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Full-Text Articles in Organismal Biological Physiology
Identifying Mechanisms Of Host Plant Specialization In Aphis Craccivora And Its Bacterial Symbionts, Thorsten Hansen
Identifying Mechanisms Of Host Plant Specialization In Aphis Craccivora And Its Bacterial Symbionts, Thorsten Hansen
Theses and Dissertations--Entomology
Many insects form close relationships with microbial symbionts. Insect symbionts can provide novel phenotypes to their hosts, including influencing dietary breadth. In the polyphagous cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora, the facultative symbiont Arsenophonus improves aphid performance on one host plant (locust), but decreases performance on other plants. The goal of my thesis was to investigate the mechanism by which Arsenophonus facilitates use of locust. First, I assembled an Aphis craccivora-Arsenophonus-Buchnera reference transcriptome to conduct RNAseq analysis, comparing gene expression in aphids feeding on locust and fava, with and without Arsenophonus infection. Overall, few transcripts were differentially …
Toxicity Of Engineered Nanomaterials To Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria, Ricky W. Lewis
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 …