February, 2012
Emergent collective behavior of microorganisms
The individual components of a biological system often express simple behaviors that lead to the spontaneous emergence of order and complexity； the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Emergent complexity may arise spontaneously or, more interestingly, in response to an external force. In this thesis, we study how various stresses—starvation, crowding, jagged [...]
Balance of investment between parental care and mating effort in male baboons
Non-monogamous males that provide care to their offspring face a potential conflict in investment between paternal care and mating effort. This conflict arises either because of resource or temporal constraints. I investigated potential conflict between paternal care and mating effort among adult male baboons that are part of a wild population in the Amboseli basin, [...]
Investigation of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) encoded infected cell protein 0 (bICP0)
Bovine herpesvirus 1 BHV-1) is a significant pathogen of cattle. Following acute infection, BHV-1 establishes a latent infection that persists for the life of the infected host. Stress induced factors cause the virus to reactivate from latency, resulting in virus transmission and transient immune suppression. BHV-1 encoded bICP0 is expressed early and constitutively throughout productive [...]
Characterization and evaluation of surface modified superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for uptake into human prostate carcinoma cells
Magnetic nanoparticles MNPs) were synthesized from Fe2＋ and Fe3＋ by the co-precipitation method. Two nanoparticle surface coatings gum arabic and sodium citrate) provided additional functionalization and cell selectivity. The incorporation of surface modifiers to the synthesized nanoparticles generated three nanoparticle systems from which the research was based. The physical and chemical properties were determined with [...]
Functional Studies with the Plasma Membrane and the Mitochondrial Citrate Transport Proteins
Citrate is both prominent and unique in cell metabolism. Citrate in mitochondria is an important component of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which generates ATP via oxidative phosphorylation. Cytoplasmic citrate can be broken down into acetyl-CoA, which serves as a building block for cholesterol, fatty acids and triacylglycerides. The protein carriers that govern movement of citrate [...]
Characterization and management of genetic diversity in Phytophthora sojae populations
Phytophthora root and stem rot PRR) of soybean, caused by Phytophthora sojae, has been managed traditionally through breeding for resistance. Breeding efforts have focused on incorporating major Rps gene resistance into soybean lines but the pathogen is rapidly and continuously evolving, the complexity of pathotypes is increasing, and the durability of the Rps in the [...]
Non-covalent manipulations of cyclic pi systems for green chemistry transformations
Non-covalent interactions often define how a molecule interacts with the world. Whether it is in how two molecules form a particular crystal structure in the solid state, or how a polymer orients itself in the active site of an enzyme； hydrogen bonding, pi-stacking, Van der Waals and electrostatic forces are responsible for all of these [...]
Development of Functional Nanomaterials with Aggregation-Induced Emission Characteristics and Exploration of Their Biological Applications
The development of fluorescent biosensors with high sensitivity, selectivity, and biocompatibility is of critical importance to bioscience and biotechnology because it offers a direct visualization tool for the detection of biological macromolecules and the monitoring of biological events under real and living conditions. Most of the conventional organic fluorophores exhibit remarkably bright emission in their [...]
Feedbacks of Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Rice Agriculture
The effect of global warming on methane CH4) and nitrous oxide N2O) emissions from agriculture was investigated and simulated from a soil warming experiment. Experiments were designed and installed in a temperature controlled greenhouse. The relationships between elevated temperatures and CH4 and N2O emissions were determined and calculated as the Q10s of production, emission and [...]
Expanding the Utility of Proteins as Platforms for Coordination Chemistry
Whether for constructing advanced materials and complex biological devices, or for building sophisticated coordination complexes with diverse metal-based functions, proteins are Nature’s favorite building blocks. Yet, our ability to control the assembly of proteins or to use them as ligand platforms for inorganic chemistry has been somewhat limited. The goal of this thesis was to [...]