Faculty Advisor
Olsen, Carissa Lynn
Center
UMMC / University of Massachusetts Medical Center
Sponsor
Mark Alkema
Abstract
There are nearly 23,000 described species of nematodes and most thrive within neutral environments. However, some nematodes are able to live under more extreme conditions. Turbatrix aceti is able to thrive within an especially acidic environment. Prior research from the Alkema lab suggests that T. aceti survives in part by metabolizing acetic acid taken in by Aquapoirn-7. To analyze the role of AQP-7, I cloned and characterized the gene that encodes an ortholog of AQP-7 found in Caenorhabditis elegans. These studies show that C. elegans aqp-7 is expressed in several tissues and suggest that C. elegans AQP-7 is able to transport acetic acid across the membrane. Due to the similarity, it is likely that T. aceti AQP-7 performs this way as well.
Publisher
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date Accepted
April 2018
Major
Biochemistry
Project Type
Major Qualifying Project
Copyright Statement
All authors have granted to WPI a nonexclusive royalty-free license to distribute copies of the work, subject to other agreements. Copyright is held by the author or authors, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
Accessibility
Unrestricted
Advisor Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry