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Abstract

        This experiment sought to gain an understanding of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in it's control of oxidative stress.  In particular, the zms1 and zms2 genes are of importance because of their proven role in relieving oxidative stress caused by free radicals, by-products of aerobic respiration.  This study compared the knockouts zms1, zms2, and zms1/zms2 to gene expressions of wild type yeast to show sources of compensation or repression in other genes.  A microarray was conducted and sent to Davidson College in NC for reading.  Scanalyze and Magic Tool were then used to analyze the data, correct for systematic errors, and determine expression patterns.  We hypothesized that the zms1 knockouts would display up-regulation in various other genes in comparison to wild type yeast to combat the oxidative stress.  We found that 7 out of the 12 genes with consistent 3-fold differentiation were up-regulated and 5 out of the 12 were down-regulated.  One consistently up-regulated gene, YDL171C, is known to have oxidative-stress relieving properties within the cell by helping form NADPH.  However, more research is needed in order to support our hypothesis.

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