Hi Nimisha,
When looking at the gene expression profile of the UbiconE2 gene during conjugation in Tetrahymena thermophila we can see that the UbiconE2 has increased expression at certain times. Initially we thought this may be due to it being involved in damage repair but since we determined that it is not involved in damage repair, I hypothesis that it is involved in other aspects of conjugation. Not exactly sure what aspects of conjugation so further research would have to be done.
Hi Sydney! I really enjoyed your presentation. You did a fantastic job! I was wondering what made you choose the UbiconE2 to study in the first place specifically?
Hi Therese,
Dr. Moore assigned us genes to study, but these genes were specifically chosen as they exhibit a specific expression pattern during conjugation in Tetrahymena thermophila cells that is consistent with gene expression profiles of genes that are known to be involved in DNA damage repair. We specifically look at the gene expression profile during conjugation as this is where Tetrahymena experience natural DNA damage.
Hi Dylan,
A gene knockout involves using CRISPR/CAS9 to edit the genome of an organism. Specifically, I would be interested in performing a gene knockout where I use CRISPR to remove the UbiconE2 gene from the cells. Once that has been done I would want to see if the cells were still able go trough the conjugation process successfully, if they were not able to then I would be able to conclude that the UbiconE2 is needed for conjugation to occur in Tetrahymena cells which would be a step closer to determining the function of the gene.
Hi Sydney,
If I had another semester in this class to work on this experiment I would definitely want to repeat my gene expression PCR and gel again as in my current research the Ftt18 positive control had greater expression in untreated cells which was not what I expected to see and this could of affected the UbiconE2 expression in untreated cells as there may have been more mRNA present. So, repeated this experiment would help solidify that my gene was not involved in the damage response pathway and then I could either choose a new gene to determine if it is involved in the damage response pathway or I could continue to investigate the role of UbiconE2 in conjugation.
Great presentation! Do you have any hypothesis for the potential function of UbiconE2 gene since it is not apart of the DNA damage repair process?
Hi Nimisha,
When looking at the gene expression profile of the UbiconE2 gene during conjugation in Tetrahymena thermophila we can see that the UbiconE2 has increased expression at certain times. Initially we thought this may be due to it being involved in damage repair but since we determined that it is not involved in damage repair, I hypothesis that it is involved in other aspects of conjugation. Not exactly sure what aspects of conjugation so further research would have to be done.
Hi Sydney! I really enjoyed your presentation. You did a fantastic job! I was wondering what made you choose the UbiconE2 to study in the first place specifically?
Hi Therese,
Dr. Moore assigned us genes to study, but these genes were specifically chosen as they exhibit a specific expression pattern during conjugation in Tetrahymena thermophila cells that is consistent with gene expression profiles of genes that are known to be involved in DNA damage repair. We specifically look at the gene expression profile during conjugation as this is where Tetrahymena experience natural DNA damage.
Could you go into a bit more detail in your future directions with the idea of performing a gene knockout, what is a gene knockout?
Hi Dylan,
A gene knockout involves using CRISPR/CAS9 to edit the genome of an organism. Specifically, I would be interested in performing a gene knockout where I use CRISPR to remove the UbiconE2 gene from the cells. Once that has been done I would want to see if the cells were still able go trough the conjugation process successfully, if they were not able to then I would be able to conclude that the UbiconE2 is needed for conjugation to occur in Tetrahymena cells which would be a step closer to determining the function of the gene.
Hi Sydney, I loved your presentation! I was wondering, if you had another semester to work on your experiment, what would you do first? Thanks!
Hi Sydney,
If I had another semester in this class to work on this experiment I would definitely want to repeat my gene expression PCR and gel again as in my current research the Ftt18 positive control had greater expression in untreated cells which was not what I expected to see and this could of affected the UbiconE2 expression in untreated cells as there may have been more mRNA present. So, repeated this experiment would help solidify that my gene was not involved in the damage response pathway and then I could either choose a new gene to determine if it is involved in the damage response pathway or I could continue to investigate the role of UbiconE2 in conjugation.
Is it the tetrahymena decreases the expression of UbiconE2?
what exactly is a gene knockout and how would this be beneficial in the future of this experiment?