Identifying Genetic Factors Influencing Sperm Mobility Phenotype In Chicken Using Genome Wide Association Studies, Primordial Germ Cell Transplantation, And Rnaseq.,
2017
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Identifying Genetic Factors Influencing Sperm Mobility Phenotype In Chicken Using Genome Wide Association Studies, Primordial Germ Cell Transplantation, And Rnaseq., Sohita Ojha
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Sperm mobility is a major determinant of male fertility in chicken. In spite of low heritability of reproductive traits, sperm mobility has high heritability index which suggests presence of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) governing the trait. Our research focused on three objectives: i) to identify the QTLs affecting low mobility phenotype in chicken, ii) to understand the impact of Sertoli-cells and germ cells interactions in influencing the mobility phenotype and iii) to identify the genes and gene networks differentially expressed in male and female PGCs. To detect the QTLs, genome wide association studies (GWAS) was conducted which revealed the presence …
Linking Taxonomic Diversity And Trophic Function: A Graph-Based Theoretical Approach,
2017
Wayne State College
Linking Taxonomic Diversity And Trophic Function: A Graph-Based Theoretical Approach, Marcella M. Jurotich, Kaitlyn Dougherty, Barbara Hayford, Sally Clark
Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies
The purpose of this study is to develop a novel, visual method in analyzing complex functional trait data in freshwater ecology. We focus on macroinvertebrates in stream ecosystems under a gradient of habitat degradation and employ a combination of taxonomic and functional trait diversity analyses. Then we use graph theory to link changes in functional trait diversity to taxonomic richness and habitat degradation. We test the hypotheses that: 1) taxonomic diversity and trophic functional trait diversity both decrease with increased habitat degradation; 2) loss of taxa leads to a decrease in trophic function as visualized using a bipartite graph; and …
The Role Of Histone H2a.Z Abundance In Modulating Responses To Phosphorus Deficiency In Rice,
2017
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
The Role Of Histone H2a.Z Abundance In Modulating Responses To Phosphorus Deficiency In Rice, Sara Zahraeifard
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Histone variants contribute to chromatin complexity by creating specialized nucleosomes. Here, to investigate the pattern of H2A.Z histone variant distribution and its role in modulating gene expression in rice (Oryza sativa L.), we performed genome-wide profiling of ARP6-dependent H2A.Z deposition in rice seedlings. We demonstrated that under controlled conditions, the majority of H2A.Z deposition is within protein-coding genes (PCG), and the most highly expressed genes are enriched with H2A.Z at their 5’ ends near the transcription start site (TSS), whereas the medium- to low-expressed genes contain H2A.Z across the entire gene. Based on H2A.Z deposition, we categorized genes into …
Cryptic Diversity And Discordance In Single‐Locus Species Delimitation Methods Within Horned Lizards (Phrynosomatidae: Phrynosoma),
2017
City University of New York (CUNY)
Cryptic Diversity And Discordance In Single‐Locus Species Delimitation Methods Within Horned Lizards (Phrynosomatidae: Phrynosoma), Christopher Blair, Robert W. Bryson Jr.
Publications and Research
Biodiversity reduction and loss continues to progress at an alarming rate, and thus there is widespread interest in utilizing rapid and efficient methods for quantifying and delimiting taxonomic diversity. Single-locus species-delimitation methods have become popular, in part due to the adoption of the DNA barcoding paradigm. These techniques can be broadly classified into tree-based and distance-based methods depending on whether species are delimited based on a constructed genealogy. Although the relative performance of these methods has been tested repeatedly with simulations, additional studies are needed to assess congruence with empirical data. We compiled a large data set of mitochondrial ND4 …
Chromosome Conformation In Context,
2017
Illinois State University
Chromosome Conformation In Context, James Taylor
Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research
No abstract provided.
Cage: A Tool For Identifying Genes With Correlated Spatiotemporal Expression,
2017
Illinois State University
Cage: A Tool For Identifying Genes With Correlated Spatiotemporal Expression, Basheer Becerra
Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research
No abstract provided.
