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

三种雄性和两种雌性候选生殖蛋白的部分被认为在精子和卵子细胞外基质相互作用中起作用，将从多种胎盘哺乳动物中测序。这个广泛的数据库将与分子分析结合使用，以确定正在快速进化的氨基酸位点，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，该数据库将用于搜索可能在蛋白质结构和功能中起重要作用的保守区域。表征这些蛋白质并确定它们之间的相互作用将对不孕症的诊断、了解蛋白质相互作用赋予物种特异性和扩大蛋白质共同进化的知识产生更广泛的影响，这可以用于许多其他领域，如癌症研究。这一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过程中涉及的蛋白质。这个项目将为本科生志愿者提供参与这个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.