Search results for "Dros"
showing 10 items of 1330 documents
GW-Bodies and P-Bodies Constitute Two Separate Pools of Sequestered Non-Translating RNAs
2015
Non-translating RNAs that have undergone active translational repression are culled from the cytoplasm into P-bodies for decapping-dependent decay or for sequestration. Organisms that use microRNA-mediated RNA silencing have an additional pathway to remove RNAs from active translation. Consequently, proteins that govern microRNA-mediated silencing, such as GW182/Gw and AGO1, are often associated with the P-bodies of higher eukaryotic organisms. Due to the presence of Gw, these structures have been referred to as GW-bodies. However, several reports have indicated that GW-bodies have different dynamics to P-bodies. Here, we use live imaging to examine GW-body and P-body dynamics in the early …
Modeling of Myotonic Dystrophy Cardiac Phenotypes in Drosophila
2018
After respiratory distress, cardiac dysfunction is the second most common cause of fatality associated with the myotonic dystrophy (DM) disease. Despite the prevalance of heart failure in DM, physiopathological studies on heart symptoms have been relatively scarce because few murine models faithfully reproduce the cardiac disease. Consequently, only a small number of candidate compounds have been evaluated in this specific phenotype. To help cover this gap Drosophila combines the amenability of its invertebrate genetics with the possibility of quickly acquiring physiological parameters suitable for meaningful comparisons with vertebrate animal models and humans. Here we review available des…
Intra-neuronal Competition for Synaptic Partners Conserves the Amount of Dendritic Building Material
2017
Brain development requires correct targeting of multiple thousand synaptic terminals onto staggeringly complex dendritic arbors. The mechanisms by which input synapse numbers are matched to dendrite size, and by which synaptic inputs from different transmitter systems are correctly partitioned onto a postsynaptic arbor, are incompletely understood. By combining quantitative neuroanatomy with targeted genetic manipulation of synaptic input to an identified Drosophila neuron, we show that synaptic inputs of two different transmitter classes locally direct dendrite growth in a competitive manner. During development, the relative amounts of GABAergic and cholinergic synaptic drive shift dendrit…
Retinal homeobox promotes cell growth, proliferation and survival of mushroom body neuroblasts in the Drosophila brain.
2016
Abstract The Drosophila mushroom bodies, centers of olfactory learning and memory in the fly ‘forebrain’, develop from a set of neural stem cells (neuroblasts) that generate a large number of Kenyon cells (KCs) during sustained cell divisions from embryonic to late pupal stage. We show that retinal homeobox ( rx ), encoding for an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor, is required for proper development of the mushroom bodies. Throughout development rx is expressed in mushroom body neuroblasts (MBNBs), their ganglion mother cells (MB-GMCs) and young KCs. In the absence of rx function, MBNBs form correctly but exhibit a reduction in cell size and mitotic activity, whereas overexpress…
Rabphilin involvement in filtration and molecular uptake in Drosophila nephrocytes suggests a similar role in human podocytes
2020
ABSTRACT Drosophila nephrocytes share functional, structural and molecular similarities with human podocytes. It is known that podocytes express the rabphilin 3A (RPH3A)-RAB3A complex, and its expression is altered in mouse and human proteinuric disease. Furthermore, we previously identified a polymorphism that suggested a role for RPH3A protein in the development of urinary albumin excretion. As endocytosis and vesicle trafficking are fundamental pathways for nephrocytes, the objective of this study was to assess the role of the RPH3A orthologue in Drosophila, Rabphilin (Rph), in the structure and function of nephrocytes. We confirmed that Rph is required for the correct function of the en…
Adaptation of gene loci to heterochromatin in the course of Drosophila evolution is associated with insulator proteins.
2020
AbstractPericentromeric heterochromatin is generally composed of repetitive DNA forming a transcriptionally repressive environment. Dozens of genes were embedded into pericentromeric heterochromatin during evolution of Drosophilidae lineage while retaining activity. However, factors that contribute to insusceptibility of gene loci to transcriptional silencing remain unknown. Here, we find that the promoter region of genes that can be embedded in both euchromatin and heterochromatin exhibits a conserved structure throughout the Drosophila phylogeny and carries motifs for binding of certain chromatin remodeling factors, including insulator proteins. Using ChIP-seq data, we demonstrate that ev…
Evolutionary conserved role of eukaryotic translation factor eIF5A in the regulation of actin-nucleating formins
2017
AbstractElongation factor eIF5A is required for the translation of consecutive prolines, and was shown in yeast to translate polyproline-containing Bni1, an actin-nucleating formin required for polarized growth during mating. Here we show that Drosophila eIF5A can functionally replace yeast eIF5A and is required for actin-rich cable assembly during embryonic dorsal closure (DC). Furthermore, Diaphanous, the formin involved in actin dynamics during DC, is regulated by and mediates eIF5A effects. Finally, eIF5A controls cell migration and regulates Diaphanous levels also in mammalian cells. Our results uncover an evolutionary conserved role of eIF5A regulating cytoskeleton-dependent processes…
Optical Cross-Sectional Muscle Area Determination of <em>Drosophila Melanogaster</em> Adult Indirect Flight Muscles
2018
Muscle mass wasting, known as muscle atrophy, is a common phenotype in Drosophila models of neuromuscular diseases. We have used the indirect flight muscles (IFMs) of flies, specifically the dorso-longitudinal muscles (DLM), as the experimental subject to measure the atrophic phenotype brought about by different genetic causes. In this protocol, we describe how to embed fly thorax muscles for semi thin sectioning, how to obtain a good contrast between muscle and the surrounding tissue, and how to process optical microscope images for semiautomatic acquisition of quantifiable data and analysis. We describe three specific applications of the methodological pipeline. First, we show how the met…
ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Metaviridae
2020
Metaviridae is a family of retrotransposons and reverse-transcribing viruses with long terminal repeats belonging to the order Ortervirales. Members of the genera Errantivirus and Metavirus include, respectively, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ty3 virus and its Gypsy-like relatives in drosophilids. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the family Metaviridae, which is available at ictv.global/report/metaviridae.
m6A modulates neuronal functions and sex determination in Drosophila
2016
N6-methyladenosine RNA (m6A) is a prevalent messenger RNA modification in vertebrates. Although its functions in the regulation of post-transcriptional gene expression are beginning to be unveiled, the precise roles of m6A during development of complex organisms remain unclear. Here we carry out a comprehensive molecular and physiological characterization of the individual components of the methyltransferase complex, as well as of the YTH domain-containing nuclear reader protein in Drosophila melanogaster. We identify the member of the split ends protein family, Spenito, as a novel bona fide subunit of the methyltransferase complex. We further demonstrate important roles of this complex in …