Department of Biology at Colorado State University

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Department of Biology Seminars for Spring 2008

You may change what seminars you are looking at by using the calendars and drop down options located on the right side of this page. You may view all seminars for a given semester using the Semester drop down box or view a specific day by selecting the date manually or by clicking on the highlighted date on a calendar (days with seminars will be highlighted).

Today's Date: May 18th, 2008

Past Seminars

January 22nd, 2008 at 4:00pm

David Pollock, UCHSC
"Structural implications of adaptive evolution in cytochrome oxidase of snakes and an introduction to the Consortium for Comparative Genomics"

Location: W118 Anatomy/Zoology Building
Pre-Mixer: E112 Anatomy/Zoology Building at 3:30pm
Website: http://www.uchsc.edu/sm/bbgn/pollockd.htm
Topic/Field: comparative genomics, evolutionary genomics, context-dependent evolution, phylogenetics, population Genetics, and evolutionary thermodynamics
Host: Pat Bedinger, (bedinger@colostate.edu)
Abstract: mtDNA have changed more in the ancestors of snakes than along any other vertebrate lineage. This rapid change was led by changes in proteins and genome structure, but not particularly unusual mutation processes. An in-depth analysis of cytochrome oxidase I indicates that excessive changes at otherwise conserved sites have led to apparent changes in key structural and functional properties. These changes also involved unprecedented levels of convergence and coevolution among residue positions. We interpret this as a case of massive evolutionary redesign of this key metabolic protein, which has approximately coincided with shifts in ecological niche and physiological adaptations related to lung reduction, large prey consumption, and venom evolution. Furthermore, we demonstrate that convergences between snakes and certain lizards are excessive, and and can dramatically mislead phylogenetic reconstruction.

We recently formed a Consortium for Comparative Genomics to enhance and develop genomics research in Colorado. This is a collaborative effort to organize Colorado researchers and make available cutting-edge genomics resources as well as the joint expertise to develop, fund, and analyze successful genomics research projects. We have just purchased and installed a next-generation Roche/454 FLX high-throughput sequencer. We are organizing genomics and computational scientists around this base, and are aiming to expand our capabilities, computational resources, and acquire complementary technologies. We now include the School of Medicine, Cancer Center, Diabetes Center, and various departments at UC Boulder, and would like Colorado State University researchers to join this effort.

April 1st, 2008 at 4:00pm

Brian Barnes, Institute of Arctic Biology
"TBA"

Location: W118 Anatomy/Zoology Building
Pre-Mixer: E112 Anatomy/Zoology Building at 3:30pm
Website: http://users.iab.uaf.edu/~brian_barnes
Topic/Field: bears, hibernation, sleep
Host: Greg Florant, (florant@colostate.edu)

April 8th, 2008 at 4:00pm

Debra Peters, Mexico State University
"Spatial context of global change in desert systems"

Location: W118 Anatomy/Zoology Building
Pre-Mixer: E112 Anatomy/Zoology Building at 3:30pm
Website: http://biology-web.nmsu.edu/peters
Topic/Field: large-scale landscape ecology, global change ecology, ecosystem modeling, cross-scale interactions and feedbacks
Host: Alan Knapp, (aknapp@colostate.edu)

April 15th, 2008 at 4:00pm

Wilfred F. Denetclaw Jr., San Francisco State University
"Early Skeletal Muscle (Myotome) Development Regulated by Membrane Rafts and Constituent Nitric Oxide Synthase in Chicken Embryos"

Location: W118 Anatomy/Zoology Building
Pre-Mixer: E112 Anatomy/Zoology Building at 3:30pm
Website: http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~denetclw/Dr%20D.htm
Abstract: Embryonic skeletal muscle formation (or myotome formation) occurs in somites and is in response to complex gradients of secreted protein signals produced by tissues adjacent to the somite. We show that signals for myogenesis are also mediated through membrane rafts (lipid rafts), which are abundant in somites including the myotome producing tissue layer called the dermomyotome and in tissues adjacent to the somite like the ectoderm, neural tube and lateral plate mesoderm. The disruption of ectoderm membrane rafts by treatments with methyl beta-cyclodextrin (MBC) rapidly halts myotome formation in the embryo and is reversible with its removal. Furthermore, the ectoderm and somite exhibit a dynamic nitric oxide (NO) signaling association to suggest that the NO signaling gas molecule produced in the ectoderm directly signals to the dermomyotome for myotome formation. We show that inhibition of nitric oxide synthases (NOS) in the ectoderm by treatments by L-NAME, a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme, result in an absence of NO signaling in these tissues and blocks myotome formation. We conclude that NOS is a membrane raft-associated enzyme in the ectoderm and uses a paracrine NO signaling mechanism to stimulate the dermomyotome for myotome formation to show for the first time a NO role in regulating embryonic myotome development in ovo.

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