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Biology

2004

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Botany

Chloroplast Dna Rearrangements In Campanulaceae: Phylogenetic Utility Of Highly Rearranged Genomes, Mary E. Cosner, Linda A. Raubeson, Robert K. Jansen Aug 2004

Chloroplast Dna Rearrangements In Campanulaceae: Phylogenetic Utility Of Highly Rearranged Genomes, Mary E. Cosner, Linda A. Raubeson, Robert K. Jansen

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Background

The Campanulaceae (the "hare bell" or "bellflower" family) is a derived angiosperm family comprised of about 600 species treated in 35 to 55 genera. Taxonomic treatments vary widely and little phylogenetic work has been done in the family. Gene order in the chloroplast genome usually varies little among vascular plants. However, chloroplast genomes of Campanulaceae represent an exception and phylogenetic analyses solely based on chloroplast rearrangement characters support a reasonably well-resolved tree.

Results

Chloroplast DNA physical maps were constructed for eighteen representatives of the family. So many gene order changes have occurred among the genomes that characterizing individual mutational …

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Genetic Control Of Branching In Foxtail Millet, Andrew Doust, Katrien Devos, Michael Gadberry, Mike Gale, Elizabeth Kellogg Jun 2004

Genetic Control Of Branching In Foxtail Millet, Andrew Doust, Katrien Devos, Michael Gadberry, Mike Gale, Elizabeth Kellogg

Biology Department Faculty Works

Reduction in vegetative branching is commonplace when crops are domesticated from their wild progenitors. We have identified genetic loci responsible for these changes in foxtail millet (Setaria italica), a crop closely related to maize but whose genetics are little known. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis and comparative genomics reveal that basal branching (tillering) and axillary branching are partially controlled by separate loci, and that the orthologue of teosinte branched1, the major gene controlling branching phenotype in maize, has only a minor and variable effect. We identify other candidate genes for control of branching, including a number of hormone biosynthesis pathway …

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Forisomes, A Novel Type Of Ca2+-Dependent Contractile Protein Motor [Review Article], Michael Knoblauch, Winfried Peters Apr 2004

Forisomes, A Novel Type Of Ca2+-Dependent Contractile Protein Motor [Review Article], Michael Knoblauch, Winfried Peters

Winfried S. Peters

This paper has no abstract; this is the first paragraph. Motility of cell components in both animal and plant cells is mostly based on the movement of motor proteins along actin filaments or microtubules [Boal, 2002]. The dominance of ATP hydrolysis as the energy source for such movements is so complete, that modern textbooks define “motor proteins” as nucleoside triphosphate-dependent actuators [e.g., Alberts et al., 2002]. In only one known case, a reversible mechanism of cell motility is driven by the interaction of Ca2+ and the responsive protein(s). Some sessile ciliates control the effective length of their stalk by means …

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The Genus Spiroplasma And Its Non-Helical Descendants: Phylogenetic Classification, Correlation With Phenotype And Roots Of The Mycoplasma Mycoides Clade, Gail E. Gasparich, Robert F. Whitcomb, Deborah Dodge, Frank E. French, John Glass, David L. Williamson Jan 2004

The Genus Spiroplasma And Its Non-Helical Descendants: Phylogenetic Classification, Correlation With Phenotype And Roots Of The Mycoplasma Mycoides Clade, Gail E. Gasparich, Robert F. Whitcomb, Deborah Dodge, Frank E. French, John Glass, David L. Williamson

Gail Gasparich

The genus Spiroplasma (helical mollicutes: Bacteria: Firmicutes: Mollicutes: Entomoplasmatales: Spiroplasmataceae) is associated primarily with insects. The Mycoplasma mycoides cluster (sensu Weisburg et al. 1989 and Johansson and Pettersson 2002 ) is a group of mollicutes that includes the type species – Mycoplasma mycoides – of Mycoplasmatales, Mycoplasmataceae and Mycoplasma. This cluster, associated solely with ruminants, contains five other species and subspecies. Earlier phylogenetic reconstructions based on partial 16S rDNA sequences and a limited sample of Spiroplasma and Mycoplasma sequences suggested that the genus Mycoplasma was polyphyletic, as the M. mycoides cluster and the grouping that consisted of the hominis and …

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Population Genetic Structure In Nolina Brittoniana (Agavaceae), A Plant Endemic To The Central Ridges Of Florida, Rebecca W. Dolan, Rebecca Yahr, Eric S. Menges Jan 2004

Population Genetic Structure In Nolina Brittoniana (Agavaceae), A Plant Endemic To The Central Ridges Of Florida, Rebecca W. Dolan, Rebecca Yahr, Eric S. Menges

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Nolina brittoniana is endemic to the central ridges of peninsular Florida. Its scrub and sandhill habitats have suffered extensive anthropogenic modification. Analysis of isozymes from populations throughout its range revealed less genetic variation than generally reported for endemic plants. Populations were well differentiated, with significant clines in allele frequency along the north-south axis of distribution. Pair-wise F-statistics calculated at four levels of population geographic substructure revealed that current and inferred historical habitat patches had similar genetic structure. We found no evidence of recent bottlenecks or changes in genetic structure due to habitat loss and fragmentation, consistent with populations having always …

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