Alyssa Lower | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Alyssa Lower
Title: Investigating Thioredoxin Independent Roles of Trr1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Minor: Chinese Studies
Advisors: James West; Mark Snider

Thioredoxin reductase partners with the disulfide reductase thioredoxin to maintain redox homeostasis. However, baker’s yeast lacking the thioredoxin reductase Trr1 exhibit a more severe slow-growth phenotype than yeast lacking the corresponding thioredoxins, highly suggesting that Trr1 has thioredoxin-independent roles. Six proteins, Ade13, Aat2, Aro8, Asc1, Tsa1 and Grx3, have been found to interact with Trr1. Single deletion mutants of these proteins have been made and can be used to investigate how each influences oxidative stress sensitivity and ER stress and unfolded protein response elevation that is also observed in Trr1 deficient cells. Additionally, Ade13, Aat2, Aro8, and Trr1 have been purified and can be used to explore how oxidants effect the enzymatic activity of each protein and, if altered, investigate if Trr1 has the capabilities to reverse the impacts of oxidation on their activity. This work prepares for experiments that have the potential to shed light on thioredoxin-independent roles of Trr1 and comparable microbial thioredoxin reductases.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.