Because it can expand the range of a protein’s interactions or modulate its activity, post-translational methylation of arginine residues in proteins must be duly coordinated and ‘decoded’ to ensure appropriate cellular interpretation of this biological cue. This can be achieved through modulation of the enzymatic activity/specificity of the protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) and proper recognition of the methylation ‘mark’ by a subset of proteins containing ‘methyl-sensing’ protein modules known as ‘Tudor’ domains. In order to gain a better understanding of these regulatory mechanisms, we undertook a detailed biochemical characterization of the predominant member of the PRMT family, PRMT1, and of the novel Tudor domain-containing protein 3 (TDRD3). First, we found that PRMT1 function can be modulated by 1) the expression of up to seven PRMT1 isoforms (v1-7), each with a unique N-terminal region that confers distinct substrate specificity, and by 2) differential subcellular localization, as revealed by the presence of a nuclear export sequence unique to PRMT1v2. Second, our findings suggest that TDRD3 is recruited to cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs) in response to environmental stress potentially by engaging in methyl-dependent protein-protein interactions with proteins involved in the control of gene expression. We also found that arginine methylation may serve as a general regulator of overall SG dynamics. Finally, we uncovered that alteration of PRMT1, TDRD3, and global arginine methylation levels in breast cancer cells may be closely associated with disease progression and poor prognosis. Therefore, further studies into the pathophysiological consequences ensuing from misregulation of arginine methylation will likely lead to the development of novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

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This study explores the different ways in which music of the early-Tudor period can be analysed. Approaching the analysis first from a performer’s perspective, it takes the surviving works of Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521) as a case study. Fayrfax was chosen both because of the important rôle he plays within the chronology of changing style in early Tudor England, and because of the lack of a convincing analytical survey of his surviving works. Various analytical methods are developed by drawing upon three areas of investigation: (1) previous analyses of renaissance polyphony; (2) sixteenth-century music theory; and (3) hermeneutics. The basic issues and problems encountered when approaching early Tudor works from an analytical perspective are addressed in the Preface, and discussed in more detail in Chapters 1-3. These chapters form a theoretical basis for the work as a whole. Chapters 4-8 provide a detailed analytical interrogation of Fayrfax’s works, addressing five areas of investigation: the selection and development of pre-compositional material; rhythm and metre; mode and cadential planning; texture and tessitura; and motif, imitation, and free counterpoint. Whilst this study focuses specifically on the works of Robert Fayrfax, it is hoped that works by other early Tudor composers can also be examined using the analytical methods developed.

Although considerable attention has been paid to the texting practices of specific composers and certain repertoires, a comprehensive study of the practice of texting in the sacred Latin‐texted vocal works of sixteenth‐century England remains to be undertaken. How did English composers, scribes, and singers of the sixteenth century set words to music? Today, the general impression that emerges from critical apparatuses of modern performing editions, where manuscripts of vocal music copied by sixteenth-century English copyists are concerned, is negative: they are regarded as casual, often‐contradictory transmissions, replete with idiosyncrasies and arbitrary placement of text. But the detail in five hundred‐year‐old primary sources cannot and should not be so easily dismissed. Through a series of case studies drawn from the largest and most complete music manuscripts of English provenance that date from approximately 1500–90 — the Eton Choirbook, the Lambeth Choirbook, the Caius Choirbook, the ‘Forrest‐Heather’ Partbooks, the Peterhouse Partbooks (Henrician Set), the Sadler Partbooks, the Baldwin Partbooks, and the Dow Partbooks — this dissertation offers a fresh perspective on the many texting variants present in the sources, subjecting them to critical analysis to ascertain what prompted a scribe to copy a passage of music and its text in a particular way. Occasionally, a variant was indeed no more than a result of scribal error or inattention. More often than not, however, a scribe was either resolving an ambiguity that he perceived in his exemplar or deliberately infusing the copy with his own concepts of ideal texting. Three specific areas of interest are traced in the dissertation: the texting of long‐note cantus firmi, the treatment of melismata, and the relationship between music, prosody, and textual syntax. At the outset of the century, cantus firmus lines, as scribes copied them, required a certain amount of interpretation before they could be realised; melismata were an integral part of the compositional style that functioned as punctuation for the music; and textual coherence was unnecessary if it could not be achieved within the constraints of the music. By the close of the century, cantus firmus lines were copied literally with no additional interpretation required on the part of the performer; melismata were reduced to a purely decorative function; and textual integrity and correct prosody had become defining factors in how a piece of music was composed and formally organised. The specifics of what carried musicians from one extreme to the other in the interim is at the heart of this study. This dissertation is part of the growing body of research on the music of sixteenth‐century England. In enquiring into the minutiae of setting Latin text to music during this period, an area that heretofore has been relatively unexplored, it is hoped that this project will contribute to the total knowledge in the wider field of studies in text‐music relations.