Study Of Antidepressant Molecular Structure Leading To Safer Dosing,
2017
Illinois State University
Study Of Antidepressant Molecular Structure Leading To Safer Dosing, Meera Garg
Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research
No abstract provided.
Phylogenetic Evidence From Freshwater Crayfishes That Cave Adaptation Is Not An Evolutionary Dead-End.,
2017
George Washington University
Phylogenetic Evidence From Freshwater Crayfishes That Cave Adaptation Is Not An Evolutionary Dead-End., David B Stern, Jesse Breinholt, Carlos Pedraza-Lara, Marilú López-Mejía, Christopher L Owen, Heather Bracken-Grissom, James W Fetzner, Keith A Crandall
Computational Biology Institute
Caves are perceived as isolated, extreme habitats with a uniquely specialized biota, which long ago led to the idea that caves are "evolutionary dead-ends." This implies that cave-adapted taxa may be doomed for extinction before they can diversify or transition to a more stable state. However, this hypothesis has not been explicitly tested in a phylogenetic framework with multiple independently evolved cave-dwelling groups. Here, we use the freshwater crayfish, a group with dozens of cave-dwelling species in multiple lineages, as a system to test this hypothesis. We consider historical patterns of lineage diversification and habitat transition as well as current …
Exploring Biological Heterogeneity And Its Consequences At Tissue And Cellular Scales Through Mathematical And Computational Modeling,
2017
University of New Mexico
Exploring Biological Heterogeneity And Its Consequences At Tissue And Cellular Scales Through Mathematical And Computational Modeling, Romica Kerketta
Biomedical Sciences ETDs
This dissertation explores the effects of heterogeneity across different biological scales in cancer as well as normal cells. At the tissue scale, we investigated the variability present in the tumor microenvironment and its effect on patient chemotherapeutic outcomes using a mathematical model of drug transport. We found that parameters such as tumor blood perfusion and radius of blood vessel had an impact on the tumor cytotoxicity. This indicated that the physical microenvironment of the tumor is an important regulator of the tumor response to chemotherapy. At the cellular scale, we investigated the heterogeneity present on the membrane landscape of ErbB2 …
Computational Investigation Of The Pore Formation Mechanism Of Beta-Hairpin Antimicrobial Peptides,
2017
CUNY Graduate Center
Computational Investigation Of The Pore Formation Mechanism Of Beta-Hairpin Antimicrobial Peptides, Richard Lipkin
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
β-hairpin antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small, usually cationic peptides that provide innate biological defenses against multiple agents. They have been proposed as the basis for novel antibiotics, but their pore formation has not been directly observed on a molecular level. We review previous computational studies of peptide-induced membrane pore formation and report several new molecular dynamics simulations of β-hairpin AMPs to elucidate their pore formation mechanism. We simulated β-barrels of various AMPs in anionic implicit membranes, finding that most of the AMPs’ β-barrels were not as stable as those of protegrin. We also performed an optimization study of protegrin β-barrels …
A Combined Computational Strategy Of Sequence And Structural Analysis Predicts The Existence Of A Functional Eicosanoid Pathway In Drosophila Melanogaster,
2017
CUNY Graduate Center
A Combined Computational Strategy Of Sequence And Structural Analysis Predicts The Existence Of A Functional Eicosanoid Pathway In Drosophila Melanogaster, Michael Scarpati
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
With increased understanding of their roles in signal transduction and metabolism, eicosanoids have emerged as important players in human health and disease. Mammalian prostanoids and related lipid mediators perform varied functions in different tissues and organs. Synthesized through the oxygenation of C20 polyunsaturated fatty acids, mammalian eicosanoids are both pro- and anti-inflammatory. The physiological contexts in which eicosanoid family members act at the cellular level are not well understood. In this study, we examined whether the genome of Drosophila melanogaster, a powerful model for innate immunity and inflammation, codes for the enzymes required for eicosanoid biosynthesis. We report the …
Comparative Phylogeographic, Population Genomic, And Selection Inference With Development Of Hierarchical Co-Demographic Models,
2017
CUNY Graduate Center
Comparative Phylogeographic, Population Genomic, And Selection Inference With Development Of Hierarchical Co-Demographic Models, Alexander Xue
