Jessica graduated with her B.S. in Biology from the University of North Georgia. While an undergraduate, she worked with Miriam Segura-Totten researching the roles of chromatin-binding proteins in nuclear envelope formation. After graduating, she moved to Nashville, TN to work in the lab of Manuel Ascano at Vanderbilt University, where she performed ex vivo characterization of inhibitors of a cytosolic DNA sensing enzyme. Jessica is a rising fourth year graduate student in Leslie Sieburth’s lab. She researches the roles of RNA decay in regulating gene expression, specifically selective decay by mRNA decapping and decay pathway switching during RNA buffering.
Plants must quickly adapt to changes in environmental conditions, which is ultimately done by changes in gene expression. While altering transcription rates is one method of altering gene expression at the RNA level, cytoplasmic mRNA decay may also affect RNA abundance. Components of mRNA decapping, the pathway initiating 5’-3’ decay, have been previously shown to be rapidly phosphorylated in response to osmotic stress. 1 Here, we investigate whether phosphorylation of the mRNA decapping scaffold protein, VARICOSE (VCS), regulates mRNA abundances in response to environmental conditions. We also being to investigate whether the effects of VCS phosphorylation affect all transcripts or only affect a specific subset of substrates.