Yang, GuangKedia, Shreeya2022-11-152021-06-21Kedia, S. (2021). Ubiquitin Signaling Regulates P-Body Assembly (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/115447During the development of the central nervous system, neural stem cells give rise to different cell populations including neurons and glia. To en¬sure the genesis of the correct cell populations in the developing brain, there exists and intricate system of gene expression regulation. One such mechanism of gene expression regulation is the presence of membrane-less ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules in the cell such as Processing bodies (PBs). These dynamic organelles are sites of RNA metabolism that can temporarily sequester mRNAs resulting in translational repression and/or decay. Therefore, to understand the molecular mechanism by which PBs regulate stem cell homeostasis, it is critical to delineate the signaling regulating PB dynamics. To this end, my thesis explores a novel non-proteolytic monoubiquitination-based signaling mechanism, where monoubiquitination of a core PB protein called 4E-T drives PB assembly. Mechanistically, PB dynamics are fine-tuned by a deubiquitinase called Otud4, which deubiquitinates 4E-T to disassemble PBs. This dynamic ubiquitination signaling therefore, functions as an essential molecular switch to coordinate PB dynamics in neural stem cells.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.UbiquitinationProcessing bodiesGene expression regulationNeural stem cell homeostasisBiological Sciencesmaster thesis