This dissertation examines the evolution of poetic theory in English and Scottish writing between c.1470 and 1530. By examining important but neglected works by Stephen Hawes, Gavin Douglas, and Alexander Barclay, as well as influential poetry by Robert Henryson and John Skelton, it demonstrates that the contours and preoccupations of rhetorical poetics in England and Scotland emerged long before the appearance of such seminal works as Philip Sidney’s Apologie for Poetrie (c.1580) and George Puttenham’s Arte of English Poesie (1589). The poets at the heart of this dissertation did not assert their authority by writing rhetorical treatises or formal defences, but by critiquing their predecessors, by insulting their peers, and by showing an occasional disregard for the ‘gruntynge hogges’ of their audience. Some of them, such as Robert Henryson, praised the ‘polit termes of sweit rhetore’, while others, such as Gavin Douglas, argued that poetry was a source of ‘hie knawlage’ and profound philosophical truths. But their opponents claimed that ‘the knowlege of poetes’ simply ‘vanissheth awey’ when compared to that of the Bible. On the eve of the English Reformation this struggle for authority intensified, with at least one English writer declaring that ‘God maketh hys habitacion | In poetes’. Unlike previous scholarship, which attributes such idealism to emerging humanist influences, this dissertation argues that the early defenders of poetry in England and Scotland were motivated not by the transcendent idealism they frequently espoused, but by less noble impulses, such as bitterness, disillusionment, and the struggle for court favour. These writers sought to redefine the relationship between literature and the rest of life, and in the process, they formulated new reasons for their own importance as moral authorities in an increasingly unstable world.

Queen Anne Boleyn (~1507-1536) failed to meet social norms during her time as Queen Consort to Henry VIII (1491-1548). By tracing concepts of queenship through the works of Chrétien de Troyes, Andreas Capellanus, Thomas Malory, and Juan Luis Vives this thesis demonstrates how Anne united the office of queen and mistress to bring her downfall and introduce a new construct of queenship.

The `Tudor revival' of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century England saw unprecedented enthusiasm for the study and performance of English Renaissance music. The revival, which emphasized choral music, was characterized by a rich and interconnected fabric of events including manuscript discoveries, the publication of sundry new scholarly and performing editions, the founding of ensembles who specialized in early music, and an overall increase in the study and performance of Tudor music. Narratives of the Tudor revival have traditionally focused on the role of institutions and ensembles in London, thereby neglecting the important work that occurred elsewhere in the country. In order to more adequately represent the full extent of the movement, this study examines the previously unrecognized role of the institutions and ensembles of Oxford, demonstrating the many ways in which the foundation colleges, student societies, and civic ensembles and organizations helped to bring about the Tudor revival. The appendix contains previously unpublished documents from the Oriel College Archives in Oxford, primarily consisting of letters to and from Edmund Fellowes between 1897 and 1925.

Staphylococcal nuclease and tudor-domain containing 1 (SND1) is an oncogene for a wide variety of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). SND1 is a multifunctional protein regulating gene expression of proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, making SND1 a prime target for developing cancer therapeutics. This notion is especially attributed to HCC as most patients are diagnosed in advanced stages and the therapeutic options available for these patients are severely limited. In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of a replication-defective adenovirus vector delivering SND1 shRNA (Ad.SND1sh) to human HCC cell lines, HepG3, HuH-7, and Hep3B. Adenovirus infection in HCC cells was confirmed by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. The efficacy of Ad.SND1sh to knockdown SND1 expression was confirmed via Western blot, qRT-PCR, and immunofluorescence. Ad.SND1sh did not significantly affect proliferation of the three human HCC cells but significantly inhibited their invasive and migratory capacities, as determined by wound healing and Matrigel invasion assays, respectively. As a corollary, Ad.SND1sh treatment resulted in a decrease in mesenchymal markers, such as N-cadherin, Twist, Snail, and Slug, without affecting levels of epithelial marker E-Cadherin, indicating that SND1 knockdown induces mesenchymal conversion in HCC cells. Additionally, reductions in liver cancer stem cell marker CD133 and HCC marker α-fetoprotein (AFP) were observed with SND1 knockdown. HCC cells with aberrant expression of these markers are associated with tumor initiation, recurrence, and multi-drug resistance. Our findings indicate that Ad.SND1sh may potentially be an effective therapy for advanced HCC and needs to be studied further for its clinical application.

