Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2019
Capstone Advisor
Sarah Hall
Honors Reader
Eleanor Maine
Capstone Major
Biology
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
yes
Honors Categories
Sciences and Engineering
Subject Categories
Biology | Life Sciences
Abstract
Responding to environmental cues is extremely important for the survival of animals. One pathway that plays a relevant role in the detection and response to environmental cues is the olfaction pathway. Past research has shown that a form of gene regulation known as RNA interference (RNAi) is required in sensory neurons for the detection of unfavorable environmental cues. To further explore this, we hypothesized that RNAi is also required in sensory neurons for the detection of attractive cues. To test our prediction, we examined whether RNAi would be required in AWA and AWC sensory neurons for the detection of the favorable environmental odorants, diacetyl and benzaldehyde, respectively. We found that mutants without a completed RNAi pathway were not able to sense attractive odorants to the same degree as wild type animals. Knowing that mutant animals deficient in the RNAi pathway were unable to sense attractive volatile odorants as effectively as wild type animals, we tested our hypothesis by using rescue strains which restored the RNAi pathway in specific neurons. We performed population chemotaxis assays to determine the probability of a worm being attracted to a specific odorant. Our results showed that the rescue strains which should have restored the phenotype of RNAi mutants to that of wildtype were unable to restore gene function. We hypothesize that the RNAi pathway is active downstream of the sensory neurons in an interneuron, and we know that RNAi is active somewhere in the olfaction pathway.
Recommended Citation
Walen, Emma, "Regulation of olfactory behavior by RNAi pathways in Caenorhabditis elegans" (2019). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 1332.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/1332
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
