Identifying Proteins That Bind the SSA4 3′ UTR During Heat Shock in Yeast

Authors

• Marven Roufail, Belmont UniversityFollow
• Carin Girgis, Belmont UniversityFollow
• Rebecca Adams, Belmont UniversityFollow

Publication Date

2026

Presentation Length

Poster/Gallery presentation

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Biology, Department of

Student Level

Undergraduate

Faculty Mentor

Rebecca Adams, PhD

Presentation Type

Poster

Summary

• During heat shock most mRNAs are retained in the nucleus, but SSA4 may still be exported and translated, suggesting that it may use a selective export protein.
• My project asks what protein binds the SSA4 3′ UTR to allow this process.
• I hypothesize that a stress regulated adaptor protein binds this region and promotes export during stress.
• To test this, we used a yeast three-hybrid screen at 25°C and 37°C to find proteins that may interact with the SSA4 3′ UTR.
• So far, contamination has made colony growth unreliable so we cannot yet determine whether the hypothesis is supported.
• We are now repeating the experiment with cleaner plating technique so we can collect interpretable results.

Recommended Citation

Roufail, Marven; Girgis, Carin; and Adams, Rebecca, "Identifying Proteins That Bind the SSA4 3′ UTR During Heat Shock in Yeast" (2026). SPARK Symposium Presentations. 997.
https://repository.belmont.edu/spark_presentations/997