Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Memili, Erdogan

Committee Member

Peebles, Edgar

Committee Member

Peterson, Daniel

Committee Member

Bolden-Tiller, Olga

Committee Member

Bridges, Susan

Date of Degree

12-11-2009

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Genetics

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Genetics Program

Abstract

MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules that could possibly play a major role in fertility. In the experiment, spermatozoa were extracted from bovine followed by an extraction of total RNA. Bovine spermatozoa were extracted from two bulls of different fertility, high and low fertility. An expression array was done to compare the expression levels of the microRNAs. It was shown that thousands of microRNAs are present in bovine spermatozoa but only a small amount was significantly expressed. The microRNAs from low fertility bulls were more highly expressed than those in high fertility bulls. A Bioanalyzer gel was used to confirm the results of the microarray data. The microRNAs were present in the bull’s spermatozoa at 25 nucleotides. The functions of the significantly expressed microRNAs are not known but there is a great possibility that their functions affect fertility.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19403

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