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Date of Award

4-22-1999

Document Type

Restricted Thesis: Campus only access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Dr. Helen Fillmore

Second Advisor

Dr. Larry Gordon

Third Advisor

Dr. Jeff Elhai

Abstract

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive type of brain tumor. Previous research using differential display has identified partial gene sequences which are differentially expressed in GBM tumor and adjacent normal tissue. One clone (2A1) seemed to be more abundant in normal tissue than in tumor. The current project was developed to confirm differential expression of 2A1 in normal brain versus tumor and identify a possible product of the 2A1 gene. mRNA was isolated from tissue samples from GBM patients. Semi-quantitative RT -PCR and Northern blots probed with 32P-labeled 2A1 clones were used to determine the differential expression of 2A1. Sequence analysis was performed on the 700 bp 2A1 clone through the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). 2A1 was confirmed to be differentially expressed in patients with glioblastoma. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR indicated that 2A1 expression ranged from 20% to 50% in glioblastoma tissue relative to adjacent normal-appearing brain (set at 100%). Northern analysis also verified that 2A1 mRNA content was lower in tumor core than in adjacent tissue. Using the BLAST programs from NCBI, the nucleic acid sequence of 2A1 is 97% homologous to the human mitochondrion genome. The translated sequence of 2A1 is 68% homologous to the human NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 4.

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