Despite the importance of the subject to the discipline of Middle English studies, little research has been published on the history of the editing of Middle English texts. This thesis supplies a small, but essential portion of that history by examining the editorial practices that were used to produce the editions of Middle English texts published by the Early English Text Society in the nineteenth century. Then the dominant publisher in its field, EETS identified and printed almost the entire Middle English canon during a crucial time in the development of English studies the period in which it moved from being an almost exclusively amateur pursuit to one accepted and practiced by professional academics in the universities. To provide a context for my examination of EETS editions, I first investigate the financial and material conditions under which EETS' publications were produced and examine the ideas which guided EETS' editorial policy in the light of contemporary theories about the editing of Middle English texts. I then examine nine editions in detail, analysing the various methods by which the text is established and formal manuscript detail is represented in print. The analysis contained in these nine studies is based on the evidence I compiled by comparing sample extracts of the printed text and associated paratext of each edition with the manuscript evidence originally available to the editor. I then use the information gathered about these individual editions as part of an assessment of the editorial practices that define the nature of EETS' nineteenth-century editorial output as a whole. I find that a conservative editorial approach that valorises the evidence of individual manuscripts characterises the majority of EETS' publications, but that the Society also produced a great variety of editions that diverge from this approach, including several of the earliest applications of recension to Middle English texts published in England.

Acyl-CoA binding protein (ACBP) ubiquitously found in eukaryotic organisms fulfills important functions of solubilisation, protection and transport of acyl-CoA esters, a major intermediate of lipid metabolism. This thesis presents an investigation of the physiological role of the small cytosolic ACBP in seed oil biosynthesis. The second important objective of this study was to evaluate the use of ACBP as a molecular tool for modification of seed oil content and/or fatty acid (FA) composition. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus was performed with a number of genetic constructs designed for seed-specific expression of the B. napus cDNA encoding a small cytosolic ACBP. Protein level and subcellular localization of BnACBP in A. thaliana transgenic seeds depended on the structure of the genetic constructs mainly, the presence of additional in-frame sequences, encoding a protein fusion partners or signal peptides. Seed oil from A. thaliana T2 and T3 seeds had increased polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) percentage (18:2cis delta9,12 and, in some lines, 18:3cis delta9,12,15) at the expense of very-long-chain monounsaturated (20:1cis delta11) and saturated (18:0) fatty acids. An increase in PUFA levels in seed oil was due to enhanced acyl channeling from the acyl-CoA pool to phosphatidylcholine, the substrate for extraplastidial FA desaturation. The activity of A. thaliana acyl-CoA: lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase (AthLPCAT), an enzyme involved in acyl exchange between acyl-CoA and PC, was significantly increased in the presence of the recombinant B. napus ACBP (rBnACBP) in the reaction mixture. rBnACBP also modulated enzymatic activities of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase in vitro. Finally, the effect of constitutive or seed-specific gene silencing of ACBP on seed oil formation was examined. A. thaliana transformation with RNAi constructs resulted in partial suppression of ACBP expression and changes in FA composition of seed oil which included an increase in the percentage of 18:1cis delta9 and 18:2cis delta9,12 and, decrease of 18:3cis delta9,12,15. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that the small cytosolic ACBP plays an important role in acyl exchange between acyl-CoA and PC metabolic pools. Overexpression of ACBP during seed development can be useful in genetic engineering strategies aimed at modifying the FA composition of seed oils. / Plant Science

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-169).

Thesis (MSc (Computer science))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2008 Nov 30

Thesis (Ph.D. in Human Medical Genetics) -- University of Colorado, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-127). Free to UCDHSC affiliates. Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations;

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-169).

No description available.

