The bovine blastocyst is composed of a one-celled layer of trophectoderm
surrounding a fluid filled sac called the blastocoel and a ball of cells called the inner cell
mass (ICM). On Day 8 (Day 0=fertilization) in bovine embryos, endodermal cells leave
the ICM, migrate over the extracellular matrix (ECM) on...
Molecular chirality plays a critical role in chemistry, biology, and medicine. To study and better understand conformational chirality, it is necessary to obtain structurally interesting molecules that exhibit this form of chirality. Our lab utilizes total synthesis and methodological development to obtain conformationally chiral natural products of interest. We believe...
Coreplication experiments have revealed that replication of
turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) RNA in turnip protoplasts is cis-preferential.
Genomes encoding mutant p141 or p66, proteins
essential for virus replication, were inefficiently rescued by a
helper genome. One model for the cis-preferential replication of
TYMV is that p66 and p141 form...
Non-vascularized hearts of buffalo sculpin (Enophrys bison)
were used to investigate the cardiac toxicity of compounds that
cause methemoglobinemia. The affinity of sculpin cardiac myoglobin
for oxygen (P50 = 1.10 torr at 20 C°, pH 7.8) was lower than that of
mammals studied (P50 = .44 and .76 torr for...
DNA is often described as the “blueprint for life”. In eukaryotes this information is contained within linear chromosomes of varying size and number. During cell division, the chromosomes must be faithfully segregated into each daughter cell to avoid disease and sustain life. This process is carried out by the kinetochore...
The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) shows some of the most derived characteristics of any mammal: a large body size, large brain, complex social organization and a capacity for deep foraging dives that few other marine mammals can match. Despite a history of exploitation that removed hundreds of thousands of individuals,...
The studies described in this thesis were motivated by ongoing efforts to develop lignocellulosic biomass as an efficient and practical source of renewable energy. Enormous problems complicate these efforts to reduce reliance on greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels. Simply obtaining the fermentable sugars available in the cellulose and hemicellulose components of...
Schistosomiasis afflicts 200 million people and is responsible for 200,000 deaths per year. The infection is caused by a digenean trematode in the genus Schistosoma. The parasite must cycle through both a vertebrate (human) and invertebrate (snail) host to complete the life cycle. My dissertation focuses on the genetic mechanisms...
The adenovirus replication origins reside in the inverted terminal
repetition (ITR) sequences. Replication proceeds unidirectionally by a
strand-displacement mechanism from either or both origins to produce
duplex daughter DNA plus a displaced parental strand. The displaced
strand can be duplicated by two different routes. The cis pathway involves
intramolecular hybridization...