Computational Biology Commons^™

Characterizing Endogenous Dicer Products To Unravel Novel Rnai Biogenesis Pathways, Jacob Oche Peter

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

RNA interference (RNAi) is a pervasive gene regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes based on the action of multiple classes of small RNA (sRNA). Exploiting RNAi pathways in non-model systems have great potential for creating potent RNAi technologies. Here, we accessed RNAi-mediated control of gene expression in the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (T. urticae) using engineered dsRNA designed to modulate the host RNAi pathway and increase RNAi efficacy. Analysis of Dicer (Dcr) generated fragments revealed how exogenous RNAs access the host RNAi pathway in this animal, opening avenues for designing RNAi technology for their control. Further, some organisms …

Unveiling Global Roles Of G-Quadruplexes And G4-22 In Human Genetics, Ruth Barros De Paula

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

G-quadruplexes are non-B DNA structures formed by four or more runs of repeated guanines that confer unique features to living organism’s genomes. These sequences are enriched in regulatory regions, such as promoters and 5’ UTRs, and have distinct regulatory roles in both health and disease states. Even though previous studies showed the impact of G4 in gene expression, none of them summarized the location-specific effect of G4. Also, there is no broad understanding about the most common G4 repeat in the human genome, named here as G4-22, and how it links to the evolution of mammals and their biology. In …

Comparative Genomics Methods And Applications, Emily N. Alden

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Virtually all fields of biology have benefited from the advancements in comparative genomics technologies, specifically in the study of evolution. In this dissertation I develop and use comparative genomic technologies to investigate the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, assembly the first genome of the black lace domestic angelfish and identify germline genetic variants associated with altered breast cancer-specific survival. Our genome tiling array for the novel coronavirus presents a rapid and cost-effective method to sequence the entire viral genome and can be used to track the rapid evolution of viral variants in the population. The domestic angelfish is a member of the …

Annotation And Identification Of Several Glycerolipid Metabolic Related Ortholog Genes; Mrub_0437, Mrub_1813 And Mrub_2759 In The Organism Meithermus Ruber And Their Predicted Respective Orthologs B3926, B4042 And Bo514 Found In E.Coli., Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader, Dr. Lori R. Scott

Meiothermus ruber Genome Analysis Project

We predict Mrub_0437 encodes the enzyme glycerol kinase (DNA coordinates [417621..419183), which is an intermediary step of the glycerolipid metabolic pathway (KEGG map00561), It catalyzes the conversion of glycerol to sn-Glycerol-3-phosphate. The E. coli K12 MG1655 ortholog is predicted to be b3926.

We predict Mrub_1813 encodes the enzyme diacylglycerol kinase (DNA coordinates [1864659..1865063), which is an intermediary step of the glycerolipid metabolic pathway (KEGG map00561), It catalyzes the conversion of 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol to 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphate. The E. coli K12 MG1655 ortholog is predicted to be b4042.

We predict Mrub_2759 encodes the enzyme glycerol kinase (DNA coordinates [2799712..2800665), which is an intermediary …

Punctuated Evolution Within A Eurythermic Genus (Mesenchytraeus) Of Segmented Worms: Genetic Modification Of The Glacier Ice Worm F1f0 Atp Synthase, Shirley A. Lang

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Segmented worms (Annelida) are among the most successful animal inhabitants of extreme environments worldwide. An unusual group of Mesenchytraeus worms endemic to the Pacific Northwest of North America occupy geographically proximal ecozones ranging from low elevation temperate rainforests to high altitude glaciers. Along this altitudinal transect, Mesenchytraeus representatives from disparate habitat types were collected and subjected to deep mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenetic analyses. Evidence presented here employing modern bioinformatic analyses (i.e., maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference, multi-species coalescent) supports a Mesenchytraeus “explosion” in the upper Miocene (5-10 million years ago) that gave rise to ice, snow and terrestrial worms, derived from …