Associate Professor Peter White combines techniques in molecular biology and bioinformatics to describe the evolution of Norovirus outbreak strains.
Interactions Between microRNA and mRNA in a Mammalian Cell System
Non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs have been implicated in the homeostasis of a normal cell. We have established a series of gene expression data from mRNA and microRNA microarrays in a mammalian cell system. The aim of this project is to elucidate the interactions between these two RNA species and to identify the mRNA targets and their binding domains of individual microRNAs. The ones of interest are an evolutionarily conserved group of transcriptional factors called forkhead (FoxO) transcriptional factor family.
Mutation of these genes have been found to extend cell and whole organism’s lifespan for the worm, Caenorhabditis elegans; fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster; and yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Understanding the interactions between these two RNA species may explain adverse consequences at the cellular (and possibly organism) level, including pathways involved in the onset of various age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and osteoporosis. This FoxO-specific transcriptomics work will contribute to the existing databases dedicated to predicting a set of generic mRNA targets of microRNAs.
We will develop a bioinformatics package to help biologists mine data from existing public databases for the purpose of interpreting mRNA and microRNA microarray data. Although the emphasis of this project is biology, bioinformatics and programming will play a key role.
BABS personnel that are responsible for this project