Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2012
Capstone Advisor
Dr. Michael Zuber
Honors Reader
Dr. John Belote
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 | Cell and Developmental Biology
Abstract
In the United States alone, more than one million people are blind. One of the leading causes of blindness is the retinal disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). RP is a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders characterized by the initial loss of rod photoreceptors. Approximately 100,000 people in the United States and 1.5 million people worldwide are affected by RP. Unfortunately, there is no cure. In humans with RP, it is known that the loss of rod photoreceptors leads to degeneration of cones. Rods photoreceptors are responsible for vision under low light conditions and cone photoreceptors are required for color vision and their deaths lead to daylight vision loss and ultimately complete blindness.
Uncoupling the cellular and molecular mechanisms that link rod cell loss to cone death would allow cones to survive and for patients afflicted with Retinitis Pigmentosa to retain functional vision. I hypothesized that the protein, Rod-derived Cone Viability 1 (RdCVF1), is a trophic factor produced by rods and crucial for maintaining cone viability in the retina of our RP model, the tadpoles of the African Clawed frog, Xenopus laevis.
I used mouse RdCVF1 as a probe to find the Xenopus homolog and I performed in situ hybridization using Xenopus laevis RdCVF1 RNA probe to detect RdCVF1 expression in the Xenopus laevis retina. I report that RdCVF1 protein sequence and functional domains required for the protein function are conserved in Xenopus laevis and also RdCVF1 is expressed in the Xenopus retina. These findings present a possible therapeutic avenue for Retinitis Pigmentosa using RdCVF1.
Recommended Citation
Osafo, Vera, "The Expression Pattern of the Xenopus laevis Rod-derived Cone Viability Factor1 (RdCVF1)" (2012). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 147.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/147
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