Student Publications and Presentations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/10219
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Browsing Student Publications and Presentations by Subject "Egg-laying"
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Item The Effect of Mutations in Toll-like Receptors on Caenorhabditis elegans Egg-Laying signaling(2018-08-06) Deande, Matthew Thomas; Hayashi, Merrick Max; Bougoulias, Michael; Smith, Brock David; Hilbig, Gabriel; Baylor University. Dept. of Biology.While many factors show to affect egg laying in C. elegans, we are interested in the downstream effects of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and their impact on egg laying because a direct relationship is still unknown. Studies have shown the importance of TLRs in the innate immunity of C. elegans and their ability to prevent gram-negative bacterial growth by identification of a single gene for TLR, tol-1. We hypothesize that tol-1 deficient C. elegan mutants will display a reduction in egg laying compared to the wild-type, due to a hindrance in an unknown signal transduction cascade. Part of this pathway would include the C. elegans' response to serotonin, a neurotransmitter stimulating hermaphrodite specific motorneurons (HSN), playing a central role in up-regulation of egg-laying behavior. In this study, egg laying assays were performed on N2 wild-type and tol-1 deficient C. elegans in serotonin. Additionally, the tol-1-/- worms were exposed to EMS mutagenesis, furthering our study. Results show that these worms experienced an increase in egg laying in the F2 generation, overcoming their initial resistance. Further experiments can be performed to elucidate the mechanism by which tol-1 deficient C. elegans overcame this mutation allowing them to surpass the N2 in egg laying ability.Item The Influence of Imipramine on the Egg-Laying Behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans(2018-08-06) Alaniz, Alyssa; Valencia, Michael James; Hussain, Neha; Feese, Emily Ann; Luksch, Annie Sarah; Mancillas, Victoria Alexandra; Lee, Myeongwoo.; Baylor University. Dept. of Biology.Discovering new ways to treat mental disorders is at the forefront of scientific research due to their imposing challenges on worldwide health. A current drug therapy option is imipramine, marketed as Tofranil, a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) used to treat mental disorders such as depression. TCA’s predominantly inhibit the reuptake of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. The effects of exogenous serotonin increases egg laying by stimulating vulva contractions within Caenorhabditis elegans. To determine the effect of imipramine, C. elegans were analyzed based on their important physiological process, egg laying. Wild-type (N2) C. elegans responded to imipramine by showing increased egg-laying behavior. In order to observe the phenotype of mutant C. elegans in imipramine, worms were treated with ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) to induce point mutations. The desired recessive mutants (Strain A) were determined by those who laid the least amount of eggs in the liquid egg-laying assays of imipramine. Egg laying assays were also conducted in doxepin, serotonin, and control M9 solutions. Since doxepin is a TCA similar to imipramine, it had similar effects on Strain A mutants by also demonstrating a decrease in egg-laying behavior.