specialization on insect and animal pollinators is thought to be the driving force for the evolution of floral traits. Specifically in the New World (NW), the oil-bee pollination syndrome has led to the convergence of floral characters in two distantly related families of core eudicots, Malpighiaceae and Krameriaceae. Both families display a flag-like structure that establishes a zygomorphic flower and floral oil rewards in epithelial elaiophores. These traits work concomitantly to attract and reward female oil-bees that help fertilize these flowers and in return receive oils. The underlying genetics of floral zygomorphy were studied in several clades of core eudicots, …

The Santa Ana Speckled Dace (Rhinichthys Osculus): Phylogeography And Molecular Evolution Of The Mitochondrial Dna Control Region, James Jay Vanmeter

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this genetic study of the Santa Ana Speckled Dace Rhinichthys osculus was three-fold. The first goal was to characterize the molecular structure of the mtDNA control region of R. osculus. An 1143 base-pair region of the mitochondrial DNA genome, which included the complete control region was sequenced for all individuals. Analysis of the sequence data revealed that the molecular structure of the speckled dace control region was similar to the molecular structure described for other vertebrate taxa. The speckled dace control region contains three major domains, which vary in base frequency as well as in the frequency …