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Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics

Screen For Beneficial Genetic And Chemical Modifiers In Drosophila Models Of Als And Traumatic Brain Injury, Will Bonderer May 2024

Screen For Beneficial Genetic And Chemical Modifiers In Drosophila Models Of Als And Traumatic Brain Injury, Will Bonderer

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The underlying molecular processes of aberrant protein expression in neurodegeneration are intricate and multifaceted, with ribosome-associated quality control (RQC) emerging as a promising avenue of exploration. Ribosome-associated quality control is integral to cellular function. Its evolutionarily conserved pathway encompasses a network of mechanisms designed to ensure the fidelity of protein synthesis, folding, and degradation within the cells of all eukaryotes. The ribosome, central to protein synthesis, plays a pivotal role in this quality control network, and its malfunction can lead to the accumulation of misfolded or aberrant proteins. In the context of neurodegenerative disorders, this dysfunction can have dire consequences. …

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Regulation Of The Wnt/Wingless Receptor Lrp6/Arrow By The Deubiquitylating Complex Usp46, Zachary T. Spencer Jun 2023

Regulation Of The Wnt/Wingless Receptor Lrp6/Arrow By The Deubiquitylating Complex Usp46, Zachary T. Spencer

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

The evolutionarily conserved Wnt/Wingless signal transduction pathway is critical for the proper development of all animals and implicated in numerous diseases in adulthood. Upon binding of the Wnt/Wingless ligand, a cascade of events culminates in inactivation of the destruction complex, a negative regulator of the pathway, and the subsequent formation of singalosomes which mediate pathway activation. A critical component of signalosome formation is the Wnt/Wingless receptor LRP6/Arrow. Upon canonical pathway activation, LRP6/Arrow undergoes activation via phosphorylation by several kinases and complexes with another Wnt/Wingless receptor Frizzled, along with several cytoplasmic components. While many studies have investigated the regulatory mechanisms of …

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Understanding The Relationship Between B Chromosomes And Nondisjunction In Drosophila Melanogaster, Ayushi Patel May 2023

Understanding The Relationship Between B Chromosomes And Nondisjunction In Drosophila Melanogaster, Ayushi Patel

Honors Scholar Theses

B chromosomes are supernumerary, heterochromatic genetic elements that are found in hundreds of different plant and animal species. Recently, B chromosomes were discovered in a stock of Drosophila melanogaster and are carried at a high copy number of 10-12 B chromosomes per cell. B chromosomes are not known to carry any active genes, but when placed in a wild-type genetic background, they cause a significant increase in the frequency of chromosome 4 missegregation during meiosis. This project aimed to understand the relationship between a female’s B chromosome copy number and how often she passes on too many (or too few) …

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Validating A New In Vivo Model To Study Als, Izabela J. Cimachowska May 2023

Validating A New In Vivo Model To Study Als, Izabela J. Cimachowska

Student Theses and Dissertations

Buildup of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are well known characteristics of both sporadic and hereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While both forms of the disease seem to arise from common cellular dysfunction, the genetic disease is studied to a much greater extent. Engineering novel animal models of the sporadic form of the disease is crucial for development of druggable targets to treat ALS and understand the underlying mechanisms. Interestingly, accumulation of oxidative stress by exacerbated emission of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from presynaptic mitochondria is a hallmark of both hereditary and sporadic ALS. Previous work by our laboratory showed …

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The Role Of Cort And Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (Apc/C) In Drosophila Sex Determination And Meiosis, Abuzar Sikander Malik Jan 2023

The Role Of Cort And Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (Apc/C) In Drosophila Sex Determination And Meiosis, Abuzar Sikander Malik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The E3 ubiquitin ligase, APC/C, is essential for the completion cell cycle; along with its co-activators it allows mitotic exit and maintenance of G1. APC/C marks various substrates with ubiquitin chains; marked substrates are subsequently destroyed via the 26S proteasome pathway. Cort is a Drosophila female meiosis specific activator of APC/C. Cort works within meiosis in conjunction with Fzy to mediate Securin and cyclin destruction. A C-terminal IR-tail motif and a N-terminal C-box support Cort-APC/C interaction, whereas short motifs like D-box and KEN-box on the target protein impart substrate recognition to Cort. Cort expression is tightly controlled in the female …

