Masters Theses

Keywords and Phrases

Aging; Drosophila; Sleep

Abstract

"Sleep is essential for maintaining a healthy body and mind and is associated with aging and aging related diseases. There are individual differences in fly as well as human sleep behavior and lifespan. Between and within individuals, sleep varies in characteristics including consolidation, rhythmicity, continuity, duration, and more. Various evidence in the literature suggests there are many molecular pathways involved with aging and they may be different for individuals. Our research is interested in a possible restorative mechanism of sleep and the ramifications of that mechanism to aging. We have developed two predictive models of aging using the fruit fly Drosophila. These models allow us predict if a fly will be ‘long-lived’ or ‘short-lived’ based on their first 30 days of sleep data. We hypothesize that sleep characteristics are related to age. Our hypothesis is that poor sleep qualities lead to a shorter lifespan, and conversely good sleep characteristics lead to a longer lifespan. This work describes research done verifying the biological validity of these models. Specifically, we find that the models are able to separate out unique subsets of flies in different aging groups, including one group affected by a disruption in proteostasis"--Abstract, p. iii

Advisor(s)

Thimgan, Matthew S.

Committee Member(s)

Olbricht, Gayla R.
Hou, Chen

Department(s)

Biological Sciences

Degree Name

M.S. in Applied and Environmental Biology

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Fall 2021

Pagination

viii, 47 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 39-46)

Rights

© 2021 Lauren Ashley Francis, All Rights Reserved

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12216

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Biology Commons

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