DOI

10.30707/1734473236.364631

Document Type

Senior Thesis

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Committee Chair

Thomas Hammond

Committee Member

Marjorie Jones

Abstract

Neurospora crassa is a fungus that serves as a model organism for genetic research. N. crassa Spore killer-3 (Sk-3) is a genetic element transmitted to offspring through spore killing. Sk-3 is located on Chromosome III and it is thought to require two genes for spore killing. These two genes are the poison gene, for killing, and the antidote gene, for resistance to killing. While the Sk-3 resistance gene has been identified (rsk), the Sk-3 killer gene has not. The primary goal of this study is to help identify the killer gene by investigating the role of a DNA interval called v377 in spore killing. To determine if this interval is required for spore killing, a DNA deletion vector (Vector v377) was constructed and used to replace the v377 interval with a hygromycin resistance gene in strain RDGR170.3. My results demonstrate that v377 is required for spore killing. The possibility that v377 is within a gene required for spore killing, or a regulatory element that controls spore killing, is discussed.

Funding Source

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (Award Number 200595, Elucidating the mechanism of meiotic drive by mRNA editing-mediated spore killing in Neurospora fungi).

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