A practical guide for assessing respiratory burst and phagocytic cell activity in the fathead minnow, an emerging model for immunotoxicity (open access)

A practical guide for assessing respiratory burst and phagocytic cell activity in the fathead minnow, an emerging model for immunotoxicity

Article is a study with the goal of optimizing and validating the use of a colorimetric plate-based respiratory burst and fluorometric plate-based phagocytic cell activity assays for use with kidney cells from the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), an emerging immunotoxicity model.
Date: July 18, 2020
Creator: Thornton Hampton, Leah M.; Venables, Barney J. & Jeffries, Marlo K. Sellin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Remodeling the epigenome and (epi)cytoskeleton: a new paradigm for co-regulation by methylation (open access)

Remodeling the epigenome and (epi)cytoskeleton: a new paradigm for co-regulation by methylation

This article is a commentary on coordinated use of methyl marks to remodel both the epigenome and the (epi)cytoskeleton, which opens the possibility for integrated regulation (referred to as ‘epiregulation’) of other higher-level functions, such as muscle contraction or learning and memory, and could even have evolutionary implications.
Date: July 3, 2020
Creator: Walker, Cheryl & Burggren, Warren W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
In silico guided structural and functional analysis of genes with potential involvement in resistance to coffee leaf rust: A functional marker based approach (open access)

In silico guided structural and functional analysis of genes with potential involvement in resistance to coffee leaf rust: A functional marker based approach

Article presents novel insights into the molecular nature of the SH genes, thereby opening new avenues for coffee rust resistance molecular breeding.
Date: July 8, 2020
Creator: Ferreira, Svio Siqueira; Barka, Geleta Dugassa; Caixeta, Eveline Teixeira & Zambolim, Larcio
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lipophilic signals lead to organ-specific gene expression changes in Arabidopsis seedlings (open access)

Lipophilic signals lead to organ-specific gene expression changes in Arabidopsis seedlings

Article presents a study where whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) and differential expression analysis were used to identify early (1–3 hr) transcriptional changes induced by the exogenous treatment of NAE 18:2 and NAE 18:3 in cotyledons, roots, and seedlings.
Date: July 15, 2020
Creator: Cannon, Ashley E.; Yan, Chengshi; Burks, David J.; Rao, Xiaolan; Azad, Rajeev K. & Chapman, Kent Dean
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploring the socio-economic and environmental components of infectious diseases using multivariate geovisualization: West Nile Virus (open access)

Exploring the socio-economic and environmental components of infectious diseases using multivariate geovisualization: West Nile Virus

Article focusing on West Nile Virus (WNV), a mosquito borne pathogen, as a case study for spatial data visualization of environmental characteristics of a vector’s habitat alongside human demographic composition for understanding potential public health risks of infectious disease.
Date: March 2, 2020
Creator: Kala, Abhishek K.; Atkinson, Samuel F. & Tiwari, Chetan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Leaf Lipid Alterations in Response to Heat Stress of Arabidopsis thaliana (open access)

Leaf Lipid Alterations in Response to Heat Stress of Arabidopsis thaliana

Article measuring lipid levels with mass spectrometry to confirm the previously observed changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf lipids under three heat stress regimens. Additionally, in response to heat, increased oxidation of the fatty acyl chains of leaf galactolipids, sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerols, and phosphatidylglycerols, and incorporation of oxidized acyl chains into acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols are shown. The authors also observed increased levels of digalactosylmonoacylglycerols and monogalactosylmonoacylglycerols. The hypothesis that a defect in sterol glycosylation would adversely affect regrowth of plants after a severe heat stress regimen was tested, but differences between wild-type and sterol glycosylation-defective plants were not detected.
Date: July 4, 2020
Creator: Shiva, Sunitha; Samarakoon, Thilani; Lowe, Kaleb A.; Roach, Charles; Vu, Hieu Sy; Colter, Madeline et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
SEIPIN Isoforms Interact with the Membrane-Tethering Protein VAP27-1 for Lipid Droplet Formation (open access)

SEIPIN Isoforms Interact with the Membrane-Tethering Protein VAP27-1 for Lipid Droplet Formation

Article demonstrating that part of the function of two SEIPIN isoforms in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), AtSEIPIN2 and AtSEIPIN3, may depend on their interaction with the vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)–associated protein (VAP) family member AtVAP27-1. The authors used a combination of biochemical, cell biology, and genetics approaches to show that AtVAP27-1 interacts with the N termini of AtSEIPIN2 and AtSEIPIN3 and likely supports the normal formation of LDs. This insight indicates that the ER membrane tethering machinery in plant cells could play a role with select SEIPIN isoforms in LD biogenesis at the ER, and additional experimental evidence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae supports the possibility that this interaction may be important in other eukaryotic systems.
Date: July 20, 2020
Creator: Greer, Michael Scott; Cai, Yingqi; Gidda, Satinder K.; Esnay, Nicolas; Kretzschmar, Franziska K.; Seay, Damien C. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Seedling Chloroplast Responses Induced by N-Linolenoylethanolamine Require Intact G-Protein Complexes (open access)

Seedling Chloroplast Responses Induced by N-Linolenoylethanolamine Require Intact G-Protein Complexes

This article shows that the activity of N-linolenoylethanolamine (NAE 18:3) requires an intact G-protein complex. Specifically, genetic ablation of the Gβγ dimer or loss of the full set of atypical Gα subunits strongly attenuates an NAE-18:3–induced degreening of cotyledons in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings. This effect involves, at least in part, transcriptional regulation of chlorophyll biosynthesis and catabolism genes. In addition, there is feedforward transcriptional control of G-protein signaling components and G-protein interactors. These results are consistent with NAE 18:3 being a lipid signaling molecule in plants with a requirement for G-proteins to mediate signal transduction, a situation similar, but not identical, to the action of NAE endocannabinoids in animal systems.
Date: July 14, 2020
Creator: Yan, Chengshi; Cannon, Ashley E.; Watkins, Justin; Keereetaweep, Jantana; Khan, Bibi Rafeiza; Jones, Alan M. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
MYB30 Orchestrates Systemic Reactive Oxygen Signaling and Plant Acclimation (open access)

MYB30 Orchestrates Systemic Reactive Oxygen Signaling and Plant Acclimation

This article explores the relationship among MYB30, the ROS wave, and systemic acclimation in Arabidopsis by determining the SAA response to HL stress of MYB30 mutants and wild-type plants.
Date: July 22, 2020
Creator: Fichman, Yosef; Zandalinas, Sara I.; Sengupta, Soham; Burks, David J.; Meyers, Ronald J., Jr.; Azad, Rajeev K. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library