There are nearly 23,000 described species of nematodes and most thrive within neutral environments. However, some nematodes are able to live under more “extreme” conditions. Turbatrix aceti is able to thrive within an especially acidic environment. Prior research from the Alkema lab suggests that T. aceti survives in part by metabolizing acetic acid taken in by Aquapoirn-7. To analyze the role of AQP-7, I cloned and characterized the gene that encodes an ortholog of AQP-7 found in Caenorhabditis elegans. These studies show that C. elegans aqp-7 is expressed in several tissues and suggest that C. elegans AQP-7 is able to transport acetic acid across the membrane. Due to the similarity, it is likely that T. aceti AQP-7 performs this way as well.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Dandrea, Kaye Elizabeth

Contributors

• Alkema, Mark

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042518-212204

Advisor

• Olsen, Carissa Lynn

Year

• 2018

Sponsor

• University of Massachusetts Medical Center

Date created

• 2018-04-25

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biochemistry

Rights statement

• In Copyright