Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia.

v. 2 (1863-1864)

Long-Day Up-Regulation of a GAMYB Gene during Lolium temulentum Inflorescence Formation

Long-day exposure of the grass Lolium temulentum may regulate flowering via changes in gibberellin (GA) levels. Therefore, we have examined both GA levels and expression of a MYB transcription factor that is specific to the GA signal transduction pathway in monocots. This MYB gene from L. temulentum shows over 90% nucleotide identity with the barley and rice GAMYB genes, and, like them, gibberellic acid (GA3) up-regulates its expression in the seed. Furthermore, cDNAs of both the barley and L. temulentum GAMYB show the same simple patterns of hybridization with digests of L. temulentum genomic DNA. Compared with vegetative shoot apices of L. temulentum, the in situ mRNA expression of LtGAMYB does not change during the earliest steps of “floral” initiation at the apex. However, by 100 h (the double-ridge stage of flowering) its expression increased substantially and was highest in the terminal and lateral spikelet sites. Thereafter, expression declined overall but then increased within stamen primordia. Prior to increased LtGAMYB expression, long-day exposure sufficient to induce flowering led to increased (5- to 20-fold) levels of GA1 and GA4 in the leaf. Thus, increases first in GA level in the leaf followed by increased expression of LtGAMYB in the apex suggest important signaling and/or response roles in flowering.

Conceptual Decolonization of Space: Worldview and Language in Anishinaabe Akiing

This dissertation examines the role of worldview and language in the cultural framework of American Indian people. In it I develop a theory of worldview which can be defined as an interrelated set of logics that orients a culture to space (land), time, the rest of life, and provides a prescription for understanding that life. Considering the strong links between language and worldview, it is methodologically necessary to focus on a particular language and culture to decolonize concepts of and relationships to land. In particular, this dissertation focuses on an Anishinaabe worldview as consisting of four components, which are; (1) an intimate relationship to a localized space; (2) a cyclical understanding of time; (3) living in a web of relatedness with all life, and (4) understanding the world around us in terms of balance. The methodological approach draws from Anishinaabemowin, the traditional Anishinaabe language, as a starting place for negotiating a linguistic-conceptual analysis of these logics to decolonize the understandings of land, time, relatedness and balance. This dissertation helps to demonstrate that the religious language as codified in the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution as religious freedom is unable to carry the meaning of the fundamental relationships to land that are embedded in Anishinaabemowin and culture. I compare the above Anishinaabe worldview to that of the eurowestern culture in America, which is; (1) the domination of space; (2) a linear progression of time; (3) a hierarchical organization of life; and (4) understanding the world as a Manichean battle of good versus evil. This dissertation seeks to decolonize American Indian translational methodologies and undermine the assumptions of eurowestern cultural universality.