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Genetic And Environmental Contributions To Wolbachia-Induced Cytoplasmic Incompatibility, Kelley Van Vaerenberghe Jan 2023

Genetic And Environmental Contributions To Wolbachia-Induced Cytoplasmic Incompatibility, Kelley Van Vaerenberghe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Maternally-transmitted Wolbachia infect the cells of most insect species, but their frequencies in host populations vary. While much of their success can be attributed to their ability to manipulate host reproduction, these manipulations are context-dependent, varying due to several biotic and abiotic factors. Wolbachia’s most common manipulation, cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), is a conditional sterility phenotype where male-female host compatibility depends on their infection status. Specifically, CI occurs when infected males produce modified sperm that cause increased embryonic lethality unless the female carries a similar infection. Rescuing their eggs from CI increases the relative fitness of infected females, promoting Wolbachia spread …

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Genetic Determinants Of Primary Nociceptor Sensitivity In Drosophila Melanogaster, Christine Hale Aug 2022

Genetic Determinants Of Primary Nociceptor Sensitivity In Drosophila Melanogaster, Christine Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abnormal pain affects ~50 million adults nationwide. With many of the current treatment options for chronic pain, such as opioid analgesics, carrying side effects such as the threat for addiction, research into safer and more effective options for chronic pain relief is crucial. Abnormal alterations in nociceptive sensitivity, which is the sensitivity of peripheral sensory neurons that detect noxious stimuli, can underlie, and perpetuate chronic pain. However, much is still unknown about the mechanism of how these abnormal alterations in sensitivity occur. To help elucidate genetic components controlling nociceptive sensitivity, the Drosophila melanogaster larval nociception model has been used …

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Cas9/Nickase-Induced Allelic Conversion By Homologous Chromosome-Templated Repair In, Sitara Roy, Sara Sanz Juste, Marketta Sneider, Ankush Auradkar, Carissa Klanseck, Zhiqian Li, Alison Henrique Ferreira Julio, Victor Lopez Del Amo, Ethan Bier, Annabel Guichard Jul 2022

Cas9/Nickase-Induced Allelic Conversion By Homologous Chromosome-Templated Repair In, Sitara Roy, Sara Sanz Juste, Marketta Sneider, Ankush Auradkar, Carissa Klanseck, Zhiqian Li, Alison Henrique Ferreira Julio, Victor Lopez Del Amo, Ethan Bier, Annabel Guichard

Journal Articles

Repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in somatic cells is primarily accomplished by error-prone nonhomologous end joining and less frequently by precise homology-directed repair preferentially using the sister chromatid as a template. Here, a

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A Nickase Cas9 Gene-Drive System Promotes Super-Mendelian Inheritance In Drosophila, Víctor López Del Amo, Sara Sanz Juste, Valentino M Gantz May 2022

A Nickase Cas9 Gene-Drive System Promotes Super-Mendelian Inheritance In Drosophila, Víctor López Del Amo, Sara Sanz Juste, Valentino M Gantz

Journal Articles

CRISPR-based gene-drives have been proposed for managing insect populations, including disease-transmitting mosquitoes, due to their ability to bias their inheritance toward super-Mendelian rates (>50%). Current technologies use a Cas9 that introduces DNA double-strand breaks into the opposing wild-type allele to replace it with a copy of the gene-drive allele via DNA homology-directed repair. However, the use of different Cas9 versions is unexplored, and alternative approaches could increase the available toolkit for gene-drive designs. Here, we report a gene-drive that relies on Cas9 nickases that generate staggered paired nicks in DNA to propagate the engineered gene-drive cassette. We show that …

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Developing A Novel Place Preference Assay To Compare Drosophila Species Over Time, Martha M. Brinson May 2022

Developing A Novel Place Preference Assay To Compare Drosophila Species Over Time, Martha M. Brinson

