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Articles 4711 - 4740 of 8396

Full-Text Articles in Microbiology

Cell Viability, Cytoskeleton Organization And Cytokines Secretion Of Raw 264.7 Macrophages Exposed To Gram-Negative Bacterial Components, Ali Awadh Alshehri Jan 2016

Cell Viability, Cytoskeleton Organization And Cytokines Secretion Of Raw 264.7 Macrophages Exposed To Gram-Negative Bacterial Components, Ali Awadh Alshehri

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Macrophages play an important role in innate immunity by controlling cellular responses. In this study, the effects of gram-negative bacterial components (Flagellin, lipoprotein, lipopolysaccharides (LPS), outer membrane proteins-A (OMP-A) and peptidoglycan) were determined on cell viability, morphology, cytoskeletal filament and cytokines secretion of murine RAW 264.7 macrophages at 24 hours. The effect of LPS, flagellin and peptidoglycan from gram negative bacteria on viability murine RAW 264.7 macrophages were evaluated using different concentrations (1, 5 and 10 µg/ml). Cells stimulated with LPS displayed ~ 2-fold decrease (P=0.001) in cell viability compared to control cells at 24 hours whereas cells stimulated with …

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The Expression Of Dopamine-Related Genes And Behavioral Performance In Mice, Victoria Lynne Dershem Jan 2016

The Expression Of Dopamine-Related Genes And Behavioral Performance In Mice, Victoria Lynne Dershem

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While the neurotransmitter dopamine has been well-studied for its role in mood regulation and activation of the intrinsic reward pathway, several psychiatric disorders linked to dopamine are also known to cause memory impairment, a phenomenon which has attracted much less attention. In the current study, whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing was performed, and transcript levels of several dopamine-related genes were compared to results of behavioral assays designed to test spatial and emotional memory, as well as anxiety. The results suggest a positive relationship between expression level of Nurr1, a nuclear receptor known to initiate transcription of genes necessary for dopaminergic signaling, …

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Development And Validation Of Virus And Ebola Misconceptions Assessment (Viremia): Ebola Virus Misconceptions In College Students, Michele Miller Jan 2016

Development And Validation Of Virus And Ebola Misconceptions Assessment (Viremia): Ebola Virus Misconceptions In College Students, Michele Miller

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In this study an assessment (VirEMiA) on college students' knowledge and misconceptions of the Ebola virus was created and validated. VirEMiA was then used to determine what misconceptions college students have about Ebola, if there is a difference in misconceptions between students with and without a strong science background, and if Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) increases students' knowledge of Ebola and decreases their misconceptions. VirEMiA was shown to be a valid and reliable assessment whether confidence was integrated (seprel=0.97) or not (seprel=0.98), and for measuring misconceptions (seprel=0.97). If psychology and nursing majors were considered to have a strong background in science, …

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Relationships Between Fecal Indicator Bacteria And Environmental Factors At Edgewater Beach, Anna M. King Jan 2016

Relationships Between Fecal Indicator Bacteria And Environmental Factors At Edgewater Beach, Anna M. King

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

To provide more timely estimates of indicator bacteria concentrations in recreational waters, environmental agencies are using predictive models to supplement conventional bacteria enumeration methods. As a tool to develop predictive models, correlational relationships between variables can be examined, to determine the statistical significance of explanatory variables. Prior research at Lake Erie beaches suggests that environmental conditions such as average wave height, rainfall, turbidity, and water temperature may demonstrate a strong relationship to concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis (enterococci). These relationships were examined at Edgewater Beach in Cleveland, Ohio, using statistical correlation tests on data collected …

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Metabolism Of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Infected Raw 264.7 Macrophages, Mary K. Jenkins Jan 2016

Metabolism Of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Infected Raw 264.7 Macrophages, Mary K. Jenkins

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Macrophages are immune cells that phagocytize pathogens and act as antigen presenting cells. Macrophages are critical in regulating the adaptive immune response and play a key role in neutralizing infection. Macrophages exhibit a variety of phenotypes which have different energy requirements. In the case of HSV-1 infection the virus has been shown to alter metabolic processes of its host. Utilizing a XF24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer the metabolic activity of M0, M1, and M2 (IL-4, IL-13, and IL-10) RAW 264.7 macrophages was quantified for both uninfected cells and in response to HSV-1 infection. The analysis showed uninfected M0 and M2 (IL-4, …

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The Anti-Apoptotic Effect Of Hsv-1 On Murine Macrophages: Raw 246.7 Murine Macrophage Cell Line, Mofeda Abdussalam Alhanghari Jan 2016

The Anti-Apoptotic Effect Of Hsv-1 On Murine Macrophages: Raw 246.7 Murine Macrophage Cell Line, Mofeda Abdussalam Alhanghari

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Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a worldwide pathogen that affects humans and has the ability to establish a latent state of infection in the sensory nerve ganglia after primary infection of epithelial cells (Boutell and Everett, 2003). HSV-1 is a very contagious virus, which can be transmitted from person to person and cause cold sores in the infected person. Rarely, infection can lead to more serious complications, such as encephalitis. Most HSV-1 infections usually occur in childhood with lifelong potential for symptomatic or asymptomatic viral shedding episodes (Looker et al., 2015). HSV- 1 infects 60%-80% of people throughout …

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Late Events Of Human Metapneumovirus Infection: Insights Into Viral Spread Within The Respiratory Epithelium, Farah El Najjar Jan 2016

Late Events Of Human Metapneumovirus Infection: Insights Into Viral Spread Within The Respiratory Epithelium, Farah El Najjar

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a leading cause of respiratory tract infections worldwide across all age groups, and is particularly devastating in the pediatric, elderly and immunocompromised populations. Despite its high prevalence and burden on human health, there are currently no treatments or vaccines against HMPV infections. HMPV is an enveloped virus that belongs to the paramyxovirus family. Paramyxoviruses in general form by assembly of virus components at the plasma membrane followed by budding and release of virus particles into the extracellular matrix to spread infection. The process of forming new virus particles requires complex interactions between viral and cellular components …

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Role Of The Exopolysaccharide Alginate In Adherence To And Inflammation Of Pulmonary Epithelial Cells, Brian E. Crossley Jan 2016

Role Of The Exopolysaccharide Alginate In Adherence To And Inflammation Of Pulmonary Epithelial Cells, Brian E. Crossley

Theses and Dissertations

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infections in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients are not easily cleared due to the conversion from a nonmucoid to a mucoid phenotype. Alginate is an acetylated exopolysaccharide produced by mucoid PA that is responsible for increased resistance to antibiotics, host phagocytic killing, and propagating biofilm formation. Understanding the interaction between PA and host cells is critical to understanding chronic infection and inflammation in CF. In order to investigate this, we used A549 pulmonary epithelial cells and murine alveolar macrophages (MH-S) to examine host response to nonmucoid versus mucoid PA infection. Adhesion assays in A549 pulmonary epithelial cells revealed …

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Delineating ΔNp63α'S Function In Epithelial Cells, Suraj Sakaram Jan 2016

Delineating ΔNp63α'S Function In Epithelial Cells, Suraj Sakaram

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ΔNp63α, the most physiologically relevant isoform of p63, a p53 family member protein, maintains the proliferative capacity of the basal layer of epithelial tissues and is highly expressed in non-melanoma skin cancer. It has been implicated in a variety of different cancers, including breast, lung, and prostate cancers, however the complex role it plays in disease remains poorly understood. Elucidating ΔNp63α’s regulatory network may provide insight into its role in epithelial tissues and in cancer progression. The objective of this thesis is to investigate ΔNp63α’s upstream regulation in the context of non-melanoma skin cancer as well as expand on ΔNp63α’s …

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Species Differences In The Effects Of Tcdd On A Transcriptional Regulatory Region Within The Ig Heavy Chain Gene, Zahra J. Alfaheeda Jan 2016

Species Differences In The Effects Of Tcdd On A Transcriptional Regulatory Region Within The Ig Heavy Chain Gene, Zahra J. Alfaheeda

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The immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (Igh) is regulated by numerous regulatory elements including the 3'Igh regulatory region (3'IghRR). Several transcription factors are involved in modulating the 3'IghRR including NF-B, AP-1, and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). The AhR is a ligand-activated transcription factor that mediates the transcription of genes involved in the metabolism of environmental toxicants such as TCDD. TCDD binds AhR and regulates immunoglobulin (Ig) expression in B cells of animal models. This modulation appears to be directly mediated by binding of the AhR to dioxin response elements (DRE) within the 3'IghRR. Structural differences have been found between the …

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Comparing Antibody-Coated Immune Beads With Flow Cytometry To Measure Ss-2-Microglubulin+ Murine Spleen Cells, Amal Fahad Alajman Jan 2016

Comparing Antibody-Coated Immune Beads With Flow Cytometry To Measure Ss-2-Microglubulin+ Murine Spleen Cells, Amal Fahad Alajman

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In diseases like AIDS, Multiple Myeloma, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Type 1 Diabetes, and Systemic Lupus Erythromatosus the detection of major histocompatibility complex type 1 molecules (MHC 1) can be a helpful component of disease diagnosis and prognosis. Most somatic mammalian cells display to varying degrees major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class 1 antigen on the cell surface. MHC1 molecules consist of a polymorphic alpha a chain and a monomorphic beta chain, beta 2 microglubulin (ß2m). The ß2M composition is fairly constant within a species whereas the alpha chain is not. The polymorphic alpha chain is encoded by an MHC complex gene …

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The Impact Of Hsv-1 Infection, Socs1 Peptide, And Socs3 Peptide Mimetic On Cell Viability, Morphology, And Cytoskeleton Proteins Of Unpolarized And Cytokine-Polarized M1 Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Mubarak Almutairi Jan 2016

The Impact Of Hsv-1 Infection, Socs1 Peptide, And Socs3 Peptide Mimetic On Cell Viability, Morphology, And Cytoskeleton Proteins Of Unpolarized And Cytokine-Polarized M1 Raw 264.7 Murine Macrophages, Mubarak Almutairi

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Mubarak Huraysan Almutairi. M.S. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wright State University, 2016. The Impact of HSV-1 Infection, SOCS1 peptide, and SOCS3 peptide mimetic on Cell Viability, Morphology, and Cytoskeleton Proteins of Unpolarized and Cytokine-Polarized M1 RAW 264.7 Murine Macrophages. The immune response against HSV-1 involves macrophages in both innate and adaptive immunity by limiting HSV-1 replication. In this study, the effects of HSV-1 challenge on cell viability, morphology, and cytoskeletal filament in unpolarized and cytokine-polarized murine RAW 264.7 macrophages at 24 and 48 hours were monitored. Because the distribution of cytoskeleton throughout the cell is critical in cell viability …

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Correlating Innate Functional Recovery From Stroke Either With Stem Cell Proliferation And/Or Limb Rehabilitation, Devipriyanka Nagarajan Jan 2016

Correlating Innate Functional Recovery From Stroke Either With Stem Cell Proliferation And/Or Limb Rehabilitation, Devipriyanka Nagarajan

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In the present study 10-12 month female rats were examined for functional recovery from stroke and this recovery was compared with the stem cell/progenitor cell proliferation in the brain (which was measured by Ki67). The cell proliferation indicated by Ki67 showed a 6 fold increase in control animals compared to the rehabilitation animals. The contralateral functional recovery in control animals were 46.6% and in the rehabilitation animals were 24.5%. The physical rehabilitation was carried out to determine if limb rehabilitation can promote greater functional recovery. The results showed that when the animals were made to over use their impaired limb …

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Errors In Surgical Pathology Reports: A Study From A Major Center In Pakistan, Zubair Ahmad, Romana Idrees, Nasir Uddin, Arsalan Ahmed, Saira Fatima Jan 2016

Errors In Surgical Pathology Reports: A Study From A Major Center In Pakistan, Zubair Ahmad, Romana Idrees, Nasir Uddin, Arsalan Ahmed, Saira Fatima

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background:
Errors in surgical pathology diagnosis can have serious consequences for the patient. Since the final product of a surgical pathology lab is the report, errors can be picked by reviewing reports of cases.AIM: To determine the frequency and types of error in surgical pathology reports of cases signed out in 2014 in a laboratory in Karachi, Pakistan.
Material and Methods:
All surgical pathology reports in which changes were made in the original report after sign out and an amended report was issued were included. Errors included: (1) misinterpretations; (2) missing critical information; (3) erroneous critical information; (4) misidentification; and …

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Sequence-Based Methods For Detecting And Evaluating The Human Gut Mycobiome, Mallory J. Suhr, Nabaraj Banjara, Heather E. Hallen-Adams Jan 2016

Sequence-Based Methods For Detecting And Evaluating The Human Gut Mycobiome, Mallory J. Suhr, Nabaraj Banjara, Heather E. Hallen-Adams

