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Life Sciences

Honors Theses

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS)

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Investigating Large Repeats In The Arabidopsis Thaliana Mitochondrial Genome Using Mitotalens, Megan Gusso May 2024

Investigating Large Repeats In The Arabidopsis Thaliana Mitochondrial Genome Using Mitotalens, Megan Gusso

Honors Theses

This lab project explores the complexity of the mitochondrial genome by investigating large genomic repeats and their effect on flowering plants’ reproduction and viability. Mitochondria are the site of cellular respiration to create energy and contain their own DNA. This is counterintuitive because the byproducts of cellular respiration impose a threat of mutation for the stored DNA. The mitochondrial genome differs in size between animals and plants. Plant mitochondrial DNA is larger due to the presence of large, noncoding repeated sequences, and a large amount of DNA of unknown function. These sequences undergo high levels of recombination and rearrangement. The …


Utilizing Mitotalens To Investigate Large Repeats In The Arabidopsis Thaliana Mitochondrial Genome, Cambelle Johnson Aug 2023

Utilizing Mitotalens To Investigate Large Repeats In The Arabidopsis Thaliana Mitochondrial Genome, Cambelle Johnson

Honors Theses

Mitochondria are a silly place to store the genetic code. In spite of the ever-present threat of oxidative DNA damage, plant mitochondrial genomes are expansive in size and include noncoding repeat sequences, a small number of which are greater than 1kilobase (kb), known hereafter as “large repeats” (LR). This theme of one or more large repeat pairs is shared across most flowering plants, lending to the belief that they somehow contribute to the plant’s fitness. These repeats exhibit high rates of rearrangement and recombination. Studying repeats in vivo could have large scale implications in hybrid crop production enhancement including eliminating …