Studies of the interactions between the Drosophila Rad51 paralog proteins

Poster Number

4

Format

Poster Presentation

Faculty Mentor Name

Lisa Wrischnik

Abstract/Artist Statement

Every day cells undergo double strand breaks or other damaging reactions that would be lethal to a cell if there were no means of repairing them. One of the most complex and intriguing pathways that evolved to repair DNA is the homologous recombination repair mechanism, which fixes DNA damage by using the sister chromatid as template to restore the stretch of damaged DNA. The coordination of repair requires a careful dance of proteins and DNA that is not easy to accomplish. ln humans and other eukaryotes, this is organized by a set of proteins of the Rad51 family (Rad51, Rad51B, Rad51 C, Rad51D, XRCC2 and XRCC3). Since DNA repair is essential to survival, and key to cancer prevention, it is necessary to find a multicellular organism that can be used as a model for research on this repair pathway. Unfortunately, mutations introduced to Rad51 causes rapid death in laboratory mice. The purpose of my project is to isolate and characterize the fruit fly versions of the Rad51 proteins, and try to determine if the actions of the fly proteins are similar to the human proteins. Another intriguing aspect of fly HR is that flies lack the Rad51B protein, which is a major player in the human mechanism. Thus, the general aim of my research is to determine how the fly Rad51 proteins associate with each other, and to understand more fully how the fly proteins proceed with repair without the Rad51B homolog that is so crucial for human HR.

Location

Wendell Phillips Center, 1st floor hallways

Start Date

3-5-2008 1:00 PM

End Date

3-5-2008 3:00 PM

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May 3rd, 1:00 PM May 3rd, 3:00 PM

Studies of the interactions between the Drosophila Rad51 paralog proteins

Wendell Phillips Center, 1st floor hallways

Every day cells undergo double strand breaks or other damaging reactions that would be lethal to a cell if there were no means of repairing them. One of the most complex and intriguing pathways that evolved to repair DNA is the homologous recombination repair mechanism, which fixes DNA damage by using the sister chromatid as template to restore the stretch of damaged DNA. The coordination of repair requires a careful dance of proteins and DNA that is not easy to accomplish. ln humans and other eukaryotes, this is organized by a set of proteins of the Rad51 family (Rad51, Rad51B, Rad51 C, Rad51D, XRCC2 and XRCC3). Since DNA repair is essential to survival, and key to cancer prevention, it is necessary to find a multicellular organism that can be used as a model for research on this repair pathway. Unfortunately, mutations introduced to Rad51 causes rapid death in laboratory mice. The purpose of my project is to isolate and characterize the fruit fly versions of the Rad51 proteins, and try to determine if the actions of the fly proteins are similar to the human proteins. Another intriguing aspect of fly HR is that flies lack the Rad51B protein, which is a major player in the human mechanism. Thus, the general aim of my research is to determine how the fly Rad51 proteins associate with each other, and to understand more fully how the fly proteins proceed with repair without the Rad51B homolog that is so crucial for human HR.