Other Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Homeotic Gene Teashirt (Tsh) Has A Neuroprotective Function In Amyloid-Beta 42 Mediated Neurodegeneration, Michael T. Moran, Meghana Tare, Madhuri Kango-Singh, Amit Singh

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating age related progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of cognition, and eventual death of the affected individual. One of the major causes of AD is the accumulation of Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) polypeptides formed by the improper cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in the brain. These plaques disrupt normal cellular processes through oxidative stress and aberrant signaling resulting in the loss of synaptic activity and death of the neurons. However, the detailed genetic mechanism(s) responsible for this neurodegeneration still remain elusive.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We have generated a transgenic Drosophila eye model where …

Resolution By Unassisted Top3 Points To Template Switch Recombination Intermediates During Dna Replication, M. Rebecca Glineburg, Alejandro Chavez, Vishesh Agrawal, Steven J. Brill, F. Brad Johnson

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The evolutionarily conserved Sgs1/Top3/Rmi1 (STR) complex plays vital roles in DNA replication and repair. One crucial activity of the complex is dissolution of toxic X-shaped recombination intermediates that accumulate during replication of damaged DNA. However, despite several years of study the nature of these X-shaped molecules remains debated. Here we use genetic approaches and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of genomic DNA to show that Top3, unassisted by Sgs1 and Rmi1, has modest capacities to provide resistance to MMS and to resolve recombination-dependent X-shaped molecules. The X-shaped molecules have structural properties consistent with hemicatenane-related template switch recombination intermediates (Rec-Xs) but not Holliday …

An Evaluation Of The Nontarget Effects Of Transgenic Bacillus Thuringiensis Maize On Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi In The Soil Ecosystem, Tanya Elizabeth Amy Cheeke

Dissertations and Theses

My dissertation research examined the effect of the cultivation of insect-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize on the soil environment with a goal of understanding how to obtain a balance between technological advancement and maintenance of a healthy soil ecosystem. Although Bt plants may help to reduce pesticide use, conferring benefits to farm workers and the environment, there are still unresolved questions about how the cultivation of Bt plants affects soil organisms. For this dissertation project, I used 14 different genotypes of Bt maize and non-Bt maize (Zea mays) to investigate the effects of transgenic Bt plants on the colonization ability, …

Dna From Feces And Museum Specimens Confirms A First State Record Bird, Alec R. Lindsay Ph. D., Skye C. Haas

Faculty Works

In October 2005, a vagrant kingbird (Aves: Tyrannus sp.) appeared in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, nearly 2000 km from the northern limit of its usual range. Using mitochondrial DNA obtained from a fecal sample deposited by the bird and mitochondrial DNA isolated from museum reference specimens, the species iden- tity of this bird was definitively confirmed as a Tropical Kingbird (T. melancholicus) rather than a Couch’s Kingbird (T. couchii). This is the first time DNA evidence has been used to establish a state bird record, and one of the few studies of any type to successfully use avian feces for DNA …

Genetic Privacy And The Fourth Amendment: Unregulated Surreptitious Dna Harvesting, Albert E. Scherr

Law Faculty Scholarship

Genetic privacy and police practices have come to the fore in the criminal justice system. Case law and stories in the media document that police are surreptitiously harvesting the DNA of putative suspects. Some sources even indicate that surreptitious data banking may also be in its infancy. Surreptitious harvesting of out-of-body DNA by the police is currently unregulated by the Fourth Amendment. The few courts that have addressed the issue find that the police are free to harvest DNA abandoned by a putative suspect in a public place. Little in the nascent surreptitious harvesting case law suggests that surreptitious data …

Aaron Gillette , Eugenics And The Nature Nurture Debate In The Twentieth Century, Garland E. Allen

Biology Faculty Research

Aaron Gillette, Eugenics and the Nature–Nurture Debate in the Twentieth Century, Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology [2007], digital reprint (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), pp. ix, 239, index, £18.99, paperback, ISBN: 9780230108455. This book treats an important subject – the history of the nature–nurture debate (focused on the US but with references to European players and movements) – and its implications for current theories of evolutionary psychology.

Overexpression/Silencing Of Selected Soybean Genes Alters Resistance To Pathogens, Mohamed H. El-Habbak

Theses and Dissertations--Plant Pathology

Plant diseases remain a major obstruction to meeting the world’s increased demand for soybean oil and protein. Reducing the losses caused by diseases in order to improve crop production is a high priority for agricultural research. The need for novel strategies for plant disease control cannot be overstated. In the present study, selected defense-related genes were silenced and/or overexpressed in soybean using a virus-based vector and the resultant plants were tested for their responses to pathogens. The first part of the study focused on Rps1k (Resistance to Phytophthora sojae) gene. The two conserved domains encoding ‘P-Loop NTPase’ and ‘PLN03210’ …