New opportunities in pest control: Sea lamprey and small RNA technologies
| dc.contributor.author | Heath, George | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Civetta, Alberto (Biochem. and Medical Genetics) Marcus, Jeffrey (Biological Sciences) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Docker, Margaret (Biological Sciences) Whyard, Steve (Biological Sciences) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2013-02-12T18:22:37Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2013-02-12T18:22:37Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2013-02-12 | |
| dc.degree.discipline | Biological Sciences | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Science (M.Sc.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is an invasive pest in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Current pest control programs for sea lamprey are expensive and can produce off-target effects. RNA interference (RNAi) based technologies have the potential to augment existing sea lamprey control programs. In this study, sea lamprey embryos and larvae (10-100 mm) were treated with small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting housekeeping genes (β actin, α actinin, calmodulin, elongation factor 1α, splicing factor 1 and γ tubulin) and gene expression was measured. Three of the siRNA embryo treatments (α-actinin, calmodulin, splicing factor 1) produced significant knockdown and increased mortality while treatment with tubulin siRNA produced only knockdown. Larval siRNA treatments produced knockdown of four genes (α-actinin, calmodulin, elongation factor 1α, splicing factor 1) and increased mortality with tubulin-siRNA treatments. Differential effects of siRNA treatment across life stage and gene target are discussed. These results suggest that siRNAs have potential uses as species-specific pesticides in sea lamprey. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | February 2013 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/16593 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | lamprey | en_US |
| dc.subject | RNAi | en_US |
| dc.title | New opportunities in pest control: Sea lamprey and small RNA technologies | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |