Molecular Genetics Commons^™

Lobe And Serrate Are Required For Cell Survival During Early Eye Development In Drosophila, Amit Singh, Xiao Shi, Kwang-Wook Choi

Biology Faculty Publications

Organogenesis involves an initial surge of cell proliferation, leading to differentiation. This is followed by cell death in order to remove extra cells. During early development, there is little or no cell death. However, there is a lack of information concerning the genes required for survival during the early cell-proliferation phase. Here, we show that Lobe (L) and the Notch (N) ligand Serrate (Ser), which are both involved in ventral eye growth, are required for cell survival in the early eye disc. We observed that the loss-of-ventral-eye phenotype in L or Ser mutants is due to …

The Fat Cadherin Acts Through The Hippo Tumor-Suppressor Pathway To Regulate Tissue Size, Maria Willecke, Fisun Hamaratoglu, Madhuri Kango-Singh, Ryan Udan, Chiao-Lin Chen, Chunyao Tao, Xinwei Zhang, Georg Halder

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: The Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway has emerged as a key signaling pathway that controls tissue size in Drosophila. Merlin, the Drosophila homolog of the human Neurofibromatosis type-2 (NF2) tumor-suppressor gene, and the related protein Expanded are the most upstream components of the Hippo pathway identified so far. However, components acting upstream of Expanded and Merlin, such as transmembrane receptors, have not yet been identified.

Results: Here, we report that the protocadherin Fat acts as an upstream component in the Hippo pathway. Fat is a known tumor-suppressor gene in Drosophila, and fat mutants have severely overgrown imaginal discs. We …

Expression Of The Primary Carbohydrate Component Of The Bordetella Bronchiseptica Biofilm Matrix Is Dependent On Growth Phase But Independent Of Bvg Regulation, Yasuhiko Irie, Andrew Preston, Ming H. Yuk

Biology Faculty Publications

We previously showed that the Bvg virulence control system regulates biofilm formation in Bordetella bronchiseptica (Y. Irie, S. Mattoo, and M. H. Yuk, J. Bacteriol. 186:5692-5698, 2004). Analyses of the extracellular components of B. bronchiseptica biofilm matrix revealed that the major sugar component in the matrix was xylose, and linkage analysis indicated a majority of it to be in a 4-linked polymeric form. The production of xylose was independent of Bvg regulation but instead was dependent on bacterial growth phase. In addition, N-acetyl-glucosamine in the matrix was found to be important for the initial development of the biofilm. These …

Overexpression And Purification Of The Oat (Avena Fatua) Protein Afn1 And Construction Of A Pmal/Afn1 Expression Plasmid, Tenzin D. Tsewang

Undergraduate Research Symposium (UGRS)

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important phytohormone with regulatory roles in many physiological processes. ABA expression is induced by environmental stresses such as drought and it is known to be an inhibitor of seed germination. A wild oat (Avena fatua) called AFN1 has been hypothesized to initiate the early stages of germination as its mRNA accumulates in nondormant seed embryos during imbibition. The polypeptide sequence of AFN1 suggests that it is an ABA glucosyl transferase. Glucosylation by AFN1 and thereby inactivation of ABA could lead to seed germination. In order to understand the role of AFN1 in germination, an ample …

Eye Development At The Houston "Fly Meeting", Amit Singh

Biology Faculty Publications

Meeting report: The 47th Annual Drosophila Research Conference or "Fly Meeting" took place at Houston, Texas, USA from March 29th- April 2nd, 2006, under the aegis of the Genetics Society of America. The Fly Meeting provides an excellent opportunity for fly researchers to present their work and to get a snapshot of recent developments and upcoming trends in their research field. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a very versatile model to study growth, patterning, neural development, evolution, systemetics and various other facets of biomedical science. The topics presented in the meeting covered a very broad spectrum of fly research. …

Characterization Of The Wheat Grain Pkaba1-Interacting Protein Tawd40, Natalie Wayne

Undergraduate Research Symposium (UGRS)

Abscisic acid (ABA)-mediated gene expression is a critical component of plant responses to this important hormone, which affects plant growth, development, and responses to environmental stresses. Plant responses to ABA are mediated by a number of factors including PKABA1, an ABA induced protein kinase involved in ABA-suppressed gene expression in cereal grains, and TaWD40, which has previously been shown to physically interact with PKABA1. A full-length 1.9 kb TaWD40 cDNA, CK210682, was sequenced as part of this project. Based on the deduced protein sequence, it is thought that TaWD40 may belong to the family of E3 ubiquitin ligases, possibly targeting …