Transcriptomic Analysis of Constitutively Active YAP Data — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Additional Information

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Thomas Carr
Katherin Hilson
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Sarah Terrill

Transcriptomic Analysis of Constitutively Active YAP Data

Name: Asher Boucher
Major: Neuroscience and Biology
Hometown: Burlington, WI
Faculty Sponsor: Steven Henle
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE

Abstract

Transcriptomic Analysis of Constitutively Active YAP Data

Asher Boucher, Sarah McLaughlin, Faculty Advisor: Steven Henle

RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a form of Next Generation Sequencing used by scientists to study gene expression across the transcriptome. This project analyzed RNA-Seq data using different techniques and programs. The data was obtained from previous experiments involving the YAP transcription factor in the Hippo signaling pathway, which controls tissue size and regeneration by affecting gene expression. This study is significant because studying this process could be applied to humans in areas such as neuron regeneration.

Pathway analysis is a method of analyzing large amounts of data from experiments on cell genes and pathways. Tools including KEGG, Galaxy, and GSEA allow scientists to extract meaning from the numbers and gene names that result from these experiments. They can find potential fits for what pathways may be affected by editing specific genes, or compare specific gene sets, providing statistical analysis of the data. During this project, these tools were used to determine which would give the best analysis of the constitutively active YAP protein.

The tools had different strengths. For example KEGG provided many gene comparisons with little detail, and GSEA provided an in-depth analysis, but only one comparison at a time.

We concluded from the analysis that the constitutively active YAP dataset affected cell pathways related to cell growth and regeneration.

Poster file

Submit date: March 1, 2021, 2:22 p.m.