Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant Report

In my laboratory in the summer of 2020, SFCRG funds supported research projects completed by three current Linfield University students, and external funding supported research projects completed by one Linfield University graduate. Working collaboratively, Bronwyn Boyd, Hanna Shields, Lottie Steward Blanke (Linfield students) and Emily Tiedemann (Linfield graduate) engaged in genomics research aimed to discover and characterize orthologs of annotated genes found in Drosophila melanogaster. Our genome annotation in several different species of Drosophila contributed to an exploration of Drosophila genome evolution, specifically enabling the exploration of insulin-signaling pathway evolution. Our genomic analysis characterized evolutionary changes within genomes spanning over 40 million years and aids in the elucidation of the regulation and architecture of conserved gene regulatory networks. Specifically, we annotated the coding sequences of the Glycogen Synthase gene GlyS, an essential component of insulin signaling and blood glucose regulation. Our annotation revealed sequence changes in coding and non-coding regions of GlyS across species and further identified transcriptional start sites for the GlyS gene in species closely related to Drosophila melanogaster. Our identification and analysis of gene regulatory sequences complements an ongoing interest of the lab in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of RNA production and stability. Annotation across 12 species revealed changes to GlyS coding sequences, protein isoforms, or the 5’ untranslated regions (UTRs) of GlyS from Drosophila yakuba to Drosophila grimshawi