Presenter Information

Karolina SenkowFollow

Major

Bioinformatics

Anticipated Graduation Year

2021

Access Type

Open Access

Abstract

Regulation at the level of gene transcription is a critical way to regulate the production of proteins. Genes present in a euchromatic environment exhibit much more expression than genes present in a heterochromatic DNA structure. This project investigated what causes genes to be expressed despite existing in a heterochromatic environment. The fourth chromosome of the Drosophila species appears entirely heterochromatic, but has a similar proportion of active genes to that of its other euchromatic chromosomes. I annotated the coding spans and transcriptional start sites across the genes on the euchromatic 3L chromosome of Drosophila takahashii in order to allow for the identification of patterns causing the transcription of genes in these heterochromatic regions.

Community Partners

Genomic Education Partnership

Faculty Mentors & Instructors

Dr. Jennifer Mierisch, PhD Biology

Supported By

S. E. Elgin, Genomic Education Partnership

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Share

COinS
 

Gene Annotation of Heterochromatic DNA across Drosophila Species

Regulation at the level of gene transcription is a critical way to regulate the production of proteins. Genes present in a euchromatic environment exhibit much more expression than genes present in a heterochromatic DNA structure. This project investigated what causes genes to be expressed despite existing in a heterochromatic environment. The fourth chromosome of the Drosophila species appears entirely heterochromatic, but has a similar proportion of active genes to that of its other euchromatic chromosomes. I annotated the coding spans and transcriptional start sites across the genes on the euchromatic 3L chromosome of Drosophila takahashii in order to allow for the identification of patterns causing the transcription of genes in these heterochromatic regions.