What Makes the “Blue” in Blueberries? -The Truth about MybDylan CoughtreyLaboratory Methods in GenomicsSpring 2011

What is Myb?

• Acronym taken from myeloblastosis• First recognized as an oncogene in avian

myeloblastosis virus

• Currently being studied to further identify genetic factors in cancer patients

What does it do?• Myb transcription factors regulate gene expresion by binding

directly to DNA• Localizes to recently replicated DNA in mitotically cycling and

endocycling cells

• Absence of Myb has been shown to cause increases in:• Mitotic arrest• Abnormal chromosome number• Faulty spindle formation

http://www.stanford.edu/group/lipsick/whatsmyb%20short.htm

What does it do?• Myb factors regulate production of anthocyanins• Change with pH (give the fruit its blue color)• Potentially great health benefits, positive effects against:

• Cancer• Aging and neurological diseases• Inflammation• Diabetes• Bacterial infection

Protein Structure• Myb proteins are defined by the Myb Domain• Sequence of approximately 50 amino acids• Can be repeated up to three times• Repeat domains are imperfect, but highly conserved

• The Myb Domain allow the protein to bind to DNA and regulate transcription

My Progress• Blasted for known Myb nucleotide sequences from Vitis

vinifera (grape) and Arabidopsis thaliana• Found nothing• Knew that there had to be Myb factors in blueberry

• Found my miracle paper: • Analysis of the grape MYB R2R3 subfamily reveals expanded

wine quality-related clades and conserved gene structure organization across Vitis and Arabidopsis genomes• José Tomás Matus, Felipe Aquea, and Patricio Arce-Johnson

Finally Found!• BLASTed consensus sequence using tblastn• Searches for amino acid sequences in genomic DNA

• Found 29 potential Myb genes in the Illumina data• Contained various portions of the conserved sequence• Some fully conserved and others only partially conserved

Further Steps• Identifying gene structure of Mybs in blueberry

• Determine patterns in chromosomal arrangement of Myb genes

• Compare each of these to that of closely related plants

• Examine various Myb genes in the genome to determine significant differences that could affect function

Works Consulted• http://www.stanford.edu/group/lipsick/whatsmyb%20long.htm

• http://pcp.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2007/05/26/pcp.pcm066.short

• http://www.stanford.edu/group/lipsick/pdf/Dubendorff%20and%20Lipsick%20Oncogene%201999.pdf

• http://www.gentcare.com/EnProductShow.asp?ID=52

• http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/osu-sfn030507.php

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2507771/?tool=pubmed