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

We surveyed the fungal microbiota in 16 fecal samples from healthy humans with a vegetarian diet. Fungi were identified using molecular cloning, 454 pyrosequencing and a Luminex analyte specific reagent (ASR) assay, all targeting the ITS region of the rRNA genes. Fungi were detected in each fecal sample and at least 46 distinct fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were detected, from two phyla — Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Fusarium was the most abundant genus, followed by Malassezia, Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Candida. Commonly detected fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium, as well as known dietary fungi Agaricus bisporus and …

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Complete Genome Sequence Of Highly Virulent Porcine Reproductive And Respiratory Syndrome Virus Variants That Recently Emerged In The United States, Aspen M. Workman, Timothy P.L. Smith, Fernando A. Osorio, Hiep L.X. Vu Jan 2016

Complete Genome Sequence Of Highly Virulent Porcine Reproductive And Respiratory Syndrome Virus Variants That Recently Emerged In The United States, Aspen M. Workman, Timothy P.L. Smith, Fernando A. Osorio, Hiep L.X. Vu

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

A recent outbreak of particularly virulent disease caused by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus has occurred in swine herds across the United States. We report here the complete genome sequence of eight viral isolates from four Nebraska herds experiencing an outbreak of severe disease in 2016.

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Domain I Of The 5′ Non-Translated Genomic Region In Coxsackievirus B3 Rna Is Not Required For Productive Replication, L. Jaramillo, S. Smithee, S. Tracy, N. M. Chapman Jan 2016

Domain I Of The 5′ Non-Translated Genomic Region In Coxsackievirus B3 Rna Is Not Required For Productive Replication, L. Jaramillo, S. Smithee, S. Tracy, N. M. Chapman

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Domain I is a cloverleaf-like secondary structure at the 5′ termini of all enterovirus genomes, comprising part of a cis-acting replication element essential for efficient enteroviral replication. 5′ genomic terminal deletions up to as much as 55% of domain I can occur without lethality following coxsackie B virus infections. We report here that the entire CVB structural domain I can be deleted without lethality.

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Reversion To Wildtype Of A Mutated And Nonfunctional Coxsackievirus B3cre(2c), Shane Smithee, Steven Tracy, Nora M. Chapman Jan 2016

Reversion To Wildtype Of A Mutated And Nonfunctional Coxsackievirus B3cre(2c), Shane Smithee, Steven Tracy, Nora M. Chapman

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

The cis-acting replication element (CRE) in the 2C protein coding region [CRE(2C)] of enteroviruses (EV) facilitates the addition of two uridine residues (uridylylation) onto the virus-encoded protein VPg inorder for it to serve as the RNA replication primer. We demonstrated that coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is replication competent in the absence of a native (uridylylating) CRE(2C) and also demonstrated that lackof a functional CRE(2C) led to generation of 5’ terminal genomic deletions in the CVB3 CRE-knock-out (CVB3-CKO) population. We asked whether reversion of the mutated CRE(2C) occurred, thus permitting sustained replication, and when were 5’ terminal deletions generated during replication. Virions …

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Replicating Single-Cycle Adenovirus Vectors Generate Amplified Influenza Vaccine Responses, Catherine M. Crosby, William E. Matchett, Stephanie S. Anguiano-Zarate, Christopher A. Parks, Eric A. Weaver, Larry R. Pease, Richard J. Webby, Michael A. Barry Jan 2016

Replicating Single-Cycle Adenovirus Vectors Generate Amplified Influenza Vaccine Responses, Catherine M. Crosby, William E. Matchett, Stephanie S. Anguiano-Zarate, Christopher A. Parks, Eric A. Weaver, Larry R. Pease, Richard J. Webby, Michael A. Barry

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Head-to-head comparisons of conventional influenza vaccines with ade- novirus (Ad) gene-based vaccines demonstrated that these viral vectors can mediate more potent protection against influenza virus infection in animal models. In most cases, Ad vaccines are engineered to be replication-defective (RD-Ad) vectors. In contrast, replication-competent Ad (RC-Ad) vaccines are markedly more potent but risk causing adenovirus diseases in vaccine recipients and health care workers. To harness antigen gene replication but avoid production of infectious virions, we de- veloped “single-cycle” adenovirus (SC-Ad) vectors. Previous work demonstrated that SC-Ads amplify transgene expression 100-fold and produce markedly stronger and more persistent immune responses than …

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Noninvasive Measurement Of Electrical Events Associated With A Single Chlorovirus Infection Of A Microalgal Cell, Seung-Woo Lee, Eun-Hee Lee, Gerhard Thiel, James L. Van Etten, Ravi Saraf Jan 2016

