Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

Generating Improved Rna Localization Reporters Using The U1hp-U1a System, Ryan Dannemiller, Rebecca Adams Phd

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Generating Improved RNA Localization Reporters Using the U1hp-U1A System

Ryan Dannemiller, Rebecca Adams, PhD. Belmont University, Nashville, TN.

Messenger mRNA (mRNA) is genetic material that is used to bridge between DNA in the nucleus and protein-making machinery in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. The processes of transcription and translation are physically separated, so the localization of mRNA dictates whether the encoded protein can be generated. In order to observe the localization of specific transcripts in response to stimuli, tools are needed to track location of mRNA. For example, in response to heat shock and ethanol stress, most mRNA is retained …

Polydactyly In Cats, Rosa Benson, Cassie Morris, Leaha Mancuso, Bernardo Mesa

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

Polydactyly is a genetic condition in which a cat is born with more than the typical number of toes. It is a dominant genetic mutation and is fairly common in cats. (Class Project)

Annual Faculty Research Symposium 2022, Oakwood University

Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Spr-5; Met-2 Maternal Reprogramming Cooperates With The Dream Complex To Regulate Developmental Cell Fates, Jazmin Dozier, Sandra Nguyen, Brandon Carpenter

Symposium of Student Scholars

Histone methylation is a post-transcriptional modification to the N-terminal tails of histone core proteins that regulates DNA accessibility, and consequently, gene expression. Like DNA, histone methylation can be inherited between generations, and is highly regulated during embryonic development. At fertilization, histone methylation must undergo maternal reprogramming to reset the epigenetic landscape in the new zygote. During maternal reprogramming of histone methylation in the nematode, C. elegans, H3K4me (a modification associated with active transcription) is removed by the H3K4 demethylase, SPR-5, and H3K9me (a modification associated with transcriptional repression) is subsequently added by the histone methyltransferase, MET-2. Recently, it was …

Microbial Diversity And Community Structure In Sediments Associated With The Seagrass (Thallassia Testudinum) In Apalachicola Bay, Florida, Rahma Ahmed, Thomas Mcelroy, Troy Mutchler

Symposium of Student Scholars

Seagrass is an angiosperm which provides many ecosystem services in coastal areas, such as providing food, shelter and nurseries for many species, and decreasing the impact of waves on shorelines. A global assessment reported that 29% of known seagrass meadows are in a state of decline due to the effects of human activity. Seagrass is commonly found in shallow marine waters where they form meadows containing a microbiome that plays an important role in providing nutrients for seagrass growth, though little is known about the microorganisms within the seagrass meadow sediments. Our project collected sediments from seagrass meadows and adjacent …

Tissue-Specific Diversity Of The Muscleblind Expression In Adult Flies., Davron Hanley, Anton Bryantsev

Symposium of Student Scholars

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kennesaw State University

The muscleblind (mbl) family of RNA-binding proteins regulates alternative splicing, determining mRNA transcript composition for various types of tissue, and has been implicated in myotonic dystrophy. The mbl gene is subject to alternative splicing in Drosophila, leading to multiple isoforms, and has several paralogs in humans. Mbl proteins vary significantly in length, although the significance of such diversity and the role of specific isoforms have not been fully explored.

Using immunofluorescence microscopy and polyclonal serum, we analyzed Mbl protein expression across adult Drosophila tissues. Mbl was detected in …

Liquid Biopsies For Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Biomarkers For Disease Risk And Diagnosis, Stephanie Chidester

Dissertations

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. There is a critical need for earlier and more effective screening and diagnostic tools. Innovative liquid biopsy technologies may play a key role in meeting this need. Liquid biopsies are a non-invasive, adjunctive tool for determining diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic response. This dissertation focuses on two potential applications of liquid biopsy technologies to T2DM: (1) epigenome-wide association studies to identify epigenetic markers of risk for T2DM, and (2) extracellular vesicle (EV)-based biomarker studies to identify and detect markers associated with T2DM development and progression. Dissertation studies: …

Improving Photosynthetic Efficiency In Microalgae Through The Genetic Engineering Of Energy Sensors And Photoreceptors, Taylor L. Britton

Biology ETDs

Through photosynthesis microalgae can convert sunlight, water, and CO₂ into chemical energy that can be used to generate carbon neutral biofuels and biomass. With an ever-increasing demand and need for petroleum substitutes it is imperative that we improve the output of industrial-relevant crops such as microalgae. One important way of improving output in algae is by understanding the roles that stress and energy conversion is regulated in these organisms. Photosynthetic organisms fundamentally depend on light- and sugar-driven metabolic and signaling networks, which integrate environmental cues to govern and sustain growth and survival. SnRKs (SNF1-related protein kinases) and the photoreceptor …

Commercially Geneticizing Race, Ethnicity, And Nation: The Implications Of The Discourse Surrounding Commercialized Genetic Tests On Identity, Kiara Jacoby

The Compass

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Accelerating Genetic Gains In Pulses, Aditya Pratap, Shiv Kumar, Patricia L. Polowick, Matthew W. Blair, Michael Baum

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Sex And Starvation Influences Latrotoxin Expression In The Brown Widow Spider, Mattie Harris

Honors College Theses

Widow spiders (genus Latrodectus) are well-known for their potent venom. Seven latrotoxin proteins constitute the main components of widow spider venom. The vertebrate specific (α-latrotoxin) and insect specific (α-latroinsectotoxin) latrotoxins have been well-characterized with respect to structure and function. Regulation of latrotoxin gene expression is not well understood but sex and feeding could be factors influencing production. In this study, I used quantitative qPCR to (1) characterize the expression patterns of both the insect and vertebrate specific latrotoxins in male and female brown widow spiders (Latrodectus geometricus) to characterize sex-biased expression and to (2) study expression patterns …

