Molecular Biology Commons^™

Frazzled And Abelson Interact To Regulate The Actin Cytoskeleton In Drosophila, Bridget Elsa Varughese

Wayne State University Dissertations

Guidance receptors such as Frazzled affect cell shape and motility by directly or indirectly modulating the cytoskeleton. Fra is particularly needed for the formation of the posterior commissures in a developing Drosophila embryo. The cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase, Abelson Kinase (Abl) enhances the loss of commissures observed in fra mutant. Abl physically interacts with Frazzled to help guide commissural axons across the midline. Furthermore, the loss of commissural axons is only seen when the actin dynamics are perturbed. Abl is also known to regulate actin-dependent processes underlying formation of filopodia, microspikes and membrane ruffles. So, we established a Drosophila S2 cell …