DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Contribution of Mutations within Cis-Regulatory DNA to Molecular Phenotype and Organismal Fitness

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Regulatory sequences control timing, location and level of gene expression, and are predicted to play a key role in molecular and organismal evolution. Despite the importance of this regulation and the abundance of variation in gene expression, the effect this variation has on the organism is not known. We propose to explore how induced mutations within specific regulatory regions in brewer's yeast affect the expression of neighboring genes, and to what extent these differences influences organismal fitness. This type of information has not been acquired for any organism. The scientific importance of this project is to provide a greater understanding of how variation within regulatory regions translates to gene expression and organismal fitness. There are two significant broader impacts of this work. First, high school students are involved with laboratory components of this project through the Howard Hughes Summer Program. Second, natural isolates have been collected from both local and Australian vineyards. This work is collaborative in that isolated strains are made available to their vineyard of origin, for future use in fermentation, and the agriculture community is exposed to the benefits of scientific research.