Noninvasive Measurement Of Electrical Events Associated With A Single Chlorovirus Infection Of A Microalgal Cell, Seung-Woo Lee, Eun-Hee Lee, Gerhard Thiel, James L. Van Etten, Ravi Saraf

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Chlorovirus Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 (PBCV-1) contains a viral-encoded K+ channel imbedded in its internal membrane, which triggers host plasma membrane depolarization during virus infection. This early stage of infection was monitored at high resolution by recording the cell membrane depolarization of a single Chlorella cell during infection by a single PBCV-1 particle. The measurement was achieved by depositing the cells onto a network of one-dimensional necklaces of Au nanoparticles, which spanned two electrodes 70 μm apart. The nanoparticle necklace array has been shown to behave as a single-electron device at room temperature. The resulting electrochemical field-effect transistor …

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Killer Toxin From Several Food-Derived Debaryomyces Hansenii Strains Effective Against Pathogenic Candida Yeasts, Nabaraj Banjara, Kenneth Nickerson, Mallory J. Suhr, Heather E. Hallen-Adams Jan 2016

Killer Toxin From Several Food-Derived Debaryomyces Hansenii Strains Effective Against Pathogenic Candida Yeasts, Nabaraj Banjara, Kenneth Nickerson, Mallory J. Suhr, Heather E. Hallen-Adams

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Candida yeasts are the dominant fungi in the healthy human microbiome, but are well-known for causing disease following a variety of perturbations. Evaluation of fungal populations from the healthy human gut revealed a significant negative correlation between the foodborne yeast, Debaryomyces hansenii, and Candida species. D. hansenii is reported to produce killer toxins (mycocins) effective against other yeast species. In order to better understand this phenomenon, a collection of 42 D. hansenii isolates was obtained from 22 cheeses and evaluated for killer activity against Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis over a range of temperatures and pH values. Twenty three …

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Toxicity Of Engineered Nanomaterials To Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria, Ricky W. Lewis Jan 2016

Toxicity Of Engineered Nanomaterials To Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria, Ricky W. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have become ubiquitous in consumer products and industrial applications, and consequently the environment. Much of the environmentally released ENMs are expected to enter terrestrial ecosystems via land application of nano-enriched biosolids to agricultural fields. Among the organisms most likely to encounter nano-enriched biosolids are the key soil bacteria known as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). I reviewed what is known concerning the toxicological effects of ENMs to PGPR and observed the need for high-throughput methods to evaluate lethal and sublethal toxic responses of aerobic microbes. I addressed this issue by developing high-throughput microplate assays which allowed me …

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Tillage And Fertilization Influences On Autotrophic Nitrifiers In Agricultural Soil, Shuang Liu Jan 2016

Tillage And Fertilization Influences On Autotrophic Nitrifiers In Agricultural Soil, Shuang Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Nitrification is a biological oxidation of NH3 to NO2- and then to NO3-. Understanding how the nitrifier community responds to agricultural management is essential because the community composition is complex and functional distinction of subgroups occurs. Better managing nitrifiers could benefit the environment by increasing nitrogen (N) fertilizer use efficiency, decreasing NO3- leaching, and reducing NO and N2O emissions. This study examined how long-term N fertilization and tillage influenced nitrifier density, ratios, nitrification rates, and the community structure of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The …

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Studies On Regulation Of Pqq-Dependent Phosphate Solubilization Among Rhizosphere Dwelling Bacteria, Ran An Jan 2016

Studies On Regulation Of Pqq-Dependent Phosphate Solubilization Among Rhizosphere Dwelling Bacteria, Ran An

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Plant growth promotion can be enhanced by soil- and rhizosphere-dwelling bacteria by a several different methods. One method is by promoting nutrient acquisition from soil. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient that plants obtain from soil, but in many cases it is immobilized in forms that are not available for plant uptake. Bacteria can solubilize insoluble soil phosphates by secreting gluconic acid. This chemical is produced from glucose by the activity of the bacterial enzyme glucose dehydrogenase, which requires a coenzyme called PQQ. In this dissertation, I studied the regulation of the glucose dehydrogenase enzyme and the PQQ coenzyme in the …

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The Loss Of Methanol Utilization In Methylobacteria, Justin T. Skariah Jan 2016