Honors Theses

Across phylogeny, integration of external factors, memory, and internal states of the organism dictate organismal behavior and mechanisms. The underlying genetic components can affect these behaviors such as in genomic changes arising from speciation. In this thesis, a new place preference assay was evaluated in the analysis and investigation of two species of Drosophila flies (D. melanogaster and D. simulans) to measure similarities and differences and their attraction to two different food substrates. Sleep and circadian measurements were also recorded during experimentation. The Drosophila Activity Monitor 5M (DAM5M) System and Sleep Circadian Analysis MATLAB Program (SCAMP) analysis were …

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Mutations In The N-Terminus Of The Mod(Mdg4) Btb Domain Reveal An Unexpected Role Of Mod(Mdg4) In Chromosome Segregation In Female Meiosis, Gwyneth D E Walker, Bruce D. Mckee May 2022

Mutations In The N-Terminus Of The Mod(Mdg4) Btb Domain Reveal An Unexpected Role Of Mod(Mdg4) In Chromosome Segregation In Female Meiosis, Gwyneth D E Walker, Bruce D. Mckee

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

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Characterizing The Expression Pattern And Function Of Tartan During Drosophila Development, Alaina Baggett May 2022

Characterizing The Expression Pattern And Function Of Tartan During Drosophila Development, Alaina Baggett

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The development of complex structures and organs by multicellular organisms relies on the ability of epithelial cells to self-organize. Epithelia are sheets of connected cells, and compartment boundaries are formed between certain epithelial cells to create distinct tissue compartments. Compartment boundaries are specialized cell-cell interfaces that are enriched for the cytoskeletal proteins actin and myosin, leading to straight cell edges under relatively high tension that act as fences keep cells from moving between compartments. In the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), compartment boundaries in the early embryo are established in response to the non-uniform striped expression of the cell-surface …

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Unbiased Automated Quantitation Of Ros Signals In Live Retinal Neurons Of Drosophila Using Fiji/Imagej, Prajakta Deshpande, Neha Gogia, Anuradha Venkatakrishnan Chimata, Amit Singh Aug 2021

Unbiased Automated Quantitation Of Ros Signals In Live Retinal Neurons Of Drosophila Using Fiji/Imagej, Prajakta Deshpande, Neha Gogia, Anuradha Venkatakrishnan Chimata, Amit Singh

Biology Faculty Publications

Numerous imaging modules are utilized to study changes that occur during cellular processes. Besides qualitative (immunohistochemical) or semiquantitative (Western blot) approaches, direct quantitation method(s) for detecting and analyzing signal intensities for disease(s) biomarkers are lacking. Thus, there is a need to develop method(s) to quantitate specific signals and eliminate noise during live tissue imaging. An increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide (O2•-) radicals results in oxidative damage of biomolecules, which leads to oxidative stress. This can be detected by dihydroethidium staining in live tissue(s), which does not rely on fixation and helps prevent stress on tissues. However, …

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Highly Contiguous Assemblies Of 101 Drosophilid Genomes, Bernard Y. Kim, Jeremy R. Wang, Danny E. Miller, Olga Barmina, Emily Delaney, Ammon Thompson, Aaron A. Comeault, David Peede, Emmanuel R. R. D'Agostino, Julianne Pelaez, Jessica M. Aguilar, Diler Haji, Teruyuki Matsunaga, Ellie E. Armstrong, Molly Zych, Yoshitaka Ogawa, Marina Stamenković-Radak, Mihailo Jelić, Marija Savić Veselinović, Marija Tanasković, Jeremy S. Davis Jul 2021

Highly Contiguous Assemblies Of 101 Drosophilid Genomes, Bernard Y. Kim, Jeremy R. Wang, Danny E. Miller, Olga Barmina, Emily Delaney, Ammon Thompson, Aaron A. Comeault, David Peede, Emmanuel R. R. D'Agostino, Julianne Pelaez, Jessica M. Aguilar, Diler Haji, Teruyuki Matsunaga, Ellie E. Armstrong, Molly Zych, Yoshitaka Ogawa, Marina Stamenković-Radak, Mihailo Jelić, Marija Savić Veselinović, Marija Tanasković, Jeremy S. Davis

