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A Genetic, Transgenic, And Transcriptomic Analysis Of Larval Salivary Gland Physiology In Drosophila Melanogaster, Elana A. Paladino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cholesterol is the precursor to a unique class of lipophilic signaling molecules called steroid hormones that initiate the development of sexual characteristics, reactions to stress, and maintenance of metabolism, among many other functions. Although much progress has been made in understanding the function of these signaling hormones, we do not fully understand how a single steroid can cause many distinct, tissue-specific responses. Drosophila melanogaster is an effective model for understanding steroid hormone action because of its simplicity. The steroid molting hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (hereafter, 20E) is the primary active steroid in Drosophila and mediates not only larval molts and the emergence …