Ongoing projects on crawfish involve the physiology and behavior of maternal care of hatchlings, and responses of blind cave crawfish and surface crawfish to reduced availability of oxygen. Students will be trained in the specific techniques required for these projects but completion of Biology 115 is required. Self-motivated students that want to work on comparative vertebrate physiology can also find opportunities. Wetlands Ecology - We are currently comparing the characteristics of a created wetland with a natural wetland. Student projects include fieldwork and involve collecting and identifying animal, plant and soil samples.
AChE terminates the action of acetylcholine at cholinergic synapses.
The function of BuChE is unknown, but it is proposed to function as a detoxification mechanism and to play, along with AChE, a role during neuromuscular development. In contrast, the cephalochordate Branchiostoma floridae possesses two ChE s, ChE1 and ChE2, which appear to be the result of a separate gene duplication. ChE2 has intermediate enzymological and sequence characteristics resembling those of invertebrate ChE, while ChE1 has enzymological characteristics resembling AChE, but with novel sequence characteristics. We are currently using computer modeling in conjunction with site-directed mutagenesis and in vitro expression of amphioxus ChE cDNAs to study the molecular basis of substrate and inhibitor specificity in the two enzymes, with particular attention to the novel ChE1. I study the magnetic fields of the planets, how they trap and interact with the extremely rarified gasses in outer space.