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  1. Wang, Jack (Ed.)
    The Fly-CURE is a genetics-focused multi-institutional Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) that provides undergraduate students with hands-on research experiences within a course. Through the Fly-CURE, undergraduate students at diverse types of higher education institutions across the United States map and characterize novel mutants isolated from a genetic screen in Drosophila melanogaster . To date, more than 20 mutants have been studied across 20 institutions, and our scientific data have led to eleven publications with more than 500 students as authors. To evaluate the impact of the Fly-CURE experience on students, we developed and validated assessment tools to identify students’ perceived research self-efficacy, sense of belonging in science, and intent to pursue additional research opportunities. Our data, collected over three academic years and involving 14 institutions and 480 students, show gains in these metrics after completion of the Fly-CURE across all student subgroups analyzed, including comparisons of gender, academic status, racial and ethnic groups, and parents’ educational background. Importantly, our data also show differential gains in the areas of self-efficacy and interest in seeking additional research opportunities between Fly-CURE students with and without prior research experience, illustrating the positive impact of research exposure (dosage) on student outcomes. Altogether, our data indicate that the Fly-CURE experience has a significant impact on students’ efficacy with research methods, sense of belonging to the scientific research community, and interest in pursuing additional research experiences. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 21, 2024
  2. An EMS-based forward genetic screen was conducted in an apoptotic null background to identify genetic aberrations that contribute to regulation of cell growth in Drosophila melanogaster. The current work maps the genomic location of one of the identified mutants, L.3.2. Genetic crosses conducted through the Fly-CURE consortium determined that the gene locus for the L.3.2 mutation is p47 on chromosome 2R. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available September 18, 2024
  3. Mutant B.4.1 , generated via EMS mutagenesis in Drosophila melanogaster, was studied by undergraduate students participating in the Fly-CURE. After inducing genetically mosaic tissue in the adult eye, B.4.1 mutant tissue displays a robust increase in cell division and a rough appearance. Complementation mapping and sequence analysis identified a nonsense mutation in the gene CG1603 , which we named clifford ( cliff ) due to observed increases in red-pigmented mutant tissue compared to controls. cliff encodes a zinc finger-containing protein implicated in transcriptional control. RNAi knockdown of cliff similarly results in rough eyes, confirming a role for Cliff in eye development. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available August 22, 2024
  4. The mutation I.3.2 was previously identified in a FLP/FRT screen of chromosome 2R for conditional growth regulators. Here we report the phenotypic characterization and genetic mapping of I.3.2 by undergraduate students participating in Fly-CURE, a pedagogical program that teaches the science of genetics through a classroom research experience. We find that creation of I.3.2 cell clones in the developing eye-antennal imaginal disc causes a headless adult phenotype, suggestive of both autonomous and non-autonomous effects on cell growth or viability. We also identify the I.3.2 mutation as a loss-of-function allele of the gene centromere identifier (cid), which encodes centromere-specific histone H3 variant critical for chromosomal segregation. 
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  5. The mutation I.3.2 was previously identified in a FLP/FRT screen of chromosome 2R for conditional growth regulators. Here we report the phenotypic characterization and genetic mapping of I.3.2 by undergraduate students participating in Fly-CURE, a pedagogical program that teaches the science of genetics through a classroom research experience. We find that creation of I.3.2 cell clones in the developing eye-antennal imaginal disc causes a headless adult phenotype, suggestive of both autonomous and non-autonomous effects on cell growth or viability. We also identify the I.3.2 mutation as a loss-of-function allele of the gene centromere identifier (cid), which encodes centromere-specific histone H3 variant critical for chromosomal segregation. 
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  6. An EMS mutagenesis screen was conducted in Drosophila melanogaster to identify growth control mutants. The multi-institution Fly-CURE consortium phenotypically characterized the O.2.2 mutant using the FLP/FRT system which displayed a mutant lethal phenotype with reduced head development, and darkened ocular tissue. Complementation mapping was conducted to identify the affected gene. A failure to complement was identified in Uba3 , resulting in the identification of the novel allele, Uba3 O.2.2 . Uba3 is a known disruptor of the cell cycle and our data are consistent with early larval/embryonic lethality displayed in numerous species. 
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  7. null (Ed.)
    Genetic screens are used to identify genes involved in specific biological processes. An EMS mutagenesis screen in Drosophila melanogaster identified growth control phenotypes in the developing eye. One mutant line from this screen, H.3.2, was phenotypically characterized using the FLP/FRT system and genetically mapped by complementation analysis and genomic sequencing by undergraduate students participating in the multi-institution Fly-CURE consortium. H.3.2 was found to have a nonsense mutation in short stop (shot), an ortholog of the mammalian spectraplakin dystonin (DST). shot and DST are involved in cytoskeletal organization and play roles during cell growth and proliferation. 
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  8. null (Ed.)
    Genetic screens provide a mechanism to identify genes involved with different cellular and organismal processes. Using a Flp/FRT screen in the Drosophila eye we identified mutations that result in alterations and de-regulation of cell growth and division. From this screen a group of undergraduate researchers part of the Fly-CURE consortium mapped and characterized a new allele of the gene Hippo, HpoN.1.2. 
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  9. null (Ed.)
    Genetic screens have been used to identify genes involved in the regulation of different biological processes. We identified growth mutants in a Flp/FRT screen using the Drosophila melanogaster eye to identify conditional regulators of cell growth and cell division. One mutant identified from this screen, B.2.16, was mapped and characterized by researchers in undergraduate genetics labs as part of the Fly-CURE. We find that B.2.16 is a non-lethal genetic modifier of the Dark82 mosaic eye phenotype. 
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