Organisms Commons^™

Rearrangement Of The Rna Polymerase Subunit H And The Lower Jaw In Archaeal Elongation Complexes, Sebastian Grünberg, Christoph Reich, Mirijam E. Zeller, Michael S. Bartlett, Michael Thomm

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The lower jaws of archaeal RNA polymerase and eukaryotic RNA polymerase II include orthologous subunits H and Rpb5, respectively. The tertiary structure of H is very similar to the structure of the C-terminal domain of Rpb5, and both subunits are proximal to downstream DNA in pre-initiation complexes. Analyses of reconstituted euryarchaeal polymerase lacking subunit H revealed that H is important for open complex formation and initial transcription. Eukaryotic Rpb5 rescues activity of the ΔH enzyme indicating a strong conservation of function for this subunit from archaea to eukaryotes. Photochemical cross-linking in elongation complexes revealed a striking structural rearrangement of RNA …

Contribution Of The Membrane-Proximal Region Of The Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Glycoprotein To Host Cell Entry And Membrane Fusion, Elizabeth Lane Matheny

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is an enveloped, nonsegmented, negative-sense, RNA virus belonging to the Rhabdoviridae family. VSV is considered the prototypic Rhabdovirus due to its simple genetic organization, broad host cell tropism, and ability to be easily grown in cell culture. Therefore, VSV has been used as the prototype to study viral entry, transcription, replication, and assembly. Viral entry, a critical step in the lifecycle of the virus, is mediated by the outer surface protein, G and will be the focus of this dissertation.

We hypothesize that the highly conserved residues in the membrane-proximal region of VSV G protein are …

Adverse Health Consequences Following Aerial Spraying With Bacillus Thuringiensis (Var. Kursraki) (Btk) To Control The Gypsy Moth: Flaws In Government Risk Assessments And In Public Health Officials' Attitudes, Richard B. Philp

Richard B. Philp

The soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is noteworthy for its ability to infect fatally the digestive tract of moths, butterflies and other insects, making it an attractive biological agent to control insects that can damage crops and trees. One subspecies B. thuringiensis (var. kurstaki) is used in commercial preparations such as Foray 48B that can be applied as a spray on the ground or from aircraft. The latter approach is especially appealing as large areas can be sprayed at relatively low cost. The use of such spraying in populated, urban areas often results in reports of illnesses such as nausea, vomiting, …

Modeling Thermal Inactivation Of Bacillus Spores, Emily A. Knight

Theses and Dissertations

This research models and analyzes methods to damage Bacillus anthracis spores through heat treatment. AFIT researchers have developed methods to characterize the effects of heating spores to high temperatures and for short durations similar to the thermal pulse of conventional weapon detonation. This research models the current experiment and evaluates the rate of thermal diffusion throughout the spores. A micro-model of the effects of dry and wet heating on a spore is presented. Heating a spore energizes adsorbed, absorbed, and chemically bound water molecules. These energized molecules have greater mobility within the spore, as well as between the spore and …

Dna Sequence Analysis Of Freshwater Eustigmatophyceae, A Potential Source Of Essential Fatty Acids, Sara E. Prior, M. W. Fawley, K. P. Fawley

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Freshwater Eustigmatophyceae are a group of microalgae that are considered rare and of low diversity, with only a few genera and species in a single order. Some Eustigmatophyceae produce fatty acids that are important nutrients for aquaculture, as well as for human food consumption. In addition, some Eustigmatophyceae produce hydrocarbons that may be useful in biofuel production. In our studies of the diversity of coccoid algae from Itasca State Park, Minnesota, we discovered several isolates that we tentatively identified as Eustigmatophyceae. Preliminary molecular characterization indicated that these isolates were highly diverse and probably represented species new to science. In this …

Trichostatin A Inhibits Corneal Haze In Vitro And In Vivo, Ajay Sharma, Maneesh M. Mehan, Sunilima Sinha, John W. Cowden, Rajiv R. Mohan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE. Trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, has been shown to suppress TGF- –induced fibrogenesis in many nonocular tissues. The authors evaluated TSA cytotoxicity and its antifibrogenic activity on TGF- –driven fibrosis in the cornea with the use of in vitro and in vivo models.

