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MYOGLOBIN CONCENTRATION IN FLORIDA MANATEE MUSCLE TISSUE**
No full textFor many marine mammals, they must dive to varying depths to obtain the food they need for survival. For these mammals to dive, typically higher levels of myoglobin within skeletal muscle provide needed stored oxygen for ATP production to fuel swim activity. Although myoglobin amounts in the skeletal muscle of many marine mammals have been well documented, data regarding the myoglobin concentration in the swim muscles of Florida manatees is limited. These are slow-moving animals that are primary herbivores making them unique compared to other marine mammals. Elucidation of the energy-producing mechanisms within skeletal muscle used by Florida manatees for diving episodes may help provide insight into their diving physiology. To quantify myoglobin levels, epaxial muscle tissue was collected from stranded Florida manatees and further tested. Preliminary results indicate that the myoglobin level within the swim muscle of the adult Florida manatee is low in comparison to control juvenile bottlenose dolphin skeletal muscle tissue (5.06 mg/g of tissue vs. 24.31 mg/g of tissue, respectively). Lower levels of myoglobin within the swim muscles of Florida manatees could reflect their lower energy demands during submersion and the potential use of alternate ATP generating pathways to maintain diving activity. Future studies will further quantify the myoglobin levels of the skeletal muscle of the Florida manatee and additionally explore other ATP generating mechanisms to provide a broader understanding of the mechanisms fueling diving episodes in these unique marine mammals
THE EFFICACY OF CLOVE OIL AGAINST ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS AND AFLATOXINS B1(AFB1) PRODUCTION IN GEORGIA PEANUTS
No full textIn Georgia, peanut contamination by Aspergillus spp. causes $25 million loss annually. Aspergillus flavus produces AFB1, a carcinogenic substance affecting humans globally. Recently, there has been considerable interest in biological control against mold. Achar et al. (2020) established that Clove oil reduces AFB1 in peanuts, Variety Tifguard. We now evaluate the effectiveness of Clove oil (EO) in reducing AFB1 in peanuts. AFB1 was first quantified in mycelium and spores using selected ion monitoring (SIM) based liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry method with standard AFB1. Thermo Scientific Vanquish Flex HPLC coupled with Orbitrap Exploris 240 Mass Spectrometer were used for the SIM based LCMS experiments. 100 seeds, GA Greener were then artificially inoculated with 10^6 spores/mL in a flask and incubated for 8 days at 28°C. Seeds were exposed to Clove EO by placing 15 treated seeds/ flask containing 0 ppm, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm, 1500 ppm, and 2000 ppm, respectively. Flasks were sealed with parafilm and placed in a shaker incubator at 28°C; 180 rpm for 6 days. Seeds were then plated (5/plate) with moist filter paper and incubated for 8 days at 28°C. Tween 20 served as control. Seeds were air-dried, grinded using a mortar and pestle, quenched in liquid nitrogen, and centrifuged with methanol for AFB1 quantification. The supernatant was vacuum centrifuged and resuspended in 0.1% formic acid for SIM-LCMS experiments. The findings demonstrated that high concentration of Clove EO significantly reduced AFB1in infected peanuts. Surprisingly, the high reduction of AFB1 production was noticed between 0 and 500 ppm of Clove EO, and the reduction slightly increased with higher concentrations, 1000 and 2000 ppm. This demonstrates that Clove oil is most effective at low concentrations at reducing AFB1 in infected peanuts. Future studies will focus on AFB1 production in contaminated peanut seeds exposed to Clove EO in Vivo
THE EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL STIMULATION (E-STIM) ON MUSCLE STRENGTH AND MASS OF THE QUADRICEP MUSCLE IN THE DOMINANT LEG OF COLLEGIATE ATHLETES
No full textElectrical stimulation (e-stim) is a standard treatment option for muscular injuries in athletes. Electrical stimulation delivers an electrical current directly to the location of an injury, allowing muscle contraction to improve muscular strength and thus may be compared to weightlifting. An athlete performing a back squat will contract leg muscles with each lift resulting in muscle fiber growth and strengthening over time. The e-stim requires less effort but causes the same level of muscular contraction, stimulating growth, which leads to an increase in strength and may contribute to the healing process of atrophied, impaired, or immobilized muscles. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of e-stim using a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) unit. Participants met once a week over six weeks for e-stim treatment. The following pre-test and post-test measurements were taken: height, weight, average skinfold thickness, quadricep muscle girth of the dominant leg, body fat %, and maximal strength (1RM squat). A paired t-test indicated that skinfold (t [22] = 2.7, p \u3c 0.05) and 1RM squat (t [22] = 5.6, p \u3c 0.05) were statistically significant. Supplemental findings indicated statistical significance between female skinfold pre-test and post-test (t [13] = 2.7, p \u3c 0.05) and 1RM squat (t [13] = 5.2, p \u3c 0.05) using a paired t-test but in males only for 1RM squat (t [6] = 2.8, p \u3c 0.05). An independent t-test for male versus female post-measurements showed statistical significance for body weight (t [19] = 3.54, p \u3c 0.05) and 1RM squat (t [19] = 3.8, p \u3c 0.05). Results indicated that TENS unit usage exhibited a positive correlation between muscle strength and muscle mass of the quadricep in the dominant leg. Therefore, a TENS unit may be a suitable alternative to more invasive NMES units
UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF PLANT DEFENSE HORMONES: METHYL JASMONATE SIGNALING
No full textUnderstanding how plants defend themselves against various stressors, such as pathogens and herbivores, is critical to a sustainable food supply. Though lacking a defined immune system, plants have developed a remarkable array of structural and biochemical defenses, including one of the most versatile plant hormones, Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA), which is actively engaged in defense against different types of abiotic and biotic stresses. While the studies involved in MeJA mediated defense responses have been majorly focused on transcriptional management (DNA to messenger RNA), the details of a much faster regulation, translational control (messenger RNA to protein), remain unknown. My work investigates how a specific protein kinase, General Control Nonderepressible 2 (GCN2), phosphorylates its target, eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2) alpha, in response to MeJA at the translational level in the wild type versus transgenic lines of plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana. The GCN2-eIF2alpha module is a highly conserved eukaryotic stress response mode for regulating translation in all eukaryotes. Using immunoblotting, we check for eIF2alpha phosphorylation levels (a proxy for GCN2 activity) under mock and MeJA treatments. We show that eIF2alpha is phosphorylated in response to MeJA treatment in a GCN2-dependent manner. In addition, a homozygous knock out mutant for the GCN2 gene shows reduced growth under prolonged MeJA stress, suggesting GCN2-eIF2alpha as an essential component of the MeJA signaling pathway. Ongoing work is focused on understanding the biochemical and molecular events leading to GCN2-eIF2alpha activation in response to MeJA. These results will provide deeper understanding of MeJA signaling in plants and aid in the future development of plants with better stress resilience/adaptation
FATTY ACIDS IN COFFEE: BEANS VERSUS GROUNDS**
No full textComprised in everything we eat and drink are nutrients that our bodies need survive. Fatty acids are found in just about everything we consume and are sources of energy as well as components of our cell membranes. Fatty acids are comprised of a hydrophilic head group and hydrophobic tails that are either saturated or unsaturated. Unsaturated fatty acids are considered to be better for your overall health while saturated fatty acids tend to cause problems with cholesterol levels and increase risks of heart disease. Research has shown that coffee grounds go through a grinding and brewing and during that process some fatty acids are lost. This goal of this experiment was to quantify the amount of fatty acids found in coffee beans versus those found in grounds. Due to its popularity, Starbucks Veranda Blend Light Roast Coffee was used for this experiment. An extraction was done on spent coffee grounds to collect the remaining fatty acids. Once isolated, a transesterification reaction was used to convert them into fatty acid esters. This allowed for better analysis of the products. IR and C13 NMR were used to characterize the products and a comparison was made between coffee beans and coffee grounds
OSMOPHOBIC AND OSMOPHILIC EFFECTS**
No full textThe osmophobic effect has been an accessible phrase to introduce biochemists to ideas of how osmolytes affect biochemical processes. It was built by analogy with the hydrophobic effect, central to protein folding, and the observation that urea primarily interacts with the backbone of proteins, and not significantly with side chains. We have revisited experiments underpinning the original formulation of the osmophobic effect and found that there are likely several errors in the data used, including errors that would indicate an increased role of side chains in the osmophobic effect. We compare the predictive model based on the solubilities of protein backbone and side chains (group transfer free energy model) with a model based on molecular surface types (preferential interaction model). We show that our new solubility data is more consistent with vapor pressure osmometry data used to construct the preferential interaction model. We conclude that available evidence supports using models for osmolyte effects on biochemical processes that rely on exposed atomic surface types rather than on molecular functional groups. But instead of discarding useful terminology that helps newcomers more quickly grasp the importance of the topic, we propose reframing the osmophobic effect from the idea that osmolytes primarily fear the protein backbone to more broadly applicable osmophobic and osmophilic effects where osmolytes are attracted to and excluded from different atomic surface types
