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open access

Role of N-Acylethanolamines in Plant Defense Responses: Modulation by Pathogens and Commercial Antimicrobial Stressors

Description: N-acyl ethanolamines (NAEs) are a class of lipids recently recognized as signaling molecules which are controlled, in part, by their degradation by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). On the basis of previous studies indicating increased NAE levels in a tobacco cell suspension-xylanase elicitor exposure system and the availability of FAAH mutants, overexpressor and knockout (OE and KO) genotypes in Arabidopsis thaliana, further roles of NAEs in A. thaliana plant defense was investigated. The com… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Vadapalli, Vatsala
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Metabolic Engineering of Raffinose-Family Oligosaccharides in the Phloem Reveals Alterations in Patterns of Carbon Partitioning and Enhances Resistance to Green Peach Aphid

Description: Phloem transport is along hydrostatic pressure gradients generated by differences in solute concentration between source and sink tissues. Numerous species accumulate raffinose-family oligosaccharides (RFOs) in the phloem of mature leaves to accentuate the pressure gradient between source and sinks. In this study, metabolic engineering was used to generate RFOs at the inception of the translocation stream of Arabidopsis thaliana, which transports predominantly sucrose. To do this, three genes, … more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Cao, Te
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Molecular Basis of Plant Defense Against Aphids: Role of the Arabidopsis Thaliana PAD4 and MPL1 Genes

Description: Myzus persicae (Sülzer), commonly known as green peach aphid (GPA), utilizes its slender stylet to penetrate the plant tissues intercellularly and consume copious amounts of photoassimilates present in the phloem sap causing extensive damage to host plants. The compatible interaction between GPA and Arabidopsis thaliana enabled us to characterize plant response to aphid infestation. Upon GPA infestation, Arabidopsis PAD4 (PHYTOALEXIN DEFICIENT4) gene modulates premature leaf senescence, which i… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Louis, Joe
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Studies on Plant-aphid Interactions: a Novel Role for Trehalose Metabolism in Arabidopsis Defense Against Green Peach Aphid

Description: Myzus persicae (Sülzer), commonly known as the green peach aphid (GPA), is a polyphagous insect that can infest over 100 families of economically important plants and is major pest for vegetable crops. This study utilizes the Arabidopsis-GPA model system with the aim to elucidate the role of the plant disaccharide trehalose in providing defense against GPA. This study demonstrates a novel role for TPS11 in providing defense against GPA. TPS11 expression was found to be transiently induced in Ar… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Singh, Vijay
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Identification of Three Symbiosome Targeting Domains in the MtENOD8 Protein and Cell-to-cell MtENOD8 mRNA Movement in Nodules

Description: The model legume, Medicago truncatula, is able to enter into a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria, known as rhizobia. This relationship involves a carbon for nitrogen exchange in which the plant provides reduced carbon from photosynthesis in exchange for reduced, or “fixed” atmospheric nitrogen, which allows the plant to thrive in nitrogen depleted soils. Rhizobia infect and enter plant root organs, known as nodules, where they reside inside the plant cell in a novel organelle, known a… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Meckfessel, Matthew Harold
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

9-Lipoxygenase Oxylipin Pathway in Plant Response to Biotic Stress

Description: The activity of plant 9-lipoxygenases (LOXs) influences the outcome of Arabidopsis thaliana interaction with pathogen and insects. Evidence provided here indicates that in Arabidopsis, 9-LOXs facilitate infestation by Myzus persicae, commonly known as the green peach aphid (GPA), a sap-sucking insect, and infection by the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. in comparison to the wild-type plant, lox5 mutants, which are deficient in a 9-lipoxygenase, GPA population was smaller and the insect sp… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Nalam, Vamsi J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Metabolic Engineering in Plants to Control Source/sink Relationship and Biomass Distribution

Description: Traditional methods like pruning and breeding have historically been used in crop production to divert photoassimilates to harvested organs, but molecular biotechnology is now poised to significantly increase yield by manipulating resource partitioning. It was hypothesized that metabolic engineering in targeted sink tissues can favor resource partitioning to increase harvest. Raffinose Family Oligosaccharides (RFOs) are naturally occurring oligosaccharides that are widespread in plants and are … more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Lahiri, Ipsita
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Manipulating Sucrose Proton Symporters to Understand Phloem Loading

