Complimenting a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Mutation Using Cell Penetrating Peptides

Complimenting a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Mutation Using Cell Penetrating Peptides Matthew McKenzie and Jennifer L. Cooper Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a photosynthetic model organism most notable for its easily manipulatable genetics. C. reinhardtii uses flagella to swim and optimize its growth conditions in the light. We plan to use cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) to compliment C. reinhardtii that is affected with the IFT46 mutation. Cell penetrating peptides are short peptides that can move across a cell membrane. The novel CPP that we are using is called TaT-CaM. It consists of the trans-activator of transcription (TaT) and the calmodulin domain (CaM) that binds to a calmodulin binding site (CBS) engineered into our protein of interest, IFT46. IFT46 is an Intraflagellar Transport Protein (IFT) required for flagella assembly. The IFT46-1 mutant causes paralyzed flagella. Previous results have shown TaT-CaM is an effective way to deliver protein into C. reinhardtii. To complement the IFT46 mutation using CPP, we must express the CBS-tagged IFT46 protein (CBS-IFT46). I have transformed bacterial competent cells with the CBS-IFT46 plasmid, attempting to make the competent cells express the protein. I have performed restriction digests to ensure the CBS-IFT46 sequence was properly inserted into the vector. The digest results indicate the DNA was inserted into the vector correctly, but I have been unsuccessful in getting the bacterial cells to express the CBS-IFT46 protein. In the future, we will send samples of the clone plasmid to be sequenced and potentially a different expression vector will be used. Completion of this work will show that CPPs have novel use, allowing efficient protein introduction into the cell. Keywords: Flagella, Algae, Chlamydomonas, Mutation, Cell Penetrating Peptide, CPP, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, C.reinhardtii, IFT46, TaT-CaM

Coherence of Associativity in Categories with Multiplication

The usual coherence theorem of MacLane for categories with multiplication assumes that a certain pentagonal diagram commutes in order to conclude that associativity isomorphisms are well defined in a certain practical sense. The practical aspects include creating associativity isomorphisms from a given one by tensoring with the identity on either the right or the left. We show, by reinspecting MacLane's original arguments, that if tensoring with the identity is restricted to one side, then the well definedness of constructed isomorphisms follows from naturality only, with no need of the commutativity of the pentagonal diagram. This observation was discovered by noting the resemblance of the usual coherence theorems with certain properties of a finitely presented group known as Thompson's group F. This paper is to be taken as an advertisement for this connection.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in Journal of Pure and Applied Algebr

Vocational science and the politics of independence: The Boston Marine Society, 1754--1812

Between 1754 and 1812 the Boston Marine Society developed vocational scientific practices adapted from day-to-day work routines to expand the navigational knowledge of New England\u27s coastlines. For this reason, the Marine Society\u27s navigational work suggests important parallels with the history of colonial science in other areas during the late eighteenth century. Notwithstanding most other studies in the history of American science, the Boston Marine Society indicates that colonial Boston shipmasters were not dependent upon learned societies for their navigational research needs. Rather, they adapted their mutual aid society and developed methodologies to collect navigational observations, analyze them for reliability and accuracy, and in a few cases, publish their findings for the benefit of the community. Given the close ties between seafaring, economic growth and political influence in a mercantile economy, the Marine Society\u27s work in navigational research granted them social and political influence in Boston during the Early Republic. With this added influence, the Marine Society crafted themselves into Federalist fathers of the maritime people to legitimate their efforts to become one of the town\u27s new post-revolutionary elites. Ultimately, the Marine Society lost its political influence as changes in navigational research, shifts in Boston and national politics, and new market centers for scientific information combined to weaken the Society\u27s position in both the political and navigational research worlds

Computational studies on fatty acid synthesis: from mechanisms to drug design

The first committed steps of the Fatty Acid synthesis pathway involves the de/carboxylation reactions of biotin. By understanding this step, potential novel antimicrobial agents could be discovered. The current tools of drug discovery can only help the research in finding and modifying potential hits. Finding a lead candidate from these programs are often equated to finding a needle in a haystack, which is due to the many assumptions used in molecular docking. The fundamental reaction kinetics can not be described by these techniques and a detailed study of the decarboxylation reaction is investigated using ab initio molecular dynamics. In this particular study, Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics is used and how the biotin model is protonated was found to play an important role in its reaction barrier. Although stable in low acidic solutions, a crucial nitrogen protonation is shown to have the lowest free energy barrier which could play a pivotal role in the enzymatic mechanism. The molecular docking knowledge of potential ligand inhibitors via a low level modeling technique connected to high level quantum mechanical reaction modeling provides a synergistic route in the search for inhibitors

Spin Bose-Metal and Valence Bond Solid phases in a spin-1/2 model with ring exchanges on a four-leg triangular ladder

We study a spin-1/2 system with Heisenberg plus ring exchanges on a four-leg triangular ladder using the density matrix renormalization group and Gutzwiller variational wave functions. Near an isotropic lattice regime, for moderate to large ring exchanges we find a spin Bose-metal phase with a spinon Fermi sea consisting of three partially filled bands. Going away from the triangular towards the square lattice regime, we find a staggered dimer phase with dimers in the transverse direction, while for small ring exchanges the system is in a featureless rung phase. We also discuss parent states and a possible phase diagram in two dimensions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, v3 is the print versio

RUMEN MICROBIOME GENE CJD5-110 ENCODES A CELLULASE

Climate change, primarily propelled by fossil fuel combustion and resulting greenhouse gas emissions, poses a significant threat to the environment. In response to this challenge, bioethanol has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional fuels due to its renewable nature and reduced carbon footprint. The pivotal step in bioethanol production involves the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, a constituent of plant cell walls. The objective of this study was to discover novel cellulase genes from cellulolytic bacteria present in the cow's rumen. The target gene, CJD5-110, was initially isolated from the cow's rumen, and upon sequencing, it was identified to originate from Lachnospiraceae Bacterium, commonly found in the intestinal microbiota of humans and mammals. Subsequently, the gene of interest, CJD5-110, was integrated into a vector and transformed into E. coli BL 21 cells. The protein extract derived from these E. coli cells, containing the CJD5-110 gene, demonstrated the ability to degrade cellulose. In conclusion, our study successfully identified the gene CJD5-110 as a novel cellulase gene

Charter Schools in Northwest Arkansas: Patterns in Enrollment and Characteristics of Student Movers

Charter schools in northwest Arkansas are frequently praised for their academic performance and criticized for their lack of diversity. Using publicly available anonymized data from the Arkansas Department of Education, we use 11 years of enrollment trends in northwest Arkansas public schools, considering student demographic characteristics, free- or reduced-price lunch status, limited English proficiency status, special education status, and performance on state standardized reading and math assessments, to analyze enrollment trends in northwest Arkansas traditional public schools and charter schools, as well as the characteristics of students who voluntarily switch sectors. We find that northwest Arkansas charter schools are not representative of the demographic characteristics of the region in terms of demographics, FRL status, LEP status, and SPED status, though these schools have grown in diversity as they have increased enrollments. Students who exit NWA district schools for NWA charter schools tend to be above both the state and their respective school averages in terms of standardized test performance. Students who exit NWA charter schools tend to be above the state average, but perform similarly to their peers in terms of standardized test performance