Biology Faculty Publications

Over 100 years of studies in Drosophila melanogaster and related species in the genus Drosophila have facilitated key discoveries in genetics, genomics, and evolution. While high-quality genome assemblies exist for several species in this group, they only encompass a small fraction of the genus. Recent advances in long-read sequencing allow high-quality genome assemblies for tens or even hundreds of species to be efficiently generated. Here, we utilize Oxford Nanopore sequencing to build an open community resource of genome assemblies for 101 lines of 93 drosophilid species encompassing 14 species groups and 35 sub-groups. The genomes are highly contiguous and complete, …

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Highly Contiguous Assemblies Of 101 Drosophilid Genomes, Bernard Y. Kim, Jeremy R. Wang, Danny E. Miller, Olga Barmina, Emily Delaney, Ammon Thompson, Aaron A. Comeault, David Peede, Emmanuel R.R. D’Agostino, Julianne Pelaez, Jessica M. Aguilar, Diler Haji, Teruyuki Matsunaga, Ellie E. Armstrong, Molly Zych, Yoshitaka Ogawa, Marina Stamenković-Radak, Mihailo Jelić, Marija Savić Veselinović, Marija Tanasković, Pavle Erić, Jian Jun Gao, Takehiro K. Katoh, Masanori J. Toda, Hideaki Watabe, Masayoshi Watada, Jeremy S. Davis, Leonie C. Moyle, Giulia Manoli, Enrico Bertolini, Vladimír Košťál, R. Scott Hawley, Aya Takahashi, Corbin D. Jones, Donald K. Price, Noah Whiteman, Artyom Kopp, Daniel R. Matute, Dmitri A. Petrov Jul 2021

Highly Contiguous Assemblies Of 101 Drosophilid Genomes, Bernard Y. Kim, Jeremy R. Wang, Danny E. Miller, Olga Barmina, Emily Delaney, Ammon Thompson, Aaron A. Comeault, David Peede, Emmanuel R.R. D’Agostino, Julianne Pelaez, Jessica M. Aguilar, Diler Haji, Teruyuki Matsunaga, Ellie E. Armstrong, Molly Zych, Yoshitaka Ogawa, Marina Stamenković-Radak, Mihailo Jelić, Marija Savić Veselinović, Marija Tanasković, Pavle Erić, Jian Jun Gao, Takehiro K. Katoh, Masanori J. Toda, Hideaki Watabe, Masayoshi Watada, Jeremy S. Davis, Leonie C. Moyle, Giulia Manoli, Enrico Bertolini, Vladimír Košťál, R. Scott Hawley, Aya Takahashi, Corbin D. Jones, Donald K. Price, Noah Whiteman, Artyom Kopp, Daniel R. Matute, Dmitri A. Petrov

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Over 100 years of studies in Drosophila melanogaster and related species in the genus Drosophila have facilitated key discoveries in genetics, genomics, and evolution. While high-quality genome assemblies exist for several species in this group, they only encompass a small fraction of the genus. Recent advances in long-read sequencing allow high-quality genome assemblies for tens or even hundreds of species to be efficiently generated. Here, we utilize Oxford Nanopore sequencing to build an open community resource of genome assemblies for 101 lines of 93 drosophilid species encompassing 14 species groups and 35 sub-groups. The genomes are highly contiguous and complete, …

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A Screen For Sleep And Starvation Resistance Identifies A Wake-Promoting Role For The Auxiliary Channel Unc79, Kazuma Murakami, Justin Palermo, Bethany A. Stanhope, Allen G. Gibbs, Alex C. Keene Jun 2021

A Screen For Sleep And Starvation Resistance Identifies A Wake-Promoting Role For The Auxiliary Channel Unc79, Kazuma Murakami, Justin Palermo, Bethany A. Stanhope, Allen G. Gibbs, Alex C. Keene

