Billy Liu

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Current advisor: S. Kerry Kornfeld, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Lawrence University, 2018

Enrollment year: 2021

Research summary
I’m trying to uncover the zinc deficiency response pathway in C. elegans using forward genetics and genomics.

Zinc is a trace element that is needed for deveolpment and cell function. However, how organisms sense and respond to changes in cellular zinc levels is still not fully understood. I use C. elegans as a model organism to study this subject. The main organ for zinc homeostasis in C. elegans is the intestine, and my lab has previously discovered enhancers required for zinc excess and zinc deficiency pathways. I use these two enhancers, the HZA enhancer and the LZA enhancer, to explore zinc homeostasis.

The HZA enhancer specific for zinc excess may sometimes be flanked by genes on opposite strands of DNA (head-to-head genes). I used RT-qPCR to examine the transcriptions of the flanking genes and examine how the HZA enhancer regulate both of their expression.

While core components of zinc excess response pathway is elucidated by my lab, the zinc deficiency response pathway is not. I constructed a reporter containing the LZA enhancer for a forward mutagenesis screen to discover genes involved in the zinc deficiency response pathway.

Zinc homeostasis is a process in time. My lab has previouse obbserved changes in the conformations and sizes of organelles related to zinc excess response, the lysosome-related organelles (LROs), at different timepoints after zinc exposure. We further wondered what genes underline that change in zinc excess; we also wondered the same for zinc deficiency. I am currently using RNAseq to examine the transcription landscape of C. elegans at different timepoints after zinc exposure or zinc depravation. I hope to identify genes important for zinc homeostasis and their expression profiles over time.

Graduate publications