METHODS. Human corneal fibroblasts (HSFs) were used for in vitro studies, and New Zealand White rabbits were used for in vivo studies. Haze in the rabbit cornea was produced with photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) using excimer laser. Trypan blue exclusion and MTT assays evaluated TSA cytotoxicity to the cornea. Density of haze in the rabbit …

Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry For The Determination Of Methylprednisolone In Rat Plasma And Liver After Intravenous Administration Of Its Liver-Targeted Dextran Prodrug, Shuang-Qing Zhang, Helen R. Thorsheim, Suman Penugonda, Venkateswaran C. Pillai, Quentin R. Smith, Reza Mehvar

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

A specific and sensitive liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometric method for quantitative determination of methylprednisolone (MP) in rat plasma and liver was developed and validated using triamcinolone acetonide as an internal standard. Liquid-liquid extraction using tert-butyl methyl ether was used to extract the drug and the internal standard from plasma and liver. The separation of MP was performed on a C(18) column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile:0.5% formic acid aqueous solution (85:15, v/v) over 4 min. The assay was based on the selected reaction monitoring transitions at m/z 375 -> 161 for MP in plasma, 375 -> 357 for …

The First Total Synthesis Of (±)-4-Methoxydecanoic Acid: A Novel Antifungal Fatty Acid, Nestor Carballeira, Carlos Miranda, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The hitherto unknown (±)-4-methoxydecanoic acid was synthesized in six steps and in 25% overall yield starting from commercially available 4-penten-1-ol. The title compound demonstrated 17-fold higher antifungal activity (MIC = 1.5 mM) against Candida albicans ATCC 60193 and Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC 66031 when compared to unsubstituted n-decanoic acid. Our results demonstrate that mid-chain methoxylation appears to be a viable strategy for increasing the fungitoxicity of fatty acids.

A New Laser Pointer Driven Optical Microheater For Precise Local Heat Shock, Mike Placinta

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The zebrafish has emerged as an important genetic model system for the study of vertebrate development. However, while genetics is a powerful tool for the study of early gene functions, the approach is more limited when it comes to understanding later functions of genes that have essential roles in early embryogenesis. There is thus a need to manipulate gene expression at different times, and ideally only in some regions of the developing embryo. Methods for conditional gene regulation have been established in Drosophila, C.elegans and the mouse, utilizing conditional gene activation systems such as the Gal4-UAS system (fly) and the …

Revealing Genes Associated With Vitellogenesis In The Liver Of The Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) By Transcriptome Profiling., Liraz Levi, Irena Pekarski, Ellen Gutman, Paolo Fortina, Terry Hyslop, Jakob Biran, Berta Levavi-Sivan, Esther Lubzens

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: In oviparous vertebrates, including fish, vitellogenesis consists of highly regulated pathways involving 17beta-estradiol (E2). Previous studies focused on a relatively small number of hepatic expressed genes during vitellogenesis. This study aims to identify hepatic genes involved in vitellogenesis and regulated by E2, by using zebrafish microarray gene expression profiling, and to provide information on functional distinctive genes expressed in the liver of a vitellogenic female, using zebrafish as a model fish. RESULTS: Genes associated with vitellogenesis were revealed by the following paired t-tests (SAM) comparisons: a) two-month old vitellogenic (Vit2) females were compared with non-vitellogenic (NV) females, showing 825 …

Interrupted Resistance Training And Bmd In Growing Rats, J. K. Godfrey, B. D. Kayser, G. V. Gomez, Jason Bennett, S. V. Jaque, Ken D. Sumida

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A resistance training program, where the exercise was uninterrupted (UT, i.e. continuous repetitions) was compared against another resistance training program where the exercise was interrupted (IT, i.e. 2 exercise sessions during a training day) for enhancing bone modeling and bone mineral density (BMD) in maturating animals. The total volume of work performed between the two resistance training programs was equivalent by design. Young male rats (similar to 8 weeks old) were randomly divided into Control (Con, n = 8), UT (n = 8) and IT (n = 7) resistance trained groups. The UT and IT groups were conditioned to climb …

The Guinea Pig Ileum Lacks The Direct, High-Potency, M2-Muscarinic, Contractile Mechanism Characteristic Of The Mouse Ileum, Michael T. Griffin, Minoru Matsui, Rennolds S. Ostrom, Frederick J. Ehlert

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

We explored whether the M2 muscarinic receptor in the guinea pig ileum elicits a highly potent, direct-contractile response, like that from the M3 muscarinic receptor knockout mouse. First, we characterized the irreversible receptor-blocking activity of 4-DAMP mustard in ileum from muscarinic receptor knockout mice to verify its M3 selectivity. Then, we used 4-DAMP mustard to inactivate M3 responses in the guinea pig ileum to attempt to reveal direct, M2 receptor-mediated contractions. The muscarinic agonist, oxotremorine-M, elicited potent contractions in ileum from wild-type, M2 receptor knockout, and M3 receptor knockout mice characterized by negative log EC50 (pEC 50 ) values ± …