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SUMMARY:Investigating the diversification of RNA silencing pathways in Chl
 amydomonas reinhardtii - Claire Agius
DTSTART:20140613T120000Z
DTEND:20140613T122500Z
UID:TALK51413@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Megan Cooper
DESCRIPTION:RNA silencing is a term that describes the many mechanisms tha
 t organisms have evolved to regulate gene expression through the use of RN
 A species. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an attractive model for the study 
 of RNA silencing as it potentially recapitulates the complexity of pathway
 s found in higher plants but with experimental advantages stemming from it
 s haploid genome\, short regeneration time and the ability to synchronise 
 the cell cycle. My research aims to investigate the diversification of RNA
  silencing pathways in C. reinhardtii with a particular focus on transcrip
 tional silencing mechanisms. Initially I have been endeavouring to charact
 erise Argonaute1\, a member of a highly conserved family of RNA-binding pr
 oteins that has a central role in RNA silencing. Preliminary results sugge
 st that Argonaute1 expression is localised in the nucleus\, consistent wit
 h a role in transcriptional silencing. Future work will include analysis o
 f small RNAs associated with Argonaute1\, generation and analysis of an Ar
 gonaute1 mutant and reverse genetic approaches to directly consider the qu
 estion of whether C. reinhardtii has RNA-directed transcriptional silencin
 g mechanisms.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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