Master of Science / Genetics Interdepartmental Program / Eduard D. Akhunov / The CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing system holds a great promise to accelerate wheat improvement by helping us to understand the molecular basis of agronomic traits and providing means to modify genes controlling these traits. CRISPR/Cas9 is based on a synthetic guide-RNA (gRNA) that can guide Cas9 nuclease to specific targets in the genome and create double strand breaks (DSB). The DSB are repaired through the error-prone non-homologous end joining process causing insertions or deletions that may result in loss-of-function mutations. Here, we have developed an effective wheat genome editing pipeline. We used next-generation sequencing (NGS) data to estimate genome editing efficiency of many gRNAs using the wheat protoplast assay and choose the most efficient gRNAs for plant transformation. We successfully applied this pipeline to five wheat orthologs of the rice yield component genes that have been identified previously. We obtained edited plants for all these genes and validated the effect of the mutations in TaGW7 on wheat traits, which showed trends similar to those in rice. These results suggest that transferring discoveries made in rice to improve wheat is a feasible and effective strategy to accelerate breeding.

Livestock animals are an ancient, vital renewable natural resource. Many livestock species have the ability to convert inedible crops and waste food into food fit for human consumption, in the form of meat, eggs and dairy products. As the global demand for high value animal protein is ever increasing, the livestock market continues to play a major role in worldwide economics. Animal disease has the potential to be a huge burden on the livestock industry, impacting both welfare and production. Major outbreaks of transboundary diseases, such as foot and mouth disease, rinderpest and classical swine disease, have resulted in devastating global economic losses. As a result, scientific research is engaged in lowering this impact by generating effective preventative measures and treatments. One way to reduce livestock disease is to select animals that are genetically resistant, traditionally carried out through selective animal breeding programs; however, this is a time-consuming process and requires that appropriate genetic variation exists within the population. Advances in genome engineering technologies offer us an alternative approach, with the capability to make genetic improvements in livestock within a single generation. It is hypothesised that resilience to a disease, known as African swine fever (ASF), could be genetically engineered into the domestic pig. ASF is a highly contagious disease of domestic pigs and is a re-emerging global threat to the swine industry. It is a lethal haemorrhagic disease caused by a virus, known as the African swine fever virus (ASFV). At present, there is no vaccine or treatment for ASF, and disease control relies on rapid diagnosis, quarantine and the mass slaughter of animals. Unlike the domestic pig, swine indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa, such as the warthog, show no clinical signs of disease following infection with ASFV. A comparative study was carried out to identify host genetic variation that could underlie the difference in response to ASFV, with candidate genes selected based on their potential involvement with the viral protein A238L, involved in immune evasion. Functional polymorphisms where identified in the porcine RELA gene, encoding RelA, a subunit of the NF-κB transcription factor family. This evolutionary conserved protein family plays a vital role in mediating inflammatory and immune responses. The specific RELA polymorphisms identified alter potential phosphorylation sites within the C-terminal transactivation domain of RelA which have been found to modulate NF-κB transcriptional activity in vitro. We set out to investigate whether genome editing tools could be employed to engineer the RELA sequence of domestic pigs. Initial attempts targeted the final exon of RELA, producing animals with a truncated RelA protein; modified animals lack the final 60 amino acids of the C-terminal transactivation domain. The aim of this thesis was to genotype and characterise the effects of this RELA modification at a molecular, cellular, morphological and whole organism level. The ultimate goal of this project was to investigate whether this RELA modification altered the domestic pig’s response to ASFV in vitro and in vivo. Unlike rela-/- mice which have an embryonic lethal phenotype, these RELA-edited pigs were born healthy and were fully viable when housed in a typical farm environment. Phenotypic analysis of lymphoid tissues from the RELA-edited pigs demonstrated no significant anatomical or histological changes compared to unmodified counterparts. Pigs homozygous for the RELA mutation had a significantly lower body weight compared to wild-type pigs. Molecular studies of samples from these pigs have shown that the modified RelA has an altered activity; however, the RELA modified pigs do develop the characteristic disease phenotype when challenged with ASFV. Finally, genome editors have been developed to introduce a specific warthog allele into the domestic pig RELA locus, these editors are currently being taken forward to produce a novel pig line.