Life Sciences Faculty Research

The regulation of sleep and metabolism are highly interconnected, and dysregulation of sleep is linked to metabolic diseases that include obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Furthermore, both acute and long-term changes in diet potently impact sleep duration and quality. To identify novel factors that modulate interactions between sleep and metabolic state, we performed a genetic screen for their roles in regulating sleep duration, starvation resistance, and starvation-dependent modulation of sleep. This screen identified a number of genes with potential roles in regulating sleep, metabolism, or both processes. One such gene encodes the auxiliary ion channel UNC79, which was implicated in …

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Hybrid Viability: An Analysis Of Drosophila Hybrid Competition And Mating Success Amongst Its Parental Species, Konrad Drzymalski Jun 2021

Hybrid Viability: An Analysis Of Drosophila Hybrid Competition And Mating Success Amongst Its Parental Species, Konrad Drzymalski

Honors Theses

The topic of hybrid offspring viability and mating preference between the two parental species of Drosophila athabasca (West Northern) and Drosophila mahican (Eastern A) is a still largely unexplored avenue of study. While the two aforementioned parental Drosophila species exist in distinct geographical regions across North America, they occupy a sympatric zone in the North East. Due to the absence of hybrid offspring in nature and the high levels of sexual isolation between these two parental species, it is necessary to establish if, and how hybrid offspring suffer in nature. By utilizing no choice mating systems involving audio playback of …

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A Forward Genetic Screen To Identify Human Genes Of Interest And Their Roles In Ovarian Cancer, Susan A. Ihejirika May 2021

A Forward Genetic Screen To Identify Human Genes Of Interest And Their Roles In Ovarian Cancer, Susan A. Ihejirika

Honors College Theses

Drosophila melanogaster, fruit flies, are very important for modeling and studying human diseases. This study identifies human genes of interest and their contributions to epithelial ovarian carcinogenesis and progression as well as the roles orthologs of these genes play in Drosophila melanogaster. This is important because ovarian cancer is the most common cause of death among the gynecological cancers. This identification of genes was carried out using a forward genetic screen employing the widely used GMR-Gal4 driver/UAS-transgene system. The GMR-Gal4 driver is commonly utilized to express transgenes in the developing eye of the fruit fly. Transgenes that are expressed using …

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Molecular And Genetic Studies Of Robo2 Transcriptional Regulation In The Central Nervous System Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Muna Abdal Rahim Abdal Rhida May 2021

Molecular And Genetic Studies Of Robo2 Transcriptional Regulation In The Central Nervous System Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Muna Abdal Rahim Abdal Rhida

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drosophila Robo2 axon guidance receptor is a member of the evolutionarily conserved Roundabout (Robo) protein family that is involved in directing axons that cross the midline to the other side of the animal body. Robo2 roles mainly depend on two factors: The functional domains of the Robo2 protein, which is extensively studied, and the dynamic transcription of robo2 in various subsets of cells throughout embryogenesis which is not fully understood. Thus, knowing robo2 enhancers that transcriptionally regulate robo2 during embryogenesis is significant. To investigate robo2 potential enhancers, we screened 17 transgenic lines of Drosophila that were generated by Janelia Research …

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Breaking The Chain – The Role Of Intersexual Genetic Correlations In Sexual Dimorphism And The Consequences And Limits Of Their Evolution, Matthew Ma Maoloni, Tara Newman, Tristan Af Long Dr. Jan 2021

Breaking The Chain – The Role Of Intersexual Genetic Correlations In Sexual Dimorphism And The Consequences And Limits Of Their Evolution, Matthew Ma Maoloni, Tara Newman, Tristan Af Long Dr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In many sexually reproducing species, males and females often differ in countless ways beyond their primary sexual organs. This phenomenon is known as sexual dimorphism, and it is generally considered to be an adaptive response to differences in the selection pressures experienced by males and females. Despite the advantages associated with sexual dimorphism, it does not evolve completely unhindered – there are plenty of biological effects that can limit the extent and rate of divergence between the sexes. This research project focusses on the potential role of the intersexual genetic correlation (rmf­) – which describes the …

