Rixen, Merin
Merin is in the Biochemistry, Molecular and Structural Biology Graduate Program, and joined the CMB Training Program in 2022.
Mentor: Dr. Margot Quinlan, Dr. Joseph Loo
Oogenesis is a reproductive process that ensures the proper development of mature eggs. This process is controlled through a series of highly coordinated molecular occurrences that correlate to the development of healthy offspring. Various human disorders including cancers, birth defects, and infertility are linked to the failure to execute these coordinated events at the proper time. Drosophila melanogaster have long served as a model organism for the study of egg development and how these molecular events are regulated. One of these occurrences is the synchronized disappearance of the actin mesh during mid-oogenesis.
Previous studies show that loss of the actin mesh is a recurrent event that ensures proper development of the embryo. Early removal of the actin mesh generates premature fast cytoplasmic streaming leading to the loss of egg polarity and female sterility. Similarly, late loss of the mesh produces delays in egg polarity establishment leading to decreased fertility. However, not much is understood about the mechanism behind the mesh removal and what proteins assist in that process. Additionally, the study of the actin mesh has proven to be technically challenging due to the limitations of traditional molecular biology techniques, like microscopy and fluorescent labeling.
My research will focus on overcoming these limitations by using bottom-up mass spectrometry and crosslinking techniques to gain a greater understanding of the mechanism of mesh formation and disappearance. I will focus on quantifying the changes in the relative abundance of proteins during key stages of egg development, including just prior to and after mesh disappearance. I will also work to identify candidate actin binding partners and other interesting proteins, identified by mass spectrometry. My work will study their contribution to actin mesh maintenance and investigate their role in the removal of the mesh during mid-oogenesis. Overall, I aim to investigate the maintenance, composition, stabilization, and loss of the actin mesh using a combination of molecular biology and mass spectrometry techniques.