TECHNIQUES FOR ANALYZING ATR-FTIR SPECTRA APPLIED TO MOUSE MODEL SERA**
No full textFourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy offers a window into biological systems at a resolution of individual molecular vibrations. These vibrations often present themselves within an ensemble of other Gaussian oscillators. This necessitates different techniques in spectral analysis to determine the nature of the underlying bands present in FTIR spectra. This article presents some of these techniques with examples derived from previously studied ATR-FTIR spectra of mouse-model colitis sera. Differences in biomolecular content between samples are analyzed and compared using Gaussian curve-fitting, spectral integration, the Beer-Lambert Law, and normalized spectrum subtraction. The physical interpretations and limitations of each technique are also discussed
OBJECT- DETECTION SYSTEM FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
No full textThis article explores the development of different devices to help blind people in navigating their environment. The rise of robotics technology with Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a huge impact on developing devices with smart robots for blind people to walk safely. Based on this Technology, the purpose of this article is to produce a device that employs Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help individuals access their surroundings with ease. Developing robust and effective robotic mobility is expensive as well as difficult. The paper discusses the various sensors that could be used in each device, including ultrasonic, infrared, tactile, and camera sensors. The study proposes two potential solutions. The first is to use an Arduino microcontroller with an HC-SRo4 ultrasonic sensor, which can be worn or used as a portable device for the user. The sensor operates by sending high-frequency sound waves and receiving them back to measure the distance to objects in the environment. By analyzing these measurements, the device can identify objects in the user’s path and audibly relay that information to them. The second solution involves using a Raspberry Pi microcontroller with a camera and OpenCV software to detect objects within the user’s view. The camera captures images of the environment, and OpenCV analyzes those images to identify and classify objects. This solution provides a more detailed description of the user’s surroundings but is also more expensive and requires more computational power than the Arduino solution. Overall, the study demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of utilizing affordable sensors, such as the HC-SRO4 ultrasonic sensor, in developing assistive technologies for visually impaired individuals. By providing accurate object detection and description, these devices have improved the quality of life for individuals with visual impairments
IDENTIFICATION OF NOVEL INTERACTOR OF SEC6 PROTEIN VIA YEAST GENETIC SCREEN**
No full textPolarized protein secretion is an essential process for the delivery of various proteins and lipids in eukaryotic cells to their correct locations. Our research focuses on the Sec6 protein, a component of an eight-subunit complex named exocyst, which is required for the direct delivery of cargos to the plasma membrane. An earlier study published on Sec6 (Sanger and Munson 2009) explored new Sec6 mutant proteins with altered the amino acids located on the surface of the protein. It was established that these mutations resulted in a temperature sensitive growth defect at 37 °C. However, despite the poor growth of these cells, the assembly of all 8 exocyst components was not affected, yet the complex appears to be missing from the site where they are expected to localize. Our current hypothesis is that Sec6 has an important anchoring function for the exocyst, and that the mislocalization of the exocyst stems from disruption of Sec6’s surface interaction with an unknown factor(s) on the plasma membrane. To identify the potential anchoring factors, we employed a yeast genetic screen using a multicopy plasmid based genomic library. The genetic screen employed the transformation of the library plasmid into sec6-49 via electroporation followed by growth assays to identify transformants overcoming the growth defect at 37°C. These surviving yeast colonies were subjected to plasmid extraction and DNA sequencing to identify the genomic segment on the plasmid. We successfully isolated 23 plasmids and sequenced several of them to identify open reading frames of the genes potentially responsible for the rescue of growth defect. Currently, we have narrowed it down to 5 specific candidate genes, LSB5, SRO9, STE50, BIK1, FUS1, and are testing the rescue effect of each individual gene. The isolation and characterization of novel anchoring interactors will shed light on mechanistic details of Sec6’s function in exocytosis