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iv
Acknowledgements
Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to all the people whose support made this
dissertation possible. I would like to thank my academic advisor, Dr. John G. Tower. I
would like to thank Dr. Tower for giving me the opportunity to perform this research in
his laboratory. Without his critical suggestions and encouragement, I would not have
been able to achieve any of my goals during my Ph.D. career. I would also like to thank
the other faculty members in my graduate committee, Dr. Steven E. Finkel, Dr. Oscar
M. Aparicio, Dr. Valter D. Longo, and Dr. Lucio Comai. They provided invaluable
suggestions and other support towards my research at all stages. I would like to thank
my former and current my graduate school colleagues, Dr. Morris Waskar, Ji-ping Yuan,
Hongjun Zhang, Junsheng Yang, as each has provided critical support during my career
at USC. I would like to convey my appreciation to my mother Sanju Huang, my father
Jianguo Li, and the rest of my family and friends for their incredible support over these
years. Finally, my special thanks go to the rest of the Molecular and Computational
Biology Program of USC.
Object Description
| Title | Characterization of Drosophila longevity and fecundity regulating genes |
| Author | Li, Yishi |
| Author email | yishili@usc.edu; yishili@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Molecular & Computational Biology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-19 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-10-31 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Tower, John |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Finkel, Steven E. Aparicio, Oscar Martin Longo, Valter D Comai, Lucio |
| Abstract | The regulation of Drosophila melanogaster longevity and fecundity involves many factors. Longevity is governed by oxidative stress, stem cell loss, dietary restriction, the insulin/IGF-1 pathway, and other factors. Fecundity is also regulated by multiple tissues and factors, including the germline stem cells and stem cell niche, the fat body, yolk proteins, and sex peptides. The fecundity of wild type female Drosophila gradually declines during aging, suggesting a common pathway regulating longevity and fecundity machinery. Since both mechanisms involve multiple factors, sorting through the Gordian’s knot is a formidable task. Using a PdL mutagenesis approach, I screened for a specific phenotype in thousands of independent mutant strains to examine both regulatory networks simultaneously. Two novel genes, magu and hebe, were identified and characterized to regulate longevity and fecundity. While Drosophila lifespan was extended upon the induction of these genes, fecundity increase requires that the gene induction be in an ideal range to show the expected phenotypic change. I also performed several other projects, including studying the lifespan extension effect of dIAP2, characterization of a Drosophila gut driver strain, and intra-abdominal RNAi injection in adult Drosophila. These projects provided us insight on longevity, fecundity, anti-apoptosis, stem cell biology, RNAi and other aspects of Drosophila research. In sum, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism for molecular biology and genetics study, will continue to contribute to the scientific community. |
| Keyword | Drosophila; longevity; fecundity |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1735 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Li, Yishi |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Li-2382 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume44/etd-Li-2382.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 4 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | iv Acknowledgements Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to all the people whose support made this dissertation possible. I would like to thank my academic advisor, Dr. John G. Tower. I would like to thank Dr. Tower for giving me the opportunity to perform this research in his laboratory. Without his critical suggestions and encouragement, I would not have been able to achieve any of my goals during my Ph.D. career. I would also like to thank the other faculty members in my graduate committee, Dr. Steven E. Finkel, Dr. Oscar M. Aparicio, Dr. Valter D. Longo, and Dr. Lucio Comai. They provided invaluable suggestions and other support towards my research at all stages. I would like to thank my former and current my graduate school colleagues, Dr. Morris Waskar, Ji-ping Yuan, Hongjun Zhang, Junsheng Yang, as each has provided critical support during my career at USC. I would like to convey my appreciation to my mother Sanju Huang, my father Jianguo Li, and the rest of my family and friends for their incredible support over these years. Finally, my special thanks go to the rest of the Molecular and Computational Biology Program of USC. |
