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Title: Isolation of Meiotic Genes in Coprinus cinereus (Advisor: Dr. Patricia Pukkila - Mentor: Paul Medina)
Meiosis is a complex process, but to date, the roles of only a small number of genes have been defined. We are taking a molecular genetic approach to isolating additional genes involved in this process in the basidiomycete fungus Coprinus cinereus. Wild-type mushrooms that have successfully undergone meiosis have a black cap due to spore production, while mutations arising from insertions disrupting genes essential for meiosis produce white caps, because few or no spores are produced. Knowing the sequences flanking the insertions may lead to identification of novel genes responsible for meiosis; one technique to isolate these flanking sequences is Thermal Asymmetric Interlaced (TAIL) PCR. This method allows for amplification of specific products when only one end of the sequence is known, providing a relatively simple and rapid method to identify genes responsible for particular mutant phenotypes. |
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