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The Effect Of Nutrition On Longevity And Fertility In Diverse Drosophila: A Tor-Mediated Process, Tessa E. Steenwinkel Jan 2021

The Effect Of Nutrition On Longevity And Fertility In Diverse Drosophila: A Tor-Mediated Process, Tessa E. Steenwinkel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Nutrition and growth are strongly linked, but not much is known about how nutrition leads to growth. To understand the connection between nutrition through diet, growth and/or proliferation, we need to study the phenotypes resulting from the activation and inhibition of central metabolic pathways. Here I use the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (D. mel.) and three non-model Drosophila species with different dietary needs, Drosophila guttifera (D. gut.), Drosophila deflecta (D. def.), and Drosophila tripunctata (D. tri.), to study the effects of dietary amino acid availability in these diverse flies on fecundity and …

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Functional Genetic Approaches To Provide Evidence For The Role Of Toolkit Genes In The Evolution Of Complex Color Patterns In Drosophila Guttifera, Mujeeb Olushola Shittu Jan 2021

Functional Genetic Approaches To Provide Evidence For The Role Of Toolkit Genes In The Evolution Of Complex Color Patterns In Drosophila Guttifera, Mujeeb Olushola Shittu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Toolkit genes are set of genes that orchestrate the development of basic body plan of animals, and they are highly conserved in all animals. The co-option of the toolkit genes into the pigmentation pathway has led to the evolution of novel species. This study focuses on understanding how the complex color patterns in animals develop by using the Drosophila species in the quinaria group as models. We developed an mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) protocol, which allowed us to study gene expression patterns in the abdomen of developing pupae of non-model Drosophila species (Chapter 2). Through ISH, we found that …

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The Receptor Basis Of Serotonergic Modulation In An Olfactory Network, Tyler Ryan Sizemore Jan 2021

The Receptor Basis Of Serotonergic Modulation In An Olfactory Network, Tyler Ryan Sizemore

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Neuromodulation is a nearly ubiquitous process that endows the nervous system with the capacity to alter neural function at every level (synaptic, circuit, network, etc.) without necessarily adding new neurons. Through the actions of neuromodulators, the existing neural circuitry can be adaptively tuned to achieve flexible network output and similarly dynamic behavioral output. However, despite their near ubiquity in all sensory modalities, the mechanisms underlying neuromodulation of sensory processing remain poorly understood. In this dissertation, I address three main questions regarding the mechanisms of one modulator (serotonin) within one sensory modality (olfaction). I begin by establishing a "functional atlas" of …

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Investigating The Role Of Eyes Absent In Photoreceptor Axon Targeting In Drosophila Melanogaster, Bethany J. Thach Jan 2021

Investigating The Role Of Eyes Absent In Photoreceptor Axon Targeting In Drosophila Melanogaster, Bethany J. Thach

Honors Projects

The eya gene is essential to development of the Drosophila visual system and eye-specific loss of function mutations in the gene commonly result in the missing eye phenotype. The eya2m35g mutation carries a deletion of exon 1B and adjacent regulatory sequences. Flies carrying the eya2m35g allele exhibit a photoreceptor axon phenotype that has not previously been associated with the eya gene. To determine a potential role for eya in photoreceptor axon targeting, I characterized various phenotypes of eya2m35g mutants and generated additional eya alleles consisting of smaller deletions within the eya2m35g mutation to locate the genetic source of axonal disruption. …

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Determining The Genetic Control Of Neural Tube Malformation Through Genetic Interactions With Idgf3, Elli N. Fox May 2020

Determining The Genetic Control Of Neural Tube Malformation Through Genetic Interactions With Idgf3, Elli N. Fox

Honors Projects

Genetic mutations disrupting human neural tube formation can lead to birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. Defects can result in lack of neural tube closure in either the caudal (spina bifida) or cranial (anencephaly) regions. Little is known about the genes that cause these malformations. Researchers have been using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster in an attempt to determine genes responsible for neural tube malformations. Recently, an ortholog of human chitin-like protein, imaginal disc growth factor 3 (Idgf3), has been identified as important in the proper formation of Drosophila egg dorsal appendages. However, the molecular mechanism responsible for …

