Functional characterization of ikk2 zebrafish mutants and TALEN-mediated genetic screen of camel mutants.

• Main Author: Chua, Yun Yu.
• Other Authors: Vladimir Korzh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52696
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

IKK2 (IKK-β) is a master regulator of the NF-κB signaling pathway, which regulates a wide range of cellular activities. Although tremendous amount of work has been carried out to study its function in immunology, cell differentiation/proliferation, apoptosis, and cancer progression; the role of IKK2 in embryonic development remains to be elucidated. In this study we investigated the expression pattern of ikk2 and also analyzed the ikk2 mutant zebrafish. We found that ikk2 plays both a maternal and zygotic function in early embryonic development. We demonstrate that zygotic function of ikk2 is required during embryogenesis to establish vascular integrity. Our analysis also shows the maternal function of ikk2 during cell division/cytokinesis. These results establish an essential role of ikk2 in early embryonic development in zebrafish. In the second part of the project, a TALEN-mediated genetic screen of zebrafish camel mutant was conducted. camel mutants are of interest as it was reported to play an important role in Notch signaling, neuronal activities and cancer development. Hence, we aim to identify camel mutants for further characterization of its role.