The Loss Of Methanol Utilization In Methylobacteria, Justin T. Skariah

Theses and Dissertations

Methylobacteria primary uses Cl substrates as a carbon and energy source. This experiment was performed to see if Methylobacteria would lose the ability to use Cl compound methanol after prolonged exposure to multi-carbon substrates. To determine this, the bacteria was grown on MR2A3 (multi-carbon substrates) and MOM (single-carbon substrates) for multiple generations and tested for loss of function on a series of generations. These tests include streaking plates of MOM and R2A with bacteria from MR2A3 then getting a bacterial colony count and also toothpick transfers of the colonies to verify findings. After 20 generations there were no significant decrease …

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Diversity Of The Beneficial Bacterium Oxalobacter Formigenes Isolated From The Human Gut, Karen Shaw Jan 2016

Diversity Of The Beneficial Bacterium Oxalobacter Formigenes Isolated From The Human Gut, Karen Shaw

Masters Theses

Oxalobacter formigenes is an anaerobic, oxalate degrading organism that colonizes in the mammalian intestinal tract. Currently, O. formigenes is divided into two groups via PCR of the oxc gene. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is a technique used to resolve large pieces of DNA. Typically, PFGE is used to identify differences between strains for pathogenic bacteria, but this study sought to use it to further understand the diversity of a probiotic organism. This study aimed to develop a methodology for utilizing PFGE to examine O. formigenes. The methodology involved lysing O. formigenes cells in plugs, first in proteinase K, …

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Response Of Soil Microbial Communities To Saltwater Intrusion In Tidal Freshwater Wetlands, Chansotheary Dang Jan 2016

Response Of Soil Microbial Communities To Saltwater Intrusion In Tidal Freshwater Wetlands, Chansotheary Dang

Theses and Dissertations

Saltwater intrusion due to global change is expected to have a detrimental effect on the biogeochemistry of tidal freshwater wetlands. Of particular concern is that fact that salinization can alter the role of these ecosystems in the global carbon cycling by causing shifts in microbial metabolism that alter greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon mineralization rates. However, our understanding of how wetland microbial community dynamics will respond to saltwater intrusion is limited. To address this knowledge gap and increase our understanding of how microbial communities in tidal freshwater wetlands change over time (1, 3, 12, and 49 weeks) under elevated …

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Adenovirus Evasion Of Cell-Intrinsic Immunity, Andrew Michael Burrage Jan 2016

Adenovirus Evasion Of Cell-Intrinsic Immunity, Andrew Michael Burrage

Dissertations

Virus cell entry represents one of the earliest opportunities for a host to respond to infection. Understanding the processes of pathogen detection and restriction employed by the host, as well as strategies utilized by the virus itself to evade such processes, is critical in developing therapeutics to counter pathogenesis. Adenovirus (Ad) infections are self-limiting in healthy populations, but can be devastating to individuals with compromised immune systems. Currently, no specific antiviral treatments exist to combat Ad infections in susceptible populations. However, because Ad infections are not severe in healthy individuals, employing replication-defective Ads as vaccine vectors is generally regarded as …

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Draft Genome For A Urinary Isolate Of Lactobacillus Crispatus, Travis Kyle Price, Majed Shaheen, Laurynas Kalesinskas, Kema Malki, Evann Elizabeth Hilt, Catherine Putonti, Alan J. Wolfe Jan 2016

Draft Genome For A Urinary Isolate Of Lactobacillus Crispatus, Travis Kyle Price, Majed Shaheen, Laurynas Kalesinskas, Kema Malki, Evann Elizabeth Hilt, Catherine Putonti, Alan J. Wolfe

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

While Lactobacillus crispatus contributes to the stability of normal vaginal microbiota, its role in urinary health remains unclear. As part of an on-going attempt to characterize the female urinary microbiota, we report the genome sequence of an L. crispatus strain isolated from a woman displaying no lower urinary tract symptoms.

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Land-Use And Algal Species Influence Bacterial Community Composition And Activity In Streams, Miguel Rojas Jan 2016

Land-Use And Algal Species Influence Bacterial Community Composition And Activity In Streams, Miguel Rojas

Master's Theses

Microbial biofilms can be found on virtually all submerged surfaces in aquatic habitats, including rivers and streams. Biofilms are complex, taxonomically diverse communities of microorganisms (including algae and bacteria) that colonize solid surfaces and support a wide range of metabolic activities. Biofilms are critical components of river and stream ecosystems because they are key drivers of nutrient cycling processes (including nitrogen cycling) and because they serve as an important food source for higher trophic levels. Biofilms in urban streams are subject to a number of anthropogenic stressors, but research on the ecology of urban biofilms and their response to stressors …

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