Dissertation Research: Comparative Genomics: A Novel Approach to Understanding Mammalian Reproductive Proteins

部分的三个男性和两个女性的候选生殖蛋白质被认为在精子和卵子细胞外基质相互作用中发挥作用，将从不同范围的胎盘哺乳动物进行测序。 这个广泛的数据库将与分子分析结合使用，以确定快速演变的氨基酸位点，因此可能在蛋白质相互作用中很重要。这种快速进化也将用于检测可能共同进化的蛋白质或位点。此外，该数据库还将用于搜索蛋白质结构和功能中可能重要的保守区域，表征这些蛋白质并确定它们的相互作用将对诊断不孕症的原因、理解赋予物种特异性的蛋白质相互作用以及扩展蛋白质协同进化的知识产生更广泛的影响，这些知识可用于癌症研究等许多其他领域。 该建议提出了一种新的方法，利用比较基因组学的力量来表征哺乳动物受精中涉及的蛋白质。 该项目将为本科生志愿者提供参与这一令人兴奋的新生物信息学领域的机会。

Portions of three male and two female candidate reproductive proteins believed to play a role in sperm and egg extracellular matrix interactions will be sequenced from a diverse range of placental mammals. This extensive database will be used in conjunction with molecular analyses to identify amino acid sites that are evolving rapidly and hence may be important in protein interactions. This rapid evolution will also be used to detect proteins or sites that may be coevolving. In addition, the database will be used to search for regions of conservation that may be important in protein structure and function.Characterizing these proteins and identifying their interactions will have a broader impact on diagnosing causes of infertility, understanding protein interactions conferring species-specificity and expanding the knowledge of protein co-evolution, which can be utilized in many other fields such as cancer research. This proposal presents a novel approach that takes advantage of the power of comparative genomics to characterize the proteins involved in mammalian fertilization. This project will afford opportunities for undergraduate volunteer participation in this exciting new bioinformatics field.