Our group was assigned this gene to study for the semester. The lab organizers probably chose this gene because of its unknown role in the DNA repair pathway. In T. therm, the RFC-1 protein is known to be an ATPase, and we know that the Rfc1 gene has a homolog with the Rfc1 gene in humans. Beyond that, there isn’t too much published research that corroborates or disagrees with our data because there simply isn’t a ton of data in regards to our gene’s role in DNA repair.
The upregulation of Rfc1 would mean that the expression of the gene increased. If the gene had been upregulated after we induced DNA damage, that could have indicated that Rfc1 is involved in DNA repair.
We know that the RFC-1 protein is an ATPase in T. therm. We also know that it has a homolog in the Rfc1 gene in humans. However, beyond that, we aren’t entirely sure what the function of Rfc1 is. We suspect that it might be some sort of maintenance gene, as expression didn’t seem to increase or decrease after DNA damage was induced. We didn’t necessarily choose this gene so much as it was assigned to us. The lab organizers probably chose this gene because of its unknown role in the DNA repair pathway.
curesymposium.org 
Why did you select this gene in particular? Were the data consistent with other published results?
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Our group was assigned this gene to study for the semester. The lab organizers probably chose this gene because of its unknown role in the DNA repair pathway. In T. therm, the RFC-1 protein is known to be an ATPase, and we know that the Rfc1 gene has a homolog with the Rfc1 gene in humans. Beyond that, there isn’t too much published research that corroborates or disagrees with our data because there simply isn’t a ton of data in regards to our gene’s role in DNA repair.
If you’re interested, here’s some info about Rfc1 from the Tetrahymena Genome Database:
https://tet.ciliate.org/feature_details.php?feature_name=TTHERM_00762900
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What can the occurrence of upregulation in the Rfc1 gene cause? Why is this important?
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The upregulation of Rfc1 would mean that the expression of the gene increased. If the gene had been upregulated after we induced DNA damage, that could have indicated that Rfc1 is involved in DNA repair.
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If the Rfc1 gene is not inherently involved in upregulation of damaged DNA what is its function? Did you choose this gene for any specific reason?
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We know that the RFC-1 protein is an ATPase in T. therm. We also know that it has a homolog in the Rfc1 gene in humans. However, beyond that, we aren’t entirely sure what the function of Rfc1 is. We suspect that it might be some sort of maintenance gene, as expression didn’t seem to increase or decrease after DNA damage was induced. We didn’t necessarily choose this gene so much as it was assigned to us. The lab organizers probably chose this gene because of its unknown role in the DNA repair pathway.
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