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Sex, Stress, and Oxygen Deprivation: Gender-Specific Phenotypes Modulate Survival in Anoxia . Michelle LeBlanc University of North Texas Ronald E. McNair Program. Oxygen Deprivation. What is Anoxia? <.001 kilopascal of oxygen in environment Health Issues Stroke Ischemia
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Sex, Stress, and Oxygen Deprivation: Gender-Specific Phenotypes Modulate Survival in Anoxia Michelle LeBlanc University of North Texas Ronald E. McNair Program
Oxygen Deprivation • What is Anoxia? • <.001 kilopascal of oxygen in environment • Health Issues • Stroke • Ischemia • Center of cancerous tumors • Environmental Deficits • Oceanic dead zones
Suspended Animation • Reversible state of dormancy • initiated due to environmental stress • Mammals • Hibernation • Estivation • We can study SA with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans!!
Caenorhabditis elegans Image adapted from Wormbook
Hypothesis • An modification in gonad function will modulate survival of long-term oxygen deprivation. • Sterile animals may survive anoxia differently than wild-type animals. • Sex may modulate survival in anoxia.
XX males Male Genotype vs Phenotype
Future Aims • What underlies the fog-2(q71) phenotype? • Sperm signaling • Signaling from fertilized embryo • Does oocyte flux affect survival? • spe-12(hc76) and fer-15(hc15) • Animals that cannot produce spermatids
Acknowledgements Dr. Pamela Padilla Alexander Mendenhall and Desh Mohan, project collaborators The rest of the Padilla lab Ronald E. McNair Program
References • BOUTILIER, R. G., and J. ST-PIERRE, 2000 Surviving hypoxia without really dying. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 126: 481-490. • BURGGREN, W., and A. MWALUKOMA, 1983 Respiration during chronic hypoxia and hyperoxia in larval and adult bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). I. Morphological responses of lungs, skin and gills. J Exp Biol 105: 191-203. • GEMS, D., and D. L. RIDDLE, 2000 Genetic, behavioral and environmental determinants of male longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 154: 1597-1610. • HAJERI, V. A., J. TREJO and P. A. PADILLA, 2005 Characterization of sub-nuclear changes in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos exposed to brief, intermediate and long-term anoxia to analyze anoxia-induced cell cycle arrest. BMC Cell Biol 6:47. • KORNFELD, K., D. B. HOM and H. R. HORVITZ, 1995 The ksr-1 gene encodes a novel protein kinase involved in Ras-mediated signaling in C. elegans. Cell 83: 903-913. • NYSTUL, T. G., J. P. GOLDMARK, P. A. PADILLA and M. B. ROTH, 2003 Suspended animation in C. elegans requires the spindle checkpoint. Science 302: 1038-1041.