Toni Daly
Doctor of Philosophy, (Genetics)
Study Completed: 2016
College of Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
Beyond BLASTing: Ribonucleoprotein evolution via structural prediction and ancestral sequence reconstruction
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
The relationship between proteins has traditionally been determined via the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, multiple sequence alignments and construction of phylogenetic trees. Ms Daly used a variety of free servers to predict three-dimensional structure and ancestral sequence reconstruction in order to search for structural relationships where primary sequence similarity has all but been erased over time by mutation. This sequence of techniques will enable biologists that lack access to either laboratory or to major computing facilities, to contribute to the broader base of knowledge and also to protein annotation. Her research of this technique has been used to add to the known repertoire of proteins found in the ancestor of all eukaryotes
Supervisors
Distinguished Professor David Penny
Dr Austen Ganley
Associate Professor Andrew Sutherland-Smith
Dr Lesley Collins