Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biology / Alexander E. Beeser / Multiple signaling pathways regulate development of the posterior zebrafish body, which is derived from a population of progenitor cells called the tailbud, a structure formed at the end of gastrulation. Fate specification and differentiation are closely linked with cell migration to ensure that, as some cells exit the tailbud and differentiate, other cells are retained in the tailbud as undifferentiated precursors to support later growth. The role of BMP signaling in specifying cell fate in the tailbud has been well-characterized. Among the lost ventral tissues like ventral tailfin and cloaca, embryos with compromised BMP signaling produce a curious phenotype-a ventrally located secondary tail containing both somitic muscle and notochord. This phenotype is proposed to be a fate-patterning defect when the BMP gradient lowered to a precise level. However, this morphogen mode is insufficient to explain secondary tail formation without considering BMP also regulates morphogenetic movements during gastrulation, promoting the convergence of lateral mesodermal cells towards the dorsal axis. In this study, we provide evidence that BMP signaling continues to mediate cell movements during tail development. Our data indicate that BMP signaling is activated in the ventroposterior tailbud to promote cell migration during tailbud protrusion, and that it is the defective migration of these cells which ultimately leads to bifurcation of the CNH domain, a presumptive stem cell pool in the tailbud, and formation of a secondary tail in BMP mutants. In parallel, the morphogenesis of tailbud cells is known to be under the control of noncanonical Wnt signaling, although the exact nature of the defect remains unclear. We find that inhibition of noncanonical Wnt signaling also leads to secondary tail formation. Additionally, we show that noncanonical Wnt signaling interacts with BMP signaling to maintain CNH integrity by affecting cadherin localization in CNH cells, possibly disrupting cell cohesion. We propose a model that BMP and a noncanonical Wnt pathway regulate tail morphogenesis by controlling cell migration and cell adhesion within the tailbud.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Division of Biology / Rollie J. Clem / Mosquitoes are carriers of a variety of harmful human pathogens, including viruses. In order to be successfully transmitted, a virus must evade mosquito immune responses. In this work, the innate immune role of apoptosis in mosquito-virus interactions was examined utilizing the disease vector Aedes aegypti and Sindbis virus. Ae. aegypti is the main vector for yellow fever and dengue virus, which result in over 100 million infections per year. Sindbis virus (Togaviridae) can be transmitted to vertebrates by Ae. aegypti in the laboratory. Sindbis is also well characterized molecularly, making it a good model system for understanding virus-vector interactions. Sindbis MRE-16 recombinant virus clones were utilized to express either an antiapoptotic or pro-apoptotic gene during virus replication. Mosquitoes were infected with recombinant virus clones during a blood meal or by intrathoracic injection. Midgut tissue and whole body samples were analyzed for virus infection and dissemination. Virus was also quantified in saliva and mosquito survival was assayed. Decreased infection in the midgut and delayed virus replication were observed in mosquitoes that were infected with virus expressing a pro-apoptotic gene. Infection with this virus clone also resulted in less virus in the saliva and reduced survival of infected mosquitoes. In addition, negative selection against pro-apoptotic gene expression during virus replication was observed. Collectively, these data suggest that apoptosis can serve as an antiviral defense in Ae. aegypti and may potentially be exploited to control virus transmission. An additional study included in this dissertation focused on zebrafish development and migration of somitic precursors from the tailbud. The tailbud consists of a population of stem cells at the posterior tip of the embryonic tail. The exit of these stem cells from the tailbud is required for the formation of tail somites. A novel double mutant was identified that lacked the t-box transcription factor spadetail and the BMP inhibitor chordin. Double mutants completely lacked somites and had an enlarged tailbud due to accumulation of stem cells that were unable to exit the tailbud. This study indicates the importance of BMP inhibition and spadetail expression in the proper exit of muscle precursors from the tailbud.