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Title
Developing a new model organism in cancer research: Trichoplax adhaerens (Placozoa)
Description
All multicellular organisms are susceptible to developing cancer, but some organisms have varying sensitivities to the disease. One such organism is the Trichoplax adhaerens which has no documented case of cancer development. T. adhaerens cancer resistance was studied by observing physiological and morphological changes of the organism after radiation treatment. Preliminary experiments suggested that this organism is able to survive exposure to 160 gray radiation treatment almost as well as untreated organisms. The T. adhaerens have two genes, TriadG6402 and TriadG5479, similar to the human genes TP53 and MDM2 respectively. TP53 and MDM2 are the two main genes associated with apoptosis in humans: an important cell regulatory checkpoint involved in cancer prevention. PCR analysis, done after radiation treatment, showed an overexpression of the ortholog gene MDM2 in the T. adhaerens. This may suggest that T. adhaerens block apoptosis from occurring and that their ortholog gene is involved in DNA repair. It is significant to study the gene expression of TriadG6402 and TriadG54791 in T. adhaerens because these genes are well conserved in humans. Future studies of these genes in the T. adhaerens can be used to understand the evolution of the function of these genes in more complex organisms and be used for human cancer prevention.
Date Created
2019-05
Contributors
- Kulkarni, Arathi (Author)
- Fortunato, Angelo (Thesis director)
- Maley, Carlo (Committee member)
- Department of Economics (Contributor)
- School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor)
- Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
32 pages
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Series
Academic Year 2018-2019
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.53300
Level of coding
minimal
Cataloging Standards
System Created
- 2019-05-03 12:32:57
System Modified
- 2021-08-11 04:09:57
- 3 years 3 months ago
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