You have been working on developing a novel, testable question on a gene regulation-related topic. What is the most challenging aspect of it and why?

For my final project, I have been working on developing a novel testable question about a gene called pho88. When choosing a topic, I wanted to select a gene that very little was known about so that I could have a very wide array of experiments and options to choose from. Pho88 is gene related to the phosphate transport pathway in yeast, but as no research was done specifically on this gene, and therefore it is definitely poorly understood. Unexpectedly, this aspect of it has made it quite difficult for me to narrow my focus down to one testable question about it because so much could still be discovered about it. Specifically, I have found that the pho88 mutant has many phenotypic similarities to pho86, another phosphate transport gene. Both of these proteins have proven to localize in the ER membrane of yeast, suggesting possible interaction or interaction in the same pathway. More importantly however, an up regulation in certain phosphate transport genes was seen in the double mutant of pho88 and pho86 under high phosphate conditions. This affect on gene regulation is the opposite of what occurs in wild-type yeast, and therefore it suggests that pho88 and/or pho86 could influence gene regulation. This is the knowledge gap I will be investigating in my project. However, since it is known that pho86 interacts with other phosphate transport proteins in yeast (such as pho84), I also want to test interactions between pho88 and these proteins, as well as pho88 with pho86. All of these observations have sparked my interest in pho88 and what its role is in the phosphate transport pathway, but they have also made it difficult for me to choose only one or two experiments to “conduct” in my project.