Date of Award

4-30-2020

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Marlene Murray

Abstract

Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder associated with abnormal inositol levels. Preliminary studies show omega-3 fatty acids alter intracellular inositol levels; however, the cellular mechanism behind this process is unknown. Therefore, the focus of this study is to determine the effects of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the expression of INM1 which encodes inositol monophosphatase. Using yeast as our model system, cells were grown in varying concentrations DHA and the expression on INM1 was determined by RT-qPCR. The results show INM1 expression increased with increasing concentrations of DHA; thus, the effects of DHA on inositol levels may be exerted via its impact on INM1 expression.

Subject Area

Omega-3 fatty acids; Docosahexaenoic acid; Gene expression; Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/221/

Included in

Biology Commons

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