Biology Department

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    Deep sequencing of the tobacco mitochondrial transcriptome reveals expressed ORFs and numerous editing sites outside coding regions
    ( 2014-01-13) Grimes, Benjamin T ; Sisay, Awa K ; Carroll, Hyrum D ; Cahoon, A Bruce
    Background: The purpose of this study was to sequence and assemble the tobacco mitochondrial transcriptome and obtain a genomic-level view of steady-state RNA abundance. Plant mitochondrial genomes have a small number of protein coding genes with large and variably sized intergenic spaces. In the tobacco mitogenome these intergenic spaces contain numerous open reading frames (ORFs) with no clear function.
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    Disinfection of football protective equipment using chlorine dioxide produced by the ICA TriNova system
    ( 2009-09-08) Newsome, Anthony L ; DuBois, John D ; Tenney, Joel D
    Backround: Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus outbreaks have occurred in individuals engaged in athletic activities such as wrestling and football. Potential disease reduction interventions include the reduction or elimination of bacteria on common use items such as equipment. Chlorine dioxide has a long history of use as a disinfectant. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the ability of novel portable chlorine dioxide generation devices to eliminate bacteria contamination of helmets and pads used by individuals engaged in football.
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    Dual roles for ubiquitination in the processing of sperm organelles after fertilization
    ( 2014-02-10) Hajjar, Connie ; Sampuda, Katherine M ; Boyd, Lynn
    Background: The process of fertilization involves a cell fusion event between the sperm and oocyte. Although sperm contain mitochondria when they fuse with the oocyte, paternal mitochondrial genomes do not persist in offspring and, thus, mitochondrial inheritance is maternal in most animals. Recent evidence suggests that paternal mitochondria may be eliminated via autophagy after fertilization. In C. elegans, sperm-specific organelles called membraneous organelles (MO) cluster together with paternal mitochondria immediately after fertilization. These MOs but not the mitochondria become polyubiquitinated and associated with proteasomes. The current model for the elimination of paternal mitochondria in C. elegans is that ubiquitination of the MOs induces the formation of autophagosomes which also capture the mitochondria and cause their degradation.
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    Effect of overexpressing nhaA and nhaR on sodium tolerance and lactate production in Escherichia coli
    ( 2013-01-25) Wu, Xianghao ; Altman, Ronni ; Eiteman, Mark A ; Altman, Elliot
    Background: Like other bacteria, Escherichia coli must carefully regulate the intracellular concentration of sodium ion (Na+). During the bacterial production of any organic acid, cations like Na+ invariably accumulate during a process which must maintain a near neutral pH. In this study, the E. coli nhaA gene encoding the Na+/H+ antiporter membrane protein and the nhaR gene encoding the NhaA regulatory protein were overexpressed in wild-type E. coli MG1655 and in MG1655 pflB (ALS1317) which lacks pyruvate formate lyase activity and thus accumulates lactate under anaerobic conditions.
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    Good vs complementary genes for parasite resistance and the evolution of mate choice
    ( 2004-11-19) Howard, R Stephen ; Lively, Curtis M
    Background: Female mate choice may be adaptive when males exhibit heritable genetic variation at loci encoding resistance to infectious disease. The Hamilton-Zuk hypothesis predicts that females should assess the genetic quality of males by monitoring traits that indicate health and vigor (condition-dependent choice, or CD). Alternatively, some females may employ a more direct method of screening and select mates based on the dissimilarity of alleles at the major histocompatibility loci (we refer to this as opposites-attract, or OA). Empirical studies suggest that both forms of mate choice exist, but little is known about the potential for natural selection to shape the two strategies in nature.
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    Hybrid speciation in Heliconius butterflies? A review and critique of the evidence
    ( 2010-11-15) Brower, Andrew V. Z.
    The evidence supporting the recent hypothesis of a homoploid hybrid origin for the butterfly species Heliconius heurippa is evaluated. Data from selective breeding experiments, mate-choice studies, and a wide variety of DNA markers are reviewed, and an alternative hypothesis for the origin of the species and its close relatives is proposed. A scenario of occasional red wing-pattern mutations in peripheral populations of Heliconius cydno with subsequent adaptive convergence towards sympatric mimicry rings involving H. melpomene and H. erato is offered as an alternative to the HHS hypothesis. Recent twists of this tale are addressed in a postscript.
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    A plastome primer set for comprehensive quantitative real time RT-PCR analysis of Zea mays: a starter primer set for other Poaceae species
    ( 2008-06-02) Sharpe, Richard M ; Dunn, Sade N ; Cahoon, A Bruce
    Background: Quantitative Real Time RT-PCR (q2(RT)PCR) is a maturing technique which gives researchers the ability to quantify and compare very small amounts of nucleic acids. Primer design and optimization is an essential yet time consuming aspect of using q2(RT)PCR. In this paper we describe the design and empirical optimization of primers to amplify and quantify plastid RNAs from Zea mays that are robust enough to use with other closely related species.
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    Seed germination and seedling development ecology in world-wide populations of a circumboreal Tertiary relict
    ( 2012-03-04) Walck, Jeffrey L. ; Karlsson, Laila M. ; Milberg, Per ; Hidayati, Siti N. ; Kondo, Tetsuya
    Background and aims: Temperate forests are disjunct in the Northern Hemisphere, having become fragmented from the earlier widespread (Tertiary) boreotropical forest. We asked What are the contemporary patterns of population variation in ecological traits of a Tertiary relict in a macroecological context?. This issue underpins our understanding of variation in populations occurring in the same biome but on different continents.
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    Simultaneous utilization of glucose, xylose and arabinose in the presence of acetate by a consortium of Escherichia coli strains
    ( 2012-06-07) Xia, Tian ; Eiteman, Mark A ; Altman, Elliot
    Background: The efficient microbial utilization of lignocellulosic hydrolysates has remained challenging because this material is composed of multiple sugars and also contains growth inhibitors such as acetic acid (acetate). Using an engineered consortium of strains derived from Escherichia coli C and a synthetic medium containing acetate, glucose, xylose and arabinose, we report on both the microbial removal of acetate and the subsequent simultaneous utilization of the sugars.