Description: Phloem vascular tissues transport sugars synthesized by photosynthesis in mature leaves by a process called phloem loading in source tissues and unloading in sink tissues. Phloem loading in source leaves is catalyzed by Suc/H+ symporters (SUTs) which are energized by proton motive force. In Arabidopsis the principal and perhaps exclusive SUT catalyzing phloem loading is AtSUC2. In mutant plants harboring a T-DNA insertion in each of the functional SUT-family members, only Atsuc2 mutants demonst… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Dasgupta, Kasturi
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Molecular and Functional Characterization of Medicago Truncatula Npf17 Gene

Description: Legumes are unique among plants for their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen with the help of soil bacteria rhizobia. Medicago truncatula is used as a model legume to study different aspects of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. M. truncatula, in association with its symbiotic partner Sinorhizobium meliloti, fix atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, which the plant uses for amino acid biosynthesis and the bacteria get reduced photosynthate in return. M. truncatula NPF1.7 previously called MtNIP/LATD is… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Salehin, Mohammad
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Functional Characterization of Mtnip/latd’s Biochemical and Biological Function

Description: Symbiotic nitrogen fixation occurs in plants harboring nitrogen-fixing bacteria within the plant tissue. The most widely studied association is between the legumes and rhizobia. In this relationship the plant (legumes) provides the bacteria (rhizobia) with reduced carbon derived from photosynthesis in exchange for reduced atmospheric nitrogen. This allows the plant to survive in soil, which is low in available of nitrogen. Rhizobia infect and enter plant root and reside in organs known as nodul… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Bagchi, Rammyani
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Natural/anthropogenic Stressors and a Chemical Contaminant on Pre and Post Mycorrhizal Colonization in Wetland Plants

Description: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, colonizing over 80% of all plants, were long thought absent in wetlands; however, recent studies have shown many wetland plants harbor arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) and dark septate endophytes (DSE). Wetland services such as biodiversity, shoreline stabilization, water purification, flood control, etc. have been estimated to have a global value of $14.9 trillion. Recognition of these vital services is accompanied by growing concern for their vulnerability and continu… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Twanabasu, Bishnu Ram
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Development of Enabling Technologies to Visualize the Plant Lipidome

Description: Improvements in mass spectrometry (MS)-based strategies for characterizing the plant lipidome through quantitative and qualitative approaches such as shotgun lipidomics have substantially enhanced our understanding of the structural diversity and functional complexity of plant lipids. However, most of these approaches require chemical extractions that result in the loss of the original spatial context and cellular compartmentation for these compounds. To address this current limitation, severa… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Horn, Patrick J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

brk1 and dcd1 Act Synergistically in Subsidiary Cell Formation in Zea mays

Description: Subsidiary mother cell (SMC) divisions during stomatal complex formation in Zea mays are asymmetric generating a small subsidiary cell (SC) and a larger epidermal cell. Mutants with a high number of abnormally shaped subsidiary cells include the brick1 (brk1) and discordia1 (dcd1) mutants. BRK1 is homologous to HSPC300, an ARP2/3 complex activator, and is involved in actin nucleation while DCD1 is a regulatory subunit of the PP2A phosphatase needed for microtubule generation (Frank and Smith, 2… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Malhotra, Divya
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Forward Genetic Characterization of Medicago truncatula Tnt1 Insertion Mutants Defective in Nodule Development and Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation

Description: Legumes are unique plants because they form special structures “nodules”, via symbiotic relationships with rhizobial bacteria present in the soil. Once rhizobia mature inside nodules, they fix atmospheric nitrogen providing a source of bioavailable nitrogen to the plant. To discover novel genetic components involved in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis by using forward genetic screening, we have isolated Medicago truncatula Tnt1 insertion mutants in the R108 ecotype, which are defective in nodule d… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Kadel, Khem L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Manipulations of Sucrose/Proton Symporters and Proton-pumping Pyrophosphatase Lead to Enhanced Phloem Transport But Have Contrasting Effects on Plant Biomass

Description: Delivery of photoassimilate, mainly sucrose (Suc) from photoautotrophic source leaves provides the substrate for the growth and maintenance of sink tissues such as roots, storage tissues, flowers and fruits, juvenile organs, and seeds. Phloem loading is the energized process of accumulating solute in the sieve element/companion cell complex of source leaf phloem to generate the hydrostatic pressure that drives long-distance transport. In many plants this is catalyzed by Suc/Proton (H+) symporte… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Khadilkar, Aswad S
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Metabolism and Action of Polyunsaturated N-acylethanolamines in Arabidopsis thaliana Seedlings

Description: The lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway plays an important role in the oxidative metabolism of polyunsaturated N-acylethanolamines (PU-NAEs). The LOX pathway functions in conjugation with hydrolysis by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and to produce oxidized NAEs during seed germination and early seedling development. When Arabidopsis seedlings were grown in low micromolar concentrations of lauroylethanolamide (NAE 12:0), growth retardation and elevated endogenous PU-NAE levels were observed due to the… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Keereetaweep, Jantana
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Identification and Characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana Mutant with Tolerance to N-lauroylethanolamine

