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- Title
- Caloric restriction in Drosophila melanogaster.
- Creator
- Hoxha, Sany., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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Caloric restriction (CR), the reduction of nutrient intake short of malnutrition, extends the lifespan of various organisms and can improve measures of human health. Whether mechanisms of lifespan extension are conserved between humans and model organisms is unknown. In mammals, implementing CR is easily achieved by providing a restricted group with a fraction of the food consumed by an "ad libitum" fed group, which has unlimited food access. Due to the difficulty in directly controlling...
Show moreCaloric restriction (CR), the reduction of nutrient intake short of malnutrition, extends the lifespan of various organisms and can improve measures of human health. Whether mechanisms of lifespan extension are conserved between humans and model organisms is unknown. In mammals, implementing CR is easily achieved by providing a restricted group with a fraction of the food consumed by an "ad libitum" fed group, which has unlimited food access. Due to the difficulty in directly controlling Drosophila food intake, caloric restriction, performed similarly to the mammalian paradigm, has never been tested in flies. Here, we demonstrate a system that allows measurement of food intake throughout life. This system will be used to measure fly lifespan under caloric restriction analogous to current mammalian studies. Our work will help tease apart the differences between the various caloric and dietary restriction paradigms in Drosophila, strengthening our understanding of how fly models relate to mammalian systems.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359316
- Subject Headings
- Aging, Physiological aspects, Nutrition disorders in old age, Oxidative stress, Pathophysiology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Creation of an aconitase overexpression strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for lifespan analysis.
- Creator
- Nunes, Steve., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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In my thesis work, I attempted to construct a plasmid that would allow stable integration of genes into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast genome under the control of the repressible TetO promoter. The yeast ACO1 gene was cloned under the control of the TetO operator and the tTA transactivator. This construct was inserted into yeast cells in order to observe the effects of aconitase overexpression on aging. Unfortunately, the transformed cells appeared incapable of aconitase expression as...
Show moreIn my thesis work, I attempted to construct a plasmid that would allow stable integration of genes into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast genome under the control of the repressible TetO promoter. The yeast ACO1 gene was cloned under the control of the TetO operator and the tTA transactivator. This construct was inserted into yeast cells in order to observe the effects of aconitase overexpression on aging. Unfortunately, the transformed cells appeared incapable of aconitase expression as determined by glutamic acid auxptrophy, a phenotype of aconitase mutants. We have sequenced the pIT1ACO1 plasmid and have found many abnormalities in the promoter region. If the plasmid can be made to function as intended, the resulting yeast strain can be used in the future to determine if aconitase plays an important role in cellular aging.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359306
- Subject Headings
- Yeast fungi, Research, Methodology, Microbial genetics, Genetic engineering, Aging, Molecular aspects, Cell metabolism, Mutation (Biology)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The effect of mutated aconitase on yeast longevity.
- Creator
- Kwan, CJ., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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Aconitase is an important enzyme in the citric Acid Cycle, is needed for maintenance of mitochondrial DNA, is a key regulator of iron in the cell, and is very sensitive to oxidative stress. We have isolatd the yeast ACO1 gene, which codes for aconitase, and randomly mutated it to create a mutant library of cells each expressing a different version of ACO1. We will select for oxidative stress resistant aconitase in S. cerevisiae by subjecting strains to successive rounds of heat shock and...
Show moreAconitase is an important enzyme in the citric Acid Cycle, is needed for maintenance of mitochondrial DNA, is a key regulator of iron in the cell, and is very sensitive to oxidative stress. We have isolatd the yeast ACO1 gene, which codes for aconitase, and randomly mutated it to create a mutant library of cells each expressing a different version of ACO1. We will select for oxidative stress resistant aconitase in S. cerevisiae by subjecting strains to successive rounds of heat shock and competitive growth against other mutants. The "winner" of this competition will then be analyzed for which version of aconitase it is expressing, which may lead to increased longevity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359310
- Subject Headings
- Yeast fungi, Research, Microbial genetics, Aging, Molecular aspects, Mutation (Biology), Cell metabolism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Iron and mitochondrial aging.
- Creator
- Paez, Rafael., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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Aging is a process characterized by accumulated oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids,which leads to the gradual degeneration of cellular activity. Mitochondria play a central role in aging because they produce both cellular energy and oxidative stress. As resultof accumulated oxidative damage, mitochondria function decays, which leads to a cellular energy deficit and compromises cellular function. Iron is an essential nutrient reequired by mitodhondria to function optimally. It has...
Show moreAging is a process characterized by accumulated oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids,which leads to the gradual degeneration of cellular activity. Mitochondria play a central role in aging because they produce both cellular energy and oxidative stress. As resultof accumulated oxidative damage, mitochondria function decays, which leads to a cellular energy deficit and compromises cellular function. Iron is an essential nutrient reequired by mitodhondria to function optimally. It has been proved that iron supplementation increases the lifespan of several yeast strains, including superoxide dismutase mutants. We are interested in finding where the iron is going and what it might be doing that is beneficial to the cell. We have used Saccharomyces cerevisiae as our molecular model of aging. Our results indicate that the extra iron is being transported into the mitochoindria.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359313
- Subject Headings
- Oxidation, Physiological, Aging, Molecular aspects, Mitochondrial DNA, Yeast fungi, Research, Methodology, Free radicals (Chemistry), Pathophysiology
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Is age really just a number?: neuropsychological predictors of eyewitness memory errors.
- Creator
- Tsikis, Tina, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Two separate groups of young and middle-aged adults watched videos of events being performed by a number of different college-aged females. Both the young goup of adults and the middle-aged group of adults were later tested on their memory for both the individual features of these events (i.e., actors and actions), and for conjunctions of features (i.e., which actor performed which action) in order to determine how likely they were to remember which actors performed which actions. Our results...
Show moreTwo separate groups of young and middle-aged adults watched videos of events being performed by a number of different college-aged females. Both the young goup of adults and the middle-aged group of adults were later tested on their memory for both the individual features of these events (i.e., actors and actions), and for conjunctions of features (i.e., which actor performed which action) in order to determine how likely they were to remember which actors performed which actions. Our results showed that frontal lobe functioning is not affected with age. However, there is a slight decrease in medial temporal functioning that continues on throughout life. There was a main effect of Question, Item Type, and Age Group explained through a three-way ANOVA. Binding errors increase with age because specific areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, deteriorate with age.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359329, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FADT3359329
- Subject Headings
- Aging, Psychological aspects, Memory, Age factors, Eyewitness identification, Age factors, Recollection (Psychology), Cognition, Age factors, Transference (Psychology)
- Format
- Document (PDF)