There is not a lot of information on the Wcop40 gene, however it is predicted to be involved in pre-mRNA processing and cytoskeleton assembly. We would use this information as a starting point to make tailored experiments and confirm or reject this hypothesis.
Hi! Amazing presentation, I really liked your research project! However, I was wondering why there is an increase in mRNA levels during the two points of conjugation?
Great question! During meiosis conjugation, there are 2 points of DNA damage and repair. The bimodal peaks in mRNA levels are seen because many proteins must be made in order to resolve the damage that has been induced in the genome. The peaks occur at the same time as meiotic prophase and nucleus development.
As of right now, more research has to be done in order to determine whether or not the mRNA increase is enough for it to be considered involved in DNA damage repair. Since we did not have a strict threshold for significance, we used the Rad51 data for comparison.
Wcop40 was chosen to be experimented on because the expression profile during conjugation had very similar patterns to genes already known to be involved DNA damage response and repair (such as Rad51). You can see the gene expression profile for Wcop40 here: http://ciliate.org/index.php/feature/details/TTHERM_00049200
What would you hypothesize Wcop40 function in future experiments would be?
There is not a lot of information on the Wcop40 gene, however it is predicted to be involved in pre-mRNA processing and cytoskeleton assembly. We would use this information as a starting point to make tailored experiments and confirm or reject this hypothesis.
Hi! Amazing presentation, I really liked your research project! However, I was wondering why there is an increase in mRNA levels during the two points of conjugation?
Great question! During meiosis conjugation, there are 2 points of DNA damage and repair. The bimodal peaks in mRNA levels are seen because many proteins must be made in order to resolve the damage that has been induced in the genome. The peaks occur at the same time as meiotic prophase and nucleus development.
Around what threshold was there to consider if Wcop40 involved in the DNA repair process?
As of right now, more research has to be done in order to determine whether or not the mRNA increase is enough for it to be considered involved in DNA damage repair. Since we did not have a strict threshold for significance, we used the Rad51 data for comparison.
Why did you choose Wcop40 for your research?
Wcop40 was chosen to be experimented on because the expression profile during conjugation had very similar patterns to genes already known to be involved DNA damage response and repair (such as Rad51). You can see the gene expression profile for Wcop40 here: http://ciliate.org/index.php/feature/details/TTHERM_00049200