Undergraduate researchers Victoria Colin and Vivian Chang presented their work in the Meuti lab at the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences annual undergraduate research forum today.
Victoria dazzled her judges with her hard-won data demonstrating that antioxidant genes are more abundant in the spermathecae of overwintering female mosquitoes. As these receptacles house and protect sperm while the females survive 3-6 months of winter, her findings suggest that these genes might be essential for keeping the sperm alive and healthy.
Vivian similarly impressed audiences with her results that demonstrate that one important circadian clock gene cycles in the brains of nondiapausing mosquitoes and is upregulated but does not cycle in the brains of overwintering ladies. As this gene is a transcription factor that regulates the abundance of other important genes and proteins her findings represent a critical step forward to trying to figure out how the circadian clock might help mosquitoes measure daylength and figure out what time of year it is.
This was the first time that either of them had presented their research and both did an outstanding job! 🙂