Date of Award

1-1-2015

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Organizational Unit

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Scott A. Barbee, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Michelle K. Knowles, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

James Todd Blankenship

Fourth Advisor

Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer

Keywords

Drosophila melanogaster, FMRP, Fragile X mental retardation protein, miRNA, P bodies, Post-transcriptional regulation, RNA

Abstract

Post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA is facilitated by different mechanisms, such as microRNA (miRNA) induced gene silencing or fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) mediated repression either independent of or acting through cytoplasmic RNA Processing bodies (P bodies). DPTP99A, Lar, and Wg have known functions during synaptogenesis and may be targets of miR-8. Here, we provide evidence that miR-8 regulates DPTP99A in vitro. Non-endogenous miR-8 expressed using an UAS driver regulates Lar. Endogenous miR-8 may regulate DPTP99A in vivo. Here we show that FMRP is capable of colocalizing with the P body components: DCP1, HPat, and Me31B, but not CCR4. We also show that RNAi against HPat and Me31B but not CCR4 and DCP1 are required for FMRP’s repression of a translational reporter in vivo. This functional analysis provides additional insight into another aspect of FMRP’s and P bodies’ ability to cooperatively control repression of mRNA targets.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jacqueline Rochelle Furlong

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

101 p.

Discipline

Biology, Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology

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