In this thesis, I studied the translation of dengue virus RNA using a luciferase reporter gene system in Vero cells. The dengue reporter mRNA construct, which harbors 5´-terminal viral nts and 3´-terminal nts, could be translated efficiently compared to an alpha globin reporter construct. The 5´-cap structure and 3´-untranslated region...
Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) yields in the Willamette Valley of Oregon have been declining since the early 1990’s. Studies were done to determine if there is a relationship between ear weight and several disease parameters including necrotic crowns or stalk nodes, nodal root rot, radicle root rot, and sub-crown...
Field studies were conducted from 1996 to 1998 in three villages in a Highland watershed in Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand. The objectives of the study were to classify and define the fruit-based agroforestry cropping system and investigate
management activities used by villagers. In the first part of the...
Tocopherols are plant secondary metabolites that are known collectively as
vitamin E. Tocopherol compounds act as potent antioxidants by quenching free
radicals and protecting fatty acids from oxidative damage. In humans (in vivo)
tocopherols protect membrane lipids from breaking down, while in oils (in vitro)
tocopherols protect fatty acids from...
Lignocellulosic biomass represents a vast supply of fermentable carbohydrates and functional aromatic compounds. Conversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol and other useful products would be of widespread economical and environmental benefit. Better understanding of the behavior of different lignicellulosic feedstocks in fermentation protocols as well as catalytic activities involved in lignocellulosic...
The viral family Herpesviridae consists of large double stranded DNA viruses including eight species that infect humans with varying pathology from benign rashes to cancerous cell transformation. From three subfamilies, alpha-, beta- and gammaherpes, the alphaherpes contains the genera iltovirus, mardivirus, varicellovirus and simplex, two of which, the human simplex...
Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular pathogens that cause several serious conditions within the human host. Many of the symptoms associated with infection are thought to stem from the development of aberrant, or persistent, chlamydiae. Factors leading to chlamydial persistence include deprivation of amino acids, the release of certain cellular factors, or...
Coibamide A is a highly methylated cyclic depsipeptide isolated from Panamanian marine filamentous cyanobacteria as part of an International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) program based in Panama. This structurally unique agent exhibits potent cancer cell toxicity with an unprecedented selectivity profile in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) 60 cell line...
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the fourth largest food crop in the world following rice (Oryza sativa L.), wheat (Triticum spp.), and maize (Zea mays subs. mays). Potatoes arrived in the United States in the early 1600s and over the following centuries, the crop was subsequently cultivated across the country...