Date of Award

6-2008

Document Type

Union College Only

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Brian Cohen

Language

English

Keywords

caveolin, located, receptor, fshr, lipid

Abstract

The human follicle stimulating hormone receptor (hFSHR) is a G-protein coupled receptor located in the ovaries and testes. This receptor is necessary for normal follicular development in females and sperm production in males. The main question we are asking is does the FSHR interact with caveolin, a lipid raft associated protein. We are asking this question to determine if FSHR is located in a lipid raft. If it is located in a lipid raft it will give us more information regarding the function of FSHR and how to modulate it. Many molecules that interact with caveolin contains a caveolin recognition sequence (ΦΧΧΧΦΧΧΧΧΦΧΧΦ, where Φ is a large hydrophobic amino acid like phenylalanine). FSHR has one of these recognition sequences located on the 4th transmembrane domain. Therefore, we predicted that the receptor interacts with caveolin and is located on lipid rafts. To test our hypothesis plasmid DNA was produced encoding the wild-type caveolin sequence as well as 2 mutants which block normal caveolin function. Plasmids will be transfected into cells expressing the hFSHR and co-immunoprecipitation experiments will be performed to determine if the receptor and caveolin interact, and how the mutants affect that interaction.

Download
Off-Campus Download

Share

COinS