Characterizing genetic and environmental regulation of RNA editing and gene expression in Drosophila
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Before translation of proteins takes place in cells, RNA transcripts are expressed and modified to form different isoforms which make up the diverse transcriptome. One such transcriptional modification is A-to-I RNA editing, which transforms the sequence information of RNA and can consequently lead to other changes in protein regulation and function. Gene expression and RNA editing levels can be fine-tuned in response to different environments and stresses, but relatively little is known about how these processes are regulated. In this dissertation, I use two different approaches to examine the regulatory mechanisms of RNA editing and gene expression in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. First, I describe a screen for trans-regulators of RNA editing, in which mutants that share phenotypes with flies lacking RNA editing are tested for altered RNA editing levels. Although no novel trans-regulators were identified, the results from this screen demonstrate that cis-regulation of RNA editing is more widespread than originally thought. Then, I explore how gene expression and RNA editing levels differ in flies from two contrasting microclimates, and illustrate the importance of cis-regulation in guiding these transcriptional differences. For two neighboring recoding RNA editing sites that show the largest editing level changes between the fly populations, I experimentally confirm that a genetic mutation in the adjacent intron contributes to their editing level differences. I also demonstrate that temperature and population genetic differences likely affect editing levels through modulating the RNA structure, and regulate editing levels largely independently of each other. Together, this dissertation provides insights into how environmental factors shape gene expression and RNA editing levels, and the regulatory architecture underlying these transcriptional processes.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Yablonovitch, Arielle Lynn |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Biophysics Program. |
| Primary advisor | Li, Jin |
| Thesis advisor | Li, Jin |
| Thesis advisor | Clandinin, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert), 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Lipsick, Joseph Steven, 1955- |
| Thesis advisor | Montgomery, Stephen, 1979- |
| Advisor | Clandinin, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert), 1970- |
| Advisor | Lipsick, Joseph Steven, 1955- |
| Advisor | Montgomery, Stephen, 1979- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Arielle Lynn Yablonovitch. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Program in Biophysics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Arielle Lynn Yablonovitch
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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