Speaker: Jessica Ledesma
Candidate for Bachelor of Science in Biology
Time: 3:35 PM
Place: Trustee Hall 117
Supervisor: Dr. Fidelma O’Leary
Title: Examination of the Pathway of Apoptosis in Ceanorhabditis elegans

Abstract: Cancer has been a problematic issue for society for many years. Many agents that lead to cancer have been discovered. However, the mechanisms by which most of these agents act have not been elucidated. An important physiological process that has been known to promote cancer is apoptosis, or programmed cell death (PCD). This process promotes cancer when its regulation has been interrupted. Due to the complexity of identifying the molecules responsible for PCD in mammalian systems, scientists have been driven to study this process in invertebrate systems. Ceanorhabditis elegans has proven particularly useful in this type of study. The genes that are important for the proper regulation of PCD in C. elegans have been identified-ced-3, ced-4, ced-9, and egl-1-as well as the molecular mechanisms by which these genes regulate PCD. A recent study sheds light on the molecular mechanism whereby the protein EGL-1 activates cell death in C. elegans. This protein binds to the cell-death inhibitor CED-9 and induces the release of the death-activating protein CED-4 from inhibitory complexes of CED-4/CED-9. Through the use of a homology modeling approach, direct physical interaction between EGL-1 and CED-9 was essential for the release of CED-4 and the activation of cell death.