35th Annual Student Research Conference
Investigation of the function of UNC-33 in embryonic development of Caenorhabditis elegans
Rebekah L. Kimpel
Dr. Stephanie Maiden, Faculty Mentor
Microtubules are crucial to a number of vital cellular processes, including cell division, intracellular transport, cell movement, and cell structure. Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) facilitate these various microtubule functions, but it is not quite known how they function during the early stages of epidermal development. The particular MAP of interest in Caenorhabditis elegans is UNC-33 which exhibits defects in neuronal development, resulting in locomotor defects, but recent evidence suggests that it might play a role in skin cells. If weak knockdown of hmp-2, an important epidermal protein, causes increased lethality in different unc-33 mutants compared to wildtype, then it suggests that UNC-33 plays a role in microtubule regulation in the epidermis. RNA interference was performed in order to generate the weak knockdown. Future experimentation using advanced microscopy and genetic analyses will be needed to determine how and when these particular genetic interactions impact embryogenesis.
Keywords: Caenorhabditis elegans, RNAi, embryogenesis, microtubule, Microtubule-associated proteins, epidermal development
Topic(s):Biology
Presentation Type: Asynchronous Virtual Presentation
Session: 3-2
Location: https://flipgrid.com/d54e4a1e
Time: 0:00