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Comparing demographic histories across assemblages of populations, species, and sister pairs has been a focus in phylogeography since its inception. Initial approaches utilized organelle genetic data and involved qualitative comparisons of genetic patterns for evaluating hypotheses of shared evolutionary responses to past environmental changes. This endeavor has progressed with coalescent model-based statistical techniques and advances in next-generation sequencing, yet there remains a need for methods that can analyze aggregated genomic-scale data from non-model organisms within a unified framework that considers individual taxon uncertainty and variance. To this end, the aggregate site frequency spectrum (aSFS), an expansion of the site frequency …
Itraq-Based Proteomics Analysis And Network Integration For Kernel Tissue Development In Maize,
2017
Henan Agricultural University
Itraq-Based Proteomics Analysis And Network Integration For Kernel Tissue Development In Maize, Long Zhang, Yongbin Dong, Qilei Wang, Chunguang Du, Wenwei Xiong, Xinyu Li, Sailan Zhu, Yuling Li
Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works
Grain weight is one of the most important yield components and a developmentally complex structure comprised of two major compartments (endosperm and pericarp) in maize (Zea mays L.), however, very little is known concerning the coordinated accumulation of the numerous proteins involved. Herein, we used isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based comparative proteomic method to analyze the characteristics of dynamic proteomics for endosperm and pericarp during grain development. Totally, 9539 proteins were identified for both components at four development stages, among which 1401 proteins were non-redundant, 232 proteins were specific in pericarp and 153 proteins were specific in …
Machine Learning Based Protein Sequence To (Un)Structure Mapping And Interaction Prediction,
2017
University of New Orleans, New Orleans
Machine Learning Based Protein Sequence To (Un)Structure Mapping And Interaction Prediction, Sumaiya Iqbal
LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
Proteins are the fundamental macromolecules within a cell that carry out most of the biological functions. The computational study of protein structure and its functions, using machine learning and data analytics, is elemental in advancing the life-science research due to the fast-growing biological data and the extensive complexities involved in their analyses towards discovering meaningful insights. Mapping of protein’s primary sequence is not only limited to its structure, we extend that to its disordered component known as Intrinsically Disordered Proteins or Regions in proteins (IDPs/IDRs), and hence the involved dynamics, which help us explain complex interaction within a cell that …
Testing The Independence Hypothesis Of Accepted Mutations For Pairs Of Adjacent Amino Acids In Protein Sequences,
2017
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Testing The Independence Hypothesis Of Accepted Mutations For Pairs Of Adjacent Amino Acids In Protein Sequences, Jyotsna Ramanan, Peter Revesz
School of Computing: Faculty Publications
Evolutionary studies usually assume that the genetic mutations are independent of each other. However, that does not imply that the observed mutations are independent of each other because it is possible that when a nucleotide is mutated, then it may be biologically beneficial if an adjacent nucleotide mutates too. With a number of decoded genes currently available in various genome libraries and online databases, it is now possible to have a large-scale computer-based study to test whether the independence assumption holds for pairs of adjacent amino acids. Hence the independence question also arises for pairs of adjacent amino acids within …
Tumor Necrosis Factor Dynamically Regulates The Mrna Stabilome In Rheumatoid Arthritis Fibroblast-Like Synoviocytes,
2017
Hospital for Special Surgery
Tumor Necrosis Factor Dynamically Regulates The Mrna Stabilome In Rheumatoid Arthritis Fibroblast-Like Synoviocytes, Konstantinos Loupasakis, David Kuo, Upneet K. Sokhi, Christopher Sohn, Bethany Syracuse, Eugenia G. Giannopoulou, Sung Ho Park, Hyelim Kang, Gunnar Rätsch, Lionel B. Ivashkiv, George D. Kalliolias
Publications and Research
During rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) activates fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) inducing in a temporal order a constellation of genes, which perpetuate synovial inflammation. Although the molecular mechanisms regulating TNF-induced transcription are well characterized, little is known about the impact of mRNA stability on gene expression and the impact of TNF on decay rates of mRNA transcripts in FLS. To address these issues we performed RNA sequencing and genome-wide analysis of the mRNA stabilome in RA FLS. We found that TNF induces a biphasic gene expression program: initially, the inducible transcriptome consists primarily of unstable transcripts but progressively switches …
Transcriptomic Differentiation Underlying Marine‐To‐Freshwater Transitions In The South American Silversides Odontesthes Argentinensis And O. Bonariensis (Atheriniformes),
2017
George Washington University
Transcriptomic Differentiation Underlying Marine‐To‐Freshwater Transitions In The South American Silversides Odontesthes Argentinensis And O. Bonariensis (Atheriniformes), Lily Hughes, Gustavo Somoza, Bryan Nguyen, James Bernot, Mariano Gonzalez-Castro, Juan Martin Diaz De Astarloa, Guillermo Orti
Computational Biology Institute
Salinity gradients are critical habitat determinants for freshwater organisms. Silverside fishes in the genus Odontesthes have recently and repeatedly transitioned from marine to freshwater habitats, overcoming a strong ecological barrier. Genomic and transcriptomic changes involved in this kind of transition are only known for a few model species. We present new data and analyses of gene expression and microbiome composition in the gills of two closely related silverside species, marine O. argentinensis and freshwater O. bonariensis and find more than three thousand transcripts differentially expressed, with osmoregulatory/ion transport genes and immune genes showing very different expression patterns across species. Interspecific …
Rnaseq Analysis Of The Drosophila Response To The Entomopathogenic Nematode Steinernema.,
2017
George Washington University
Rnaseq Analysis Of The Drosophila Response To The Entomopathogenic Nematode Steinernema., Shruti Yadav, Sean Daugherty, Amol Carl Shetty, Ioannis Eleftherianos
Computational Biology Institute
Drosophila melanogaster is an outstanding model to study the molecular and functional basis of host-pathogen interactions. Currently, our knowledge of microbial infections in D. melanogaster is well understood; however, the response of flies to nematode infections is still in its infancy. Here, we have used the potent parasitic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae, which lives in mutualism with its endosymbiotic bacteria Xenorhabdus nematophila, to examine the transcriptomic basis of the interaction between D. melanogaster and entomopathogenic nematodes. We have employed next-generation RNA sequencing (RNAseq) to investigate the transcriptomic profile of D. melanogaster larvae in response to infection by S. carpocapsae symbiotic (carrying …
Estimation Of The True Evolutionary Distance Under The Fragile Breakage Model.,
2017
George Washington University
Estimation Of The True Evolutionary Distance Under The Fragile Breakage Model., Nikita Alexeev, Max A Alekseyev
Computational Biology Institute
BACKGROUND: The ability to estimate the evolutionary distance between extant genomes plays a crucial role in many phylogenomic studies. Often such estimation is based on the parsimony assumption, implying that the distance between two genomes can be estimated as the rearrangement distance equal the minimal number of genome rearrangements required to transform one genome into the other. However, in reality the parsimony assumption may not always hold, emphasizing the need for estimation that does not rely on the rearrangement distance. The distance that accounts for the actual (rather than minimal) number of rearrangements between two genomes is often referred to …
Isolation And Comparative Genomic Analysis Of Final Third Of Satis Genome,
2017
Washington University in St. Louis
Isolation And Comparative Genomic Analysis Of Final Third Of Satis Genome, Kelly Hartigan, Nicole Curnutt, Matthew Mcdermut
Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters
A highly novel Streptomyces phage, Satis, was isolated from a direct environmental sample collected from outside Danforth House on the Washington University campus. Satis infects bacterial species Streptomyces lividans producing pinpoint, cloudy plaques less than 1mm in diameter. Electron microscope data shows rare atypical physical features. Rather than the common octahedral capsid shape, Satis has a prolate head with visible cross-linked hexagonal protein structure and average measurements of 285 nm by 47 nm with a long, flexible tail measuring 268 nm. Upon sequencing, it was found that Satis contains the longest phage genome discovered to date through the SEA-PHAGE program …
