Symbiotic relationships between cnidarians and dinoflagellates within the genus
Symbiodinium are critically important for the success of coral reefs. These symbionts
provide their hosts with photosynthetically-fixed carbon in exchange for nutrients
and shelter. Symbiodinium is a phylogenetically diverse genus that is often typed by
sequencing the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer...
RNA silencing plays a critical role in plant defense against viral infection. Plants use virusderived
small interfering RNA to target and silence invading viruses. The antiviral silencing
pathway can be broken down into three conceptual stages: initiation, amplification, and systemic
movement. The molecular mechanisms of silencing initiation are not well...
Host-selective toxins (HSTs) secreted by the pathogenic isolate of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, BFP, are major pathogenicity factors in tan spot disease of wheat. Along with characterized HSTs such as Ptr ToxA (ToxA), BFP secretes at least two more uncharacterized toxic components. In an attempt to identify these additional components, 12 candidate...
Ferlins are a family of calcium-sensitive proteins involved in fusion and fission membrane trafficking events. There are six ferlin members: dysferlin, otoferlin, myoferlin, Fer1L4, Fer1L5, and Fer1L6. Previous research shows the first three ferlins play a pathophysiological role in humans, while the other three remain uncharacterized. Fer1L6 is one of...
Native bees are critically important organisms that support biodiversity and crop production via their pollination services. Wildfires in temperate conifer forests can increase bee abundance and flowering plant density due to increased light exposure, but little information is available regarding how wildfire severity influences provisioning to bee offspring, which is...
Information about social and economic attributes of fisheries, fishing communities, and fishery participants is important for marine resource management because the focuses of agency efforts are on managing society's impacts to the marine environment. This thesis addresses two questions. First, what are the perspectives of managers, scientists, and commercial and...