The common cherrylaurel (Prunus laurocerasus) and Portuguese cherrylaurel (P. lusitanica) are economically important landscape shrubs across the United States. To gain a better understanding of physiology and morphology in these higher level polyploids (P. lusitanica, 2n = 8x; P. laurocerasus, 2n =22x), a variety of breeding experiments were performed. The...
The buildup of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen and oxygen species (RNS) is known as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress results in a wide variety of modification to biological macromolecules including nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. For at least 30 years it has been known that high levels of...
In biology, function and disease are closely intertwined, requiring the coordination of hundreds of intricate chemical reactions. Interdisciplinary cooperation between chemical and biological approaches is necessary to decipher the chemical links between physiological and pathological conditions. In this arena, the precision tools made possible with chemical biology can manipulate and...
Biotic and abiotic processes at continent-ocean interfaces cycle a disproportionate mass of carbon and nutrients relative to their global surface area, and microbial activity is a principal determinant of organic and inorganic matter flux in these transition zones. Most studies using modern high-throughput ‘omics techniques to link microorganisms with costal...
Hereditary variation is a vital component in the development of new and improved cultivars of landscape plants. Sources of hereditary variation include naturally occurring variation, recombination due to controlled crosses, artificial mutagenesis, and genetic modification via biotechnology. Here I explore all methods with the exception of genetic modification via biotechnology....
Seagrasses and coral reefs play important roles in nutrient cycling, coastal protection, and maintaining marine biodiversity. However, these coastal marine organisms are declining globally due to anthropogenic stressors, such as rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and eutrophication. These organisms live in close association with their microbiomes, which can be beneficial...
Genetic code expansion is a technology that allows for site-specific incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into recombinant proteins at amber stop codons using engineered translational machinery. The technology allows for expanded study into proteins, derived from the integration of novel chemical functions found in noncanonical amino acids, such as fluorescence,...
Current protein immobilization techniques lack defined control over protein orientation. Protein orientation is important for making biosensors and biomaterials that are sensitive and efficient and can be crucial for designing some devices such as immunosensors or direct electron transferring biocells. A new method of protein immobilization is proposed that takes...
A specific tyrosine post-translational modification, called 3-nitro-tyrosine (nitroTyr), has been known to be present on an essential calcium signaling protein called calmodulin (CaM) during oxidative stress. While protein-bound 3-nitro-tyrosine has long been considered a biomarker of OS, it is also hypothesized to be a mechanism for protein signaling. However, purification...