by Alex Huh
GCN4, a gene found in Saccharomyces cerevisae was found to be responsive to stressors such as caloric restriction and amino acid deprivation. It is regulated by upstream open reading frames (uORFs), which exhaust the ribosomal protein synthesis machinery prior to reaching the reading frame of the gene of interest. Because of this, GCN4 expression is suppressed in normal conditions. When the organism experiences stress, GCN4 is not as tightly regulated by the uORFs and is expressed. Orthologues of GCN4 would be hypothesized to behave in the same manner in other organisms. My goal is to determine if ATF-5, a GCN4 orthologue, is involved in the stress response in C. elegans