Nichole Gebhart Behavioral Effects of Protein Interactions in Purkinje Cells of the Cerebellum Division Sciences Department Biology Year 2002 Advisor Becky Talyn

With the recent advances in genetic engineering, the scientific community has benefited from using mice as a model to study human development, disease, protein interactions, and other biological processes. Mice are also used to identify specific genes and determine the function of these genes by studying their behavioral, developmental, and biochemical phenotypes. Specifically, by knocking out a single gene researchers can examine the effect of that gene on a complex behavior or cellular and developmental process. In this study I used L7 "knockout" mice to examine the interaction of different proteins found in purkinje cells of the cerebellum. First, I determined whether the number of L7 genes absent had an effect of L7 levels in the different genotypes (+/+, +/-, and -/-). Because of the previous reports of Gai/o interactions with L7, I analyzed the different levels of these G-protein subunits along with Gaz because it is not shown to interact with L7. Also, by using the L7 deficient mice I was able to see how the different G-proteins were affected when L7 was absent or present in smaller quantities. Further, I used the accelerating rotorod behavioral test to observe a possible phenotypic difference due to the different levels of L7 protein.