SEMINAR: MBF602 Sam Loftus Friday 4 March 2011, 1 pm S/A 103

[Sam Loftus <sloftus@rsmas.miami.edu>]

Inter-individual variation in Complex I activity in Fundulus  
heteroclitus along a steep thermal cline

Complex I (CI E.C.: 1.6.5.3) is a large heteromeric enzyme complex  
that translocates H+ ions across the mitochondrial inner membrane.  
The gradient of H+ ions drives the synthesis of ATP—the energy  
currency of the cell. Complex I plays a crucial role in metabolism,  
and it is known that variation in mitochondrial activity affects  
fitness relatively little is known about the individual function of  
each of the 45 gene products (subunits) necessary to construct  
Complex I. In order to distinguish between neutral and biologically  
important variation in gene expression I am investigating the  
physiological function of Complex I in relation to individual gene  
expression for the 45 CI subunits.  To start this investigation I  
measured Complex I activities in 156 individuals from 6 populations  
of Fundulus heteroclitus and a sister taxa Fundulus grandis.  The  
mean activities for each population were not significantly  
different.  This trend was driven by the large amount of inter- 
individual variation within Fundulus populations.  Specifically,  
there was greater inter-individual variation within southern  
populations. The large variation within the southern population is  
associated with greater genetic variation in this population and may  
reflect ecological conditions. Future work will focus on determining  
the relationship between variation in mRNA expression for all 45  
Complex I and Complex I enzyme activities.



Sam Loftus

B.S. Biology, University of Idaho 2006

Entered MBF Fall 2006


Advised by Douglas L. Crawford



---------------------------------------------------------------------
Seminars and symposia at RSMAS

To unsubscribe, e-mail: seminar-unsubscribe@lists.rsmas.miami.edu
For additional commands, e-mail: seminar-help@lists.rsmas.miami.edu
Post to: seminar@rsmas.miami.edu