Microarray analysis of the gene expression of mutant ZMS2 Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Microarrays are a fairly new technology, only being employed in the last decade to analyze genome-wide changes in expression of various proteins of an organism under specific conditions. The completion of the sequencing of the human genome, along with the yeast Sacchromyces cerevisiae, has allowed researchers to gain insight into how conditions within the cell determine what genes are activated, when, and to what degree. Microarray technology allowed us to study gene expression in yeast sensitive to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is associated with highly reactive oxygen molecules such as hydrogen peroxide and superoxide which can harm the cell. Cells are protected from reactive oxygen molecules by producing proteins such as Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (encoded by the ZWF1 gene). The gene ZMS1 is a mutational suppressor gene, which when mutated the gene ZWF1 is suppressed, thus causing the cell to be sensitive to oxidative stress. From analyzing our microarray data, we determined several genes that were induced and repressed during this process, as well as several genes induced in the DNA damage pathway for S. cerevisiae. The overall data is encouraging, but leaves much uncertain as photobleaching of our red dye was a large problem.
Introduction Methods Results Discussion References