Presenter(s)

Ellin Park

Comments

1:15-2:30, Kennedy Union Ballroom

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Description

How does a protein evolve while maintaining its function? One answer to this question is that the protein doesn’t evolve. In this research, we study the beta 2 tubulin protein that is essential to the production of Drosophila fruit fly sperm, in order to explain why ithasn’t evolved in the past 60 million years. By testing the ability of different beta tubulins to support spermatogenesis, we can re-create its evolutionary pathway and determine which possible pathways are viable. Here we test the ability of “CTA”, a chimeric beta-tubulin that has ꞵ2 tubulin amino acid insertions of cysteine, threonine, and alanine in amino acid positions 29, 55, and 57 into the major, ꞵ1 tubulin, to determine if these residues carry sperm-generating power into the ꞵ1 protein. These amino acids were chosen based on the hypothesis that they entail a sperm-generating synergism of the ꞵ2 protein. We are generating flies in which the endogenous ꞵ2 gene was replaced by the ꞵ1-ꞵ2 CTA gene, and will determine if it is sufficient to support spermatogenesis and fertility. If sufficient, this supports an argument that ꞵ2’s evolutionary stasis is due to its ability to win evolutionary competitions against other ꞵ2 alleles. If it does not, we conclude a second protein may need to evolve for ꞵ2 to evolve.

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Project Designation

Independent Research

Primary Advisor

Mark G. Nielsen

Primary Advisor's Department

Biology

Keywords

Stander Symposium, College of Arts and Sciences

Institutional Learning Goals

Practical Wisdom; Scholarship; Vocation

The Drosophila Beta-Tubulin Sperm Code: Cracking Evolutionary Pathways One Amino Acid Insertion at a Time

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