Date Thesis Awarded
4-2019
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Science (BS)
Department
Biology
Advisor
Dr. Lizabeth Allison
Committee Members
Dr. Randolph Coleman
Dr. Diane Shakes
Dr. Patty Zwollo
Abstract
Thyroid hormone plays a vital role in growth and metabolism. Its action is mediated by multiple receptors including thyroid hormone receptor α 1 (TRα1). TRα1 is primarily a nuclear protein, but it has been found to shuttle rapidly between the nucleus and cytoplasm. Recently, mutated variants of TRα1 have been found to cause Resistance to Thyroid Hormone α syndrome (RTHα). Over 20 different mutations in patients have been described including amino acid substitutions at position 384 in human (h) TRα1 from arginine (R) to either cysteine (C) or histidine (H). One of the potential mechanisms of the disorder is mislocalization of the receptor within the cell. To test this hypothesis, the distribution of these two TRα1 mutations associated with RTHα was assessed by fluorescence microscopy after transfection of HeLa (human) cells with expression plasmids for GFP-tagged hTRα1_R384C and hTRα1_R384H. Both RTHα mutants were found to have a significantly larger cytoplasmic population than wild type TRα1. This suggests that the mislocalization of the receptor within the cell could contribute to the symptoms of RTHα.
Recommended Citation
Trampenau, Elizabeth, "Mutations in Thyroid Hormone Receptor Alpha 1 and Their Implications for Resistance to Thyroid Hormone Alpha" (2019). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1327.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1327
