In attempt to overcome nitrogen limitation farmers fertilize their soils often polluting the environment. Plants known as Legumes create a symbiotic relationship with bacteria known as rhizobia that can give the plant nitrogen reducing the need for fertilizer. Not all rhizobia provide the same amount of nitrogen to the plant effectively cheating the symbiosis. In alfalfa bacteria differentiate into reproductive and nonreproductive bacteroids. One method the bacteria could be cheating the symbiosis is through sharing chemicals called rhizopines between reproductive and non-reproductive bacteroids instead of fixing nitrogen for the plant. Within this relationship we seek to ask, what are the fitness costs and benefits of rhizopine synthesis to both the rhizobia and alfalfa? We attempt to answer this by testing these hypotheses: that reproductive rhizobia use rhizopines created by their non-reproductive sisters, that Making rhizopines diverts enough resources from nitrogen fixation to negatively affect the plant and that this effect is enough to trigger sanctions. To test these hypotheses, we are conducting two concurrent 8-week experiments: one with single inoculated plants to measure the cost to the host plant of rhizopine synthesis, and the other with dual inoculated plants to measure effects of rhizopine synthesis and use on rhizobial fitness. Data has not been collected yet. We expect to collect data by Late July

Understanding the diets of broilers is essential to farmers and nutritionists in order to satisfy the needs of consumers. In 2018, 9 million broilers were produced for consumption. Protein and amino acids are the two most important components of a broiler's diet and are necessary to produce the best carcass quality. Here, we uncover if phase feeding or start-to-finish feeding will produce the highest weight gain in broilers in order to produce them at an efficient pace. We used a control group of 18 Ross 708’s to discover the weight gain of a start-to-finish feeding diet, who were given a standard diet of 20% crude protein throughout the span of 6 weeks. Alongside them, we used a test group of 18 Ross 708’s to discover the weight gain of a phase feeding diet, who were given feed starting at 18% crude protein, 20% crude protein, and then finally, 22% crude protein; all split up into two-week increments. The chicks’ initial and final weights were recorded in addition to six chicks being weighed weekly, per group at random. This data showed the difference in weight gain between the two groups and will result in which group provides the most efficient diet for producing broiler chickens. Key Words: Broiler, Diet, Crude Protein, Phase-feeding

Manganese is an essential component of the human diet. The metal serves as a cofactor in key cellular enzymes such as manganese superoxide dismutase. Yet, overexposure to manganese can result in Manganism, a condition that shares features with Parkinson’s Disease such as tremors, difficulty walking, cognitive dysfunction and other neurological findings. At the cellular level, excess manganese causes mitochondrial damage, leading to cell death. Here, we work with the SH-SY5Y cell line derived from human neuroblastoma cells in order to establish a manganese dose response. A set of experiments were conducted with varying levels of manganese, seeking to develop a robust dose-response relationship for manganese in SH-SY5Y cells. Following exposure to various concentrations of manganese for 24 or 48 hours, cells were stained with Trypan Blue and counted to determine live and dead cells. A dose-dependent decrease in cell viability with the increase in manganese concentration was observed. This data is critical in considering potential rescue methods for future experimentation. The compound P7C3-A20, an experimental compound being tested in animal models of Alzheimers and as a therapeutic for stroke and traumatic brain injury is hypothesized to rescue cells from manganese toxicity in a dose-dependent manner. The application of this compound to manganese toxicity will be tested in future experiments.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an emerging nosocomial pathogen that is resistant to many antibiotics (Brooke, 2012). We use Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to study the host response to pathogenic S. maltophilia. Since members of the Stenotrophomonas genus are components of the C. elegans natural habitat and native microbiome (Dirksen et al., 2016; Samuel et al., 2016), studying this interaction has medical and ecological relevance. S. maltophilia strains are variably pathogenic to C. elegans (White et al., 2016, 2018; Radeke and Herman, 2020). The DAF-2/16 insulin-like signaling pathway is a major component of the C. elegans innate immune response. Interestingly, unlike all other bacterial pathogens, S. maltophilia evades host defense responses induced by this pathway (White et al., 2016). A recent study showed age-dependence of DAF-2/16 defense functions toward the canonical pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14. Here, we investigate the age-dependent role of DAF-16-mediated immunity during S. maltophilia infection. We tested three S. maltophilia isolates, one non-pathogenic and two pathogenic, as well as PA14. Interestingly, we do not observe an age-dependent effect of DAF-2/16 pathway activity on PA14. However, our preliminary evidence suggests there may be age-dependence of some DAF-2/16 defense functions toward pathogenic S. maltophilia strains. These experiments contribute to the characterization of the C. elegans innate immune system in general, as well as to our understanding of the adult host response to pathogenic S. maltophilia.