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Student Class

2028

First Advisor

Jay Dunlap

First Advisor Department

Geisel School of Medicine

Description

The ER24 mutation in the white collar-2 (wc-2) gene of Neurospora crassa is associated with an extended circadian period, but its causative role and underlying mechanism have remained unclear. ER24 contains a leucine-to-isoleucine substitution in the WC-2 protein, but it is unknown whether this mutation causes the mutant phenotype. We recreated the ER24 mutation in an otherwise wild-type background and observed the same long-period phenotype as in the original strain, confirming that this single substitution is sufficient to alter clock function. Western blot analysis revealed the appearance of a previously unreported, lower molecular weight isoform of WC-2 in ER24 strains, which is absent in wild type.

Publication Date

Spring 5-2025

Keywords

ER24 mutation, Neurospora crassa, WC-2, Circadian rhythms, Extended circadian period, WC-2 isoform, Zinc finger domain, White Collar Complex (WCC), Transcriptional regulation of frq, Core clock mutation

Disciplines

Genetics | Genomics | Molecular Genetics | Other Genetics and Genomics

Reconstructing ER24: An Unlikely Point Mutation Alters the Circadian Clock

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