Portia serves as a complex and often underestimated character in William Shakespeare's controversial comedy The Merchant of Venice. Using the critical methodologies of New Historicism and feminism, this thesis explores Portia's representation of Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England from 1558 to 1603. Striking similarities exist between character and Queen, including physical description, suitors, marriage issues, and rhetoric. In addition, the tripartite marriage at the play's conclusion among Portia, Bassanio, and Antonio represents the relationship Elizabeth Tudor formed between her merchant class and her aristocracy. Shylock serves as a representation of a generic or perhaps Catholic threat to England during the early modern era. Moreover, by examining Portia's language in the trial scene, the play invites audiences to read her as a representative of the learned Renaissance woman, placing special emphasis on the dialectical and rhetorical elements of the language trivium in classical studies. Finally, through a close reading of the mercantile language in the text, Portia can be interpreted as the merchant of the play's title.

<p>The Biblical drama that was popular in England from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries is a fruitful site for exploring the dissemination of political discourse. Unlike Fürstenspiegeln (mirrors for princes literature) or the tradition of royal civic triumphs, Biblical drama, whether presented as ambitious "history of the world" civic cycles or as individual plays put on by traveling companies or parish actors, did not attempt to define or proscribe ideals of kingly behavior. On the contrary, the superstars of the early English stage were tyrants, such as Herod, Pharoah, Pilate, and Lucifer. These figures were dressed in the most lavish costumes, assigned the longest and most elaborate speeches, and often supplied the actors who brought them to life with a substantial wage. This dissertation argues that these tyrants helped to ensure the enduring popularity of Biblical drama well into the Tudor period; their immoderation invited authors, actors, and audiences to imagine how the role of a king ought to be played, and to participate in a discourse of virtue and self-governance that was applicable to monarchs and commoners alike. </p><p>This work builds upon a growing scholarly awareness of what Theresa Coletti and Gail McMurray Gibson have called "the Tudor origins of medieval drama": namely, that our modern knowledge of "medieval" plays reflects and relies upon the sixteenth-century context in which they were preserved in manuscripts and continued to flourish in performance. The popularity of the tyrant-figures in these plays throughout the Tudor period - particularly in parts of the country that were reluctant to adapt to the ever-changing economic, judicial, and religious policies of the regime - suggests an enduring frustration with royal power that claimed to rule in the name of "the common good" yet never hesitated to achieve national obedience at the expense of economic, judicial, and religious continuity. Through an examination of surviving play-texts from the Chester Mystery Cycle and Digby MS 133 as well as documentation of performances in Cheshire and East Anglia, this dissertation chronicles Biblical drama's ability to serve as an important site of popular resistance to the Tudor dynasty, both before and after Protestantism became a matter of state policy.</p><p>Chapter One considers the Crown's surprisingly active involvement in the civic government of Chester between 1495 and 1521 in counterpoint with the early sixteenth century restructuring of the city's mystery cycle, and argues that the cycle's new opening pageant, The Fall of Lucifer, embodies Chester's fears about losing its traditional civic identity. Chapter Two examines Biblical drama's surprising ability to encourage resistance to tyranny through a reading of The Killing of the Children, which highlights the fleeting and unprofitable nature of earthly power in such a way as to resonate with audiences in the wake of Henry VIII's initial religious reforms of 1536. Chapter Three explores the capacious Mary Magdalen play, which addresses issues of succession, of national religious identity, and of female rule in ways that seem prescient of the controversial crowning of Henry VIII's eldest daughter in 1553. Chapter Four discusses the aftermath of the final performance of the Chester cycle in 1575: the city's mayor was accused of being no less of a tyrant than Herod himself for encouraging performance of a cycle seen by the Crown as "popish idolatry." The project concludes with a Shakespearean envoi: a consideration of Richard III that demonstrates that questions of tyranny and rightful governance remained as important at the end of the Tudor period as they were at the accession of Elizabeth's grandfather in 1485.</p> / Dissertation