OU graduate student Allison Barbaglia publishes in Genetics

Allison Barbaglia, who was awarded the master of science in biology degree last year, recently published a paper describing how Gene Capture by Helitron Transposons Reshuffles the Transcriptome of Maize in the March issue of the journal Genetics (Volume 190, Pages 965-975). Barbaglia’s research was supervised by CBR member Shailesh Lal, and she is currently enrolled in the Cell and Molecular Biology PhD program at Michigan State University. Coauthors on the paper include OU undergraduate engineering biology major Katarina Klusman (who last month represented OU at the 54th annual Maize Genetics Conference in Portland, Oregon, supported by a MaGNET (Maize Genetics Network Enhancement via Travel) Award), and John Higgins (an undergraduate from the Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts who spent the summer of 2009 at OU participating in the Summer Institute in Bioengineering and Health Informatics). The paper was described in the “Issue Highlights.”

"The Helitron family of mobile DNA elements in maize is known for its propensity to capture and multiply gene fragments. Sometimes the captured genes are transcribed into eclectic transcripts that connect different genes. These can evolve into new genes with novel domains and functions. This report provides evidence that alternative splicing and readthrough transcription also generate multiple isoforms of Helitron-captured genes. Thus Helitrons provide new grist for the mill of natural selection."

The research was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation to Lal, and by a Research Excellence Award from Oakland University.