Brain Charts For The Human Lifespan, R. A. I. Bethlehem, J. Seidlitz, S. R. White, J. W. Vogel, K. Anderson, C. Adamson, S. Adler, G. S. Alexopoulos, E. Anagnostou, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

Over the past few decades, neuroimaging has become a ubiquitous tool in basic research and clinical studies of the human brain. However, no reference standards currently exist to quantify individual differences in neuroimaging metrics over time, in contrast to growth charts for anthropometric traits such as height and weight1. Here we assemble an interactive open resource to benchmark brain morphology derived from any current or future sample of MRI data (http://www.brainchart.io/). With the goal of basing these reference charts on the largest and most inclusive dataset available, acknowledging limitations due to known biases of MRI studies …

Host-Pathogen Coevolution Between Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus Harrisii) And Devil Facial Tumor Disease, Dylan Garret Gallinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coevolution is a driving force of rapid evolution, yet the complexity of coevolutionary interactions has made it difficult to characterize the genomic basis of traits mediating such relationships. Coevolutionary dynamics are especially important in host-pathogen systems where the host and pathogen must constantly adapt to one another. The Tasmanian devil and its species-specific transmissible cancer, devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), provide the rare opportunity to study host-pathogen coevolution in a complex natural system. Extensive spatiotemporal devil sampling, high linkage disequilibrium in devils, and a large selective pressure imposed by DFTD facilitate a system tractable for study. Here, we characterized devil …

The Effects Of Temperature Changes On Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates (How Climate Change May Affect Our Ocean's Raves), Kayleigh X. Ambrose, Molly Fleming, Carla Caceres

PRECS student projects

Many species of Dinoflagellates are capable of producing bioluminescence. Most species will have an optimal temperature range for bioluminescence production. With sea surface temperatures expected to rise, we have designed an experiment to test the relationship between temperature and bioluminescence in Pyrocystis fusiformis.

Bacterial Metabolism Of Glucosinolates From Brassica: Association With Isothiocyanate Production, Stephanie Thomas, Jiaxuan Li, Michael J. Miller

PRECS student projects

Study Focus: To explore the alternative metabolic pathways of GSLs in bacteria, present on the surface of brassica vegetables.

Hypothesis: The alternative pathways used to metabolize GSLs in bacteria located on the surface of brassica vegetables, may contribute to the high variance of human gut GSL conversion to ITC.

Concentrating On Carbon Concentration In Algae, Chandra Davies, Steven Burgess

PRECS student projects

Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms Improve Photosynthesis Rates in Low-Carbon Environments. CCMs allow the aggregation of carbon near the site of rubisco, that way even small amounts of available carbon are being utilized.

Yes, this is important to you!

Albeit somewhat indirectly, but massively nonetheless! Algae are a driving force behind the global carbon cycle, they sequester CO2 in the oceans. Understanding the mechanisms behind the tiny marine alga O. tauri gives us a better understanding of a vital global process.

Polinators In Peril - Are Illinois Native Bees Getting Smaller?, Anthony Lamb, Tristan Barley, Adam Dolezal

PRECS student projects

Why it matters.

Pollination services provided by native bees are an important natural process, providing ~150 billion dollars globally in agricultural gains.

A bee’s body size is a trait that is an important indicator of the nutritional environment. A loss of habitat results in a loss of rich nutritional environments as flowers and resource become more fragmented and scarcer.

It has been discovered that a bee’s body size is a determinant of their foraging range. The smaller the bee, the less distance they can travel for food, therefor, the more susceptible they are to habitat loss and resource limitation.

Exploration Of Squash Plant Floral Volatiles Influencing Beetle Attraction, Olivia Barrett, Nicholas Seiter, Esther Ngumbi, Joseph Spencer, Sarah Hind

PRECS student projects

Flowers emit volatiles to attract pollinators, but these volatiles can also attract pest insects. Our study builds on earlier findings that showed that cucumber beetle attraction to squash flowers is mediated by volatile release and cucurbitacin accumulation (Theis, 2014, DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1400171). Of the three main domesticated squash species, only a few varieties of Cucurbita maxima had large quantities of floral volatiles and cucurbitacin (Andersen and Metcalf, 1987, doi: 10.1007/BF01020152); however, these studies were limited in the number of varieties that were examined. Here, we increased the number of C. maxima varieties examined, to identify patterns in floral volatile production, with …

How To Quantify Female Mate Preference In Threespine Stickleback, Kaithren Garcia, Megan Tucker, Meghan Maciejewski, Usan Dan, Alison M. Bell

PRECS student projects

Social behavior is diverse. For example, males from two stickleback ecotypes (whites and commons, Fig. 1) are highly divergent in courtship and parental care behavior [1]. Little is known about ecotypic differences in female behavior. In this study, we develop methods to quantify female preference in this system.

Intra- And Interspecific Variation In Tadpole Lateral Line Cells, Sarah Porth, Lisa Surber, Eva Fischer

PRECS student projects

Background

• The lateral line is a sensory system that detects motion and pressure in fish & larval amphibians.
• The sensory end organs are called neuromasts.
• A gosner stage describes the 46 stages of tadpole development

Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the number of neuromasts will vary more between species than within a species.