Certain features reminiscent of sexuality occur in the vegetative life cycle of some filamentous fungi such as Neurospora crassa. Hyphal fusions can occur between genetically different individuals, thereby endowing the new composite mycelium, a heterokaryon, with some of the advantages of heterozygosity usually associated with diploid organisms. In N. crassa, however, there are a number of inco...

Maternally inherited bacteria of the genus Volbachia can cause cytoplasmic incompatibility resulting in the developmental arrest of early embryos. Previous studies have shown that both single- and superinfections of Wolbachia naturally occur in populations of Aedes albopictus (Skuse). Here, we report crossing experiments using three infection types occurring in Ae. albopictus: uninfected, singl...

Following the identification of the male (S-locus Cysteine Rich/S-locus Protein 11) and female (S Receptor kinase [SRK]) factors controlling self-incompatibility in the Brassicaceae, research in this field has focused on understanding the nature of the cellular responses activated by these regulators. We previously identified the ARM Repeat Containing1 (ARC1) E3 ligase as a component of the SRK...

T2-type RNases are responsible for self-pollen recognition and rejection in three distantly related families of flowering plants-the Solanaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Rosaceae. We used phylogenetic analyses of 67 T2-type RNases together with information on intron number and position to determine whether the use of RNases for self-incompatibility in these families is homologous or convergent. Al...

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids that have anti-hypertensive and anti-inflammatory properties are mainly metabolized by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH, EC 3.3.2.3). Therefore, sEH has emerged as a therapeutic target for treating various cardiovascular diseases and inflammatory pain. N,N'-Disubstituted ureas are potent sEH inhibitors in vitro. However, in vivo usage of early sEH inhibitors has been lim...

–Abundant as it may seem, in Nigeria, access to clean and potable water is a great challenge. Hence, the reason the physiochemical properties of the groundwater in Agbowo and Ajibode communities in Oyo State, Southwestern Nigeria was analyzed. Water samples were collected from fifteen shallow wells, with varying depths. The water quality parameters were analyzed in accordance to standard method...

In this work, we leverage a mathematical model of the underlying physiochemical properties of tissues and physicochemical properties of molecules to support the development of hepatoselective glucokinase activators. Passive distribution is modeled via a Fick-Nernst-Planck approach, using in vitro experimental data to estimate the permeability of both ionized and neutral species. The model accou...

We have shown previously that human leukocyte antigen (HLA) immunogenicity, defined by the physiochemical properties of mismatched amino acids, predicts humoral alloimmunity, and now report the effect on long-term graft survival after kidney transplantation. The influence of HLA-A and -B mismatch, number of amino acid mismatches (after interlocus subtraction) and their physiochemical (electrost...

The effect of prior eccentric contractions on skeletal muscle lactate/H+transport was investigated in rats. Lactate transport was measured in sarcolemmal giant vesicles obtained from soleus and red (RG) and white gastrocnemii (WG) muscles 2 days after intense eccentric contractions (ECC) and from the corresponding contralateral control (CON) muscles. The physiochemical buffer capacity was deter...

EVOLUTION OF HYBRID INCOMPATIBILITIES IN GENE REGULATORY NETWORKS SEPTEMBER 2013 ALEXANDER Y. TULCHINSKY, B.S., VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY, RICHMOND M.S., VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY, RICHMOND Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST Directed by: Adam H. Porter Under the Dobzhansky-Muller model, postzygotic isolation results from incompatibility between interacting genes. Evidence...