35th Annual Student Research Conference
The Genetic Interaction of sma-1 in the Embryonic Epidermis of Caenorhabditis elegans
Sydney S. Wieberg
Dr. Stephanie Maiden, Faculty Mentor
The embryonic epidermis in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans has been studied as a model tissue for decades. The hmp-2 and sma-1 genes in C. elegans are known to be significant in epidermal morphogenesis during embryonic development. Previous combinations of sma-1(ru18) and hmp-2(RNAi) resulted in ventral enclosure defects with humpback characteristics and tapered heads. To further investigate this genetic interaction, sma-1(ru18) allele and hmp-2(qm39), a weak loss-of-function allele, were crossed. Additionally, knockdown of hmp-2 was combined with the sma-1(e30) allele to understand the role of these two genes in epithelial development. sma-1(e30) produces similar defects and loss-of-function as sma-1(ru18) but at a milder extent. The sma-1(ru18) allele results in a great loss-of-function and significant elongation defects. hmp-2(RNAi) knockdown in sma-1(e30) resulted in embryonic lethality with tapered heads and humpback characteristics. Future work would include conducting more crosses between sma-1 and hmp-2.
Keywords: C. elegans, genetics, embryogenesis, proteins
Topic(s):Biology
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Session: 106-3
Location: MG 1000
Time: 9:00