AMY WILES
Mercer Biology
B.S., Biology, Mississippi College
Ph.D., Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Postdoctoral Fellow, Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Degrees and Advanced Study
Dr Amy Wiles, Assistant Professor
Joined Mercer 2010
office WSC 213
phone 478.301.2765
fax 478.301.2067
email wiles_am@mercer.edu
research page click here
BIO 212 Introductory Biology II
BIO 310 Genetics
BIO 460 Eukaryotic Cell Biology
BIO 490 Bioinformatics
BIO 299/499 Biology Research
SCI 105 Scientific Inquiry
Courses Taught
Genetics, Molecular Biology, Comparative Systems Biology, Bioinformatics
Specialties
The Wiles Lab categorized into two different types of activities: laboratory-based experiments and computational work. Dr. Wiles approaches comparative biology utilizing both “classical” and computational genomics and proteomics, specifically protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks (interactomes). The union of comparative genomics and bioinformatics provide powerful and informative tools to the research scientist: some model organisms are better suited to a particular line of research or experiment type, and applying knowledge across species can fill in knowledge gaps while allowing for focused experiments. This has a tremendous impact on basic science research applications in that what scientists study at the bench can be translated to directly improve human health.
Dr. Wiles’ primary research goal is to understand how cells respond to nutrient stimuli by elucidating novel pathways involved in nutrient response and characterizes functional analogs and new genes related to nutrient biology. From growth and development, to the end of the life of a cell, response to its environment is critical. Upon aberrant response to a stimulus, the operations of the cell may go awry, which may result in the development of disease. Misregulated sulfur metabolism, for instance, has a direct effect on liver function, while defects in nitrogen metabolism may affect amino acid synthesis and turnover. Dr. Wiles uses the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a fruit fly tissue culture system (Drosophila melanogaster) in molecular biology investigations, while conducting comparative genomics and proteomics in silico across multiple species. There are opportunities for students, both at the bench and at the computer, to be involved in active research in her lab.
Laboratory Experiments
Biological experiments in the Wiles lab utilize the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Projects for undergraduates (BIO 299 or BIO 499) include screening a yeast deletion library for genes required for sustaining growth in the absence of sulfur or genes required for growth in the presence of a pour sulfur source. Future projects will extend nutrient conditions to growth in the absence of nitrogen or in the presence of a pour nitrogen source. Additionally, future projects may include examining gene expression changes by microarray analysis under these growth conditions.
Computational Work
Additional research interest in the Wiles lab uses bioinformatics to address biological questions generated from the lab’s bench work. Projects for undergraduates (BIO 299 or BIO 499) include statistical analysis of yeast deletion screen data, examining protein-protein interactions (PPI), comparing proteins of interest to proteomes and PPI of other species, visualization of PPI and pathway data, and development of databases and/or visualization modules. Although this work may be heavily computational, Biology or Biochemistry and Molecular Biology majors with some computer experience or interest may work on some of these projects.
Research Interests
Wiles AM, Doderer M, Ruan J, Gu T-T, Ravi D, Blackman B, Bishop AJR. (2010) Building and analyzing protein interactome networks by cross-species comparisons. BMC Syst Biol. 4:36
Ravi D, Wiles AM, Bhavani S, Ruan J, Leder P, Bishop AJR. (2009) A network of conserved DNA damage survival pathways revealed by a genomic RNAi screen. PLoS Genetics. 5:6
Wiles AM, Ravi D, Bhavani S, Bishop AJR. (2008) An analysis of normalization methods for Drosophila RNAi genomic screens and development of a robust validation scheme. J Biomol Screen. 13:777-784
Brown AD, Karia B, Wiles AM, Bishop AJR. (2008) The intertwining of DNA damage response pathway components and homologous recombination repair. in Genetic Recombination Research Progress, 1-68
Wiles AM, Cai H, Naider F, Becker JM. (2006) Nutrient regulation of the Oligopeptide Transport family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microbiology, 152:3133-3145
Wiles AM, Naider F, Becker JM. (2006) Transmembrane domain prediction and consensus sequence identification of the Oligopeptide Transport family. Res Microbiol. 157:395-406
Koh S, Wiles AM, Sharp JS, Naider FR, Becker JM, Stacey G. (2002) An oligopeptide transporter gene family in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology, 128:21-29
Hauser M, Donhardt AM, Barnes D, Naider F, Becker JM. (2002) Enkephalins are transported by a novel eukaryotic peptide uptake system. J Biol Chem, 275:3037-3041
Hauser M, Narita V, Donhardt AM, Naider F, Becker JM. (2001) Multiplicity and regulation of genes encoding peptide transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Membr Biol, 18:105-112
Publications
