ABSTRACT
Oxidative stress has been shown to induce DNA, protein and membrane damage. This can lead to the progression of diseases such as cardiovascular disease or cancer. NADPH is an antioxidant that helps prevent such oxidative stress. NADPH is produce in the pentose phosphate pathway and is regulated by glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). The gene for G6PD has been shown to potentially be regulated by ZMSD1 and ZMSD2 genes. It has been hypothesized by Dr. Slekar of James Madison University that ZMSD1 and ZMSD2 encode for transcription factors that regulate the G6PD gene. Therefore, if these are mutated, there should be effects in the G6PD pathway and NADPH production. In this study, microarray analysis was used to determine differences in yeast ZMSD1 and ZMSD2 knockout gene expressions. Due to the poor quality of the microarray data that was obtained, alternative data from a 2008 lab group were used for analysis. ZMSD1 and ZMSD2 knockout gene expressions were compared. Two genes were found to be significantly down regulated in both knockouts. Also, there were eight genes that had a significant increase in expression in ZMSD2 knockout yeast. However, the expressions were significantly decreased in ZMSD2 knockout yeast. Assuming ZMSD1 and ZMSD2 genes encode transcription factors, the results show that these proteins may regulate different genes. Further microarrays must be obtained with appropriate dye reversals in order to directly compare the differences between the two mutant yeast as well as a comparison to wild type yeast.
SLIDE USED: Fall 2008, #726; ZMSD2-red; WT-green