Miss Nicky Creux

PhD Student

Research Interests

I am a Genetics PhD student at the University of Pretoria, a member of FABI and a member of the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) group. I completed my undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology in 2002 and my BSc (Hons) degree in Genetics in 2003. In my honours project I performed transcript profiling in Eucalyptus trees, focusing on the differential expression of genes during xylogenesis. In this study I identified a number of differentially expressed transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) that could be clustered based on their differential expression patterns. The profiling was done using cDNA-AFLP-analysis on LI-COR-analysers and band quantification using AFLP-Quantar-Pro software. My supervisor for the project was Dr AA Myburg. My MSc was completed in November 2006. This research project was also under the supervision of Prof A A Myburg. In this project I used genome walking to isolate the promoters of six genes involved in cellulose synthesis in Eucalyptus. I used bioinformatic tools to isolate the orthologous regions in Arabidopsis and Populus. The Eucalyptus promoter regions and orthologous Arabidopsis and Populus regions were then used in a comparative bioinformatic study using a number of different tools to identify putative cis-regulatory elements that may play a role in the regulation of cellulose deposition. In my PhD I will be performing deletion studies and functionally testing a number of the elements identified by the bioinformatic tools in these promoter regions.

Posters and Presentations

Recent work:
Ranik M, CREUX N, Myburg AA. 2004. Transcriptome analysis of xylogenesis in Eucalyptus using cDNA-AFLP and LI-COR automated DNA analysers. Plant & Animal Genome XII Conference P610, January 10-14. San Diego, CA. (Poster presentation).
Ranik M, CREUX N, Myburg AA. 2004. High-throughput cDNA-AFLP profiling of gene expression during xylogenesis in Eucalyptus. South African Genetics Society 2004 Conference, Stellenbosh, 4 – 7 April 2004. (Poster presentation).
CREUX N, Ranik M, Myburg AA. 2007. Characterization of the promoter regions of six cellulose synthase genes in Eucalyptus grandis. American Society of Plant Biology P36046, July 1-11. Chicago, Ill. (Poster presentation).