Investigating the role of putative regeneration genes of Notophthalmus viridescens using Drosophila melanogaster model.
Presenter(s)
Abijeet S Mehta
Files
Description
Notophthalmus viridescens, Red-spotted newt, possess amazing capability to regenerate its organs including tail, limb, heart, brain, spinal cord, lens and other tissues. We have identified a novel family of proteins expressed in adult tissues during regeneration in newts by using a de novo assembly of the newt transcriptome that is combined with proteomic validation. Although, these proteins have no counterparts in public databases, they have a putative signal peptide suggesting the secretory nature of these proteins. To investigate the regeneration potential of these newt-specific genes (and given certain restrains with transgenic newts, such as time), we employed transgenic Drosophila melanogaster model to express these genes. We generated the transgenic flies containing candidate genes, and tried to evaluate their potential to rescue pattern defect mutants of Drosophila melanogaster. Simultaneously, we prepared samples for RNA sequencing to generate the snap shot of gene expression when the candidate genes are misexpressed. Using transgenic approach, these candidate genes were expressed in all the tissues of Drosophila, and samples for sequencing were collected at third instar larval (L3) stage. Interestingly, we have found that these genes are affecting regulatory machinery of Drosophila melanogaster by binding to the sequence specific sites in DNA and regulating the genes involved in Apoptosis and cell cycle. We are further evaluating the potential of these novel genes to rescue pattern defect mutants of Drosophila melanogaster. Our hypothesis is that if these genes are responsible for regeneration they will be able to rescue developmental cell death. The results generated from these studies will be presented in the conference.
Publication Date
4-5-2017
Project Designation
Graduate Research - Graduate
Primary Advisor
Amit Singh, Panagiotis A. Tsonis
Primary Advisor's Department
Biology
Keywords
Stander Symposium project
Recommended Citation
"Investigating the role of putative regeneration genes of Notophthalmus viridescens using Drosophila melanogaster model." (2017). Stander Symposium Projects. 1096.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/1096