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Examining The Roles Of The Conserved Mrna Deadenylase Complex On Drosophila Neuronal Structures, Megan Mccaughey, Scott Barbee Apr 2020

Examining The Roles Of The Conserved Mrna Deadenylase Complex On Drosophila Neuronal Structures, Megan Mccaughey, Scott Barbee

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

The most common cause of inherited mental deficiency and monogenetic cause of autism is Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). There is little known about the origins of this disease which will be investigated in the present study. The series of experiments conducted examined the potential role of mRNA deadenylation proteins as contributing factors to the pathogenesis of FXS using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. One of the main complexes involved in deadenylation is the CNOT complex, which is comprised of many proteins, including POP2, TWIN, and NOT3. Each protein plays a unique role within the CNOT complex. This goal of …

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Mushroom Body-Specific Gene Regulation By The Swi/Snf Chromatin Remodeling Complex, Kevin Cj Nixon Feb 2020

Mushroom Body-Specific Gene Regulation By The Swi/Snf Chromatin Remodeling Complex, Kevin Cj Nixon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Over the lifetime of an organism, neurons must establish, remodel, and maintain precise connections in order to form neural circuits that are required for proper nervous system functioning. Disruptions in these processes can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder. Mutations in genes encoding subunits of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex have been implicated in ID, yet the role of this complex in neurons is poorly understood. In this project, I established cell-type specific methods to examine the effect of SWI/SNF subunit knockdowns on gene transcription and chromatin structure in the memory-forming neurons of …

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Mef2-Bound Genes May Influence Ethanol Sedation In Drosophila Melanogaster, Katlyn M. Myers Jan 2020

Mef2-Bound Genes May Influence Ethanol Sedation In Drosophila Melanogaster, Katlyn M. Myers

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a global health issue that affects millions of people every year. This disorder has serious negative mental and physical consequences. Currently, treatment options for this disorder are largely limited to psychological therapy, with very few medications available to treat it. Being able to identify the environmental and genetic components that influence AUD can help improve diagnosis and treatment options. Previous studies in humans have shown a link between initial sensitivity and risk for alcohol abuse. Our laboratory uses Drosophila melanogaster as a model to study the genetic and environmental components of alcohol-related behaviors. Previous lab …

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The Roles Of Polar Cell Extensions In Drosophila Micropyle Formation, Bradford Hull Jan 2020

The Roles Of Polar Cell Extensions In Drosophila Micropyle Formation, Bradford Hull

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The Drosophila micropyle is a conserved formation utilized to allow sperm passage past the robust eggshell structure for fertilization. Micropyle formation follows a unique acellular tubulogenesis method where it is secreted and shaped by specialized follicle cells including the border cells and polar cells. In late oogenesis, the polar cells form extensions that are necessary to create the micropyle pore through which sperm enters. Previous work established that polar cell extension presence is required for micropyle pore formation. We investigated temporal requirements of extensions throughout chorion deposition and found extensions are required during the beginning and middle of choriogenesis, but …

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Functional Importance Of Lipin Phosphorylation, Stephanie Elizabeth Hood Dec 2019

Functional Importance Of Lipin Phosphorylation, Stephanie Elizabeth Hood

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Highly conserved throughout evolution, lipins are dual functioning proteins found from yeast to humans. Functioning in the cytoplasm as phosphatidate phosphatase enzymes (PAP), lipins produce diacylglycerol that serves as a precursor for neutral fats and membrane phospholipids. Alternatively, nuclear lipins are responsible for the regulation of metabolic genes. Interestingly, both the mammalian lipin 1 paralog and the single Drosophila Lipin ortholog are highly phosphorylated proteins. Target of rapamycin (TOR) has previously been identified as one of the kinases that controls the subcellular localization of both lipin 1 and Drosophila Lipin. However, other serine and threonine kinases are predicted to be …

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