Description: N-Acylethanolamines (NAEs) are fatty acid derivatives in plants that negatively influence seedling growth. N-Lauroylethanolamine (NAE 12:0), one type of NAE, inhibits root length, increases radial swelling of root tips and reduces root hair numbers in a dose dependent manner in Arabidopis thaliana L. (ecotype Columbia). A forward genetics approach was employed by screening a population of T-DNA “activation-tagged” developed by the Salk Institute lines for NAE resistance to identify potential … more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Adhikari, Bikash
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Influence of a Human Lipodystrophy Gene Homologue on Neutral Lipid Accumulation in Arabidopsis Leaves

Description: CGI-58 is the defective gene in the human neutral lipid storage disease called Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome. This disorder causes intracellular lipid droplets to accumulate in nonadipose tissues, such as skin and blood cells. Here, disruption of the homologous CGI-58 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in the accumulation of neutral lipid droplets in mature leaves. Mass spectroscopy of isolated lipid droplets from cgi-58 loss-of-function mutants showed they contain triacylglycerols with common l… more
Date: August 2016
Creator: James, Christopher Neal
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Homologs of Mammalian Lysosomal Lipase in Arabidopsis and Their Roles in Lipid Droplet Dynamics

Description: Lipid droplets (LDs) are organelles with many functions in cells and numerous protein interactors facilitate their biogenesis, maintenance, and turnover. The mammalian lipase responsible for LD turnover during lipophagy, LipA, has two candidate homologs in Arabidopsis: MPL1 and LIP1. One or both of these plant homologs may function in a similar manner to mammalian LipA, providing an LD breakdown pathway. To test this hypothesis, wild type (WT) Arabidopsis plants, MPL1 over-expressing (OE) muta… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: McClinchie, Elizabeth A
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Rapid Metabolic Response of Plants Exposed to Light Stress

Description: Environmental stress conditions can drastically affect plant growth and productivity. In contrast to soil moisture or salinity that can gradually change over a period of days or weeks, changes in light intensity or temperature can occur very rapidly, sometimes over the course of minutes or seconds. So, in our study we have taken an metabolomics approach to identify the rapid response of plants to light stress. In the first part we have focused on the ultrafast (0-90 sec) metabolic response of l… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Choudhury, Feroza Kaneez
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Lipogenic Proteins in Plants: Functional Homologues and Applications

Description: Although cytoplasmic lipid droplets (LDs) are the major reserves for energy-dense neutral lipids in plants, the cellular mechanisms for packaging neutral lipids into LDs remain poorly understood. To gain insights into the cellular processes of neutral lipid accumulation and compartmentalization, a necessary step forward would be to characterize functional roles of lipogenic proteins that participate in the compartmentalization of neutral lipids in plant cells. In this study, the lipogenic prote… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Cai, Yingqi
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Compartmentalization of Jojoba Seed Lipid Metabolites

Description: Seeds from the desert shrub Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) are one of the only known natural plant sources to store a majority of its oil in the form of liquid wax esters (WE) instead of triacylglycerols (TAGs) and these oils account for ~55% of the seed weight. Jojoba oil is highly valued as cosmetic additives and mechanical lubricants, yet despite its value much is still unknown about its neutral lipid biosynthetic pathways and lipid droplet packaging machinery. Here, we have used a multi-"omi… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Sturtevant, Drew
Partner: UNT Libraries
captions transcript

Immunized Plants: An Answer to Global Hunger

Description: Video from the Fall 2018 3 Minute Thesis (3MT®) Final Competition. In this video, Devasantosh Mohanty presents his research methods, findings, and its significance in non-technical language.
Date: November 17, 2018
Duration: 2 minutes 52 seconds
Creator: Mohanty, Devasantosh
Partner: UNT College of Science

Novel Approaches for Enhancing Resistance to Fusarium graminearum in Arabidopsis and Wheat by Targeting Defense and Pathogenicity Factors

Description: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is an important disease of small grain cereals including wheat that affects grain quality and yield. The fungus Fusarium graminearum (Fg) is the major agent of this disease. Lack of natural resistance has limited ability to control wheat losses to this disease. Developing new approaches is critical for increasing host plant resistance to this fungus. This work has identified four processes that can be targeted for enhancing host plant resistance to FHB. The first i… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Alam, Syeda Tamanna
Partner: UNT Libraries
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