The adult Drosophila central nervous system is produced by two phases of
neurogenesis: the first phase occurs during embryonic development where the larval
brain is formed and the second occurs during larval development to form the adult brain.
Neurogenesis in both phases is caused by the activation of neural stem cell division and
subsequent progenitor cell division and terminal differentiation. Proper activation of
neural stem cell division in the larval brain is essential for proper patterning and
functionality of the adult central nervous system. Initiation of neural stem cell
proliferation requires signaling from the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) homolog
Branchless (Bnl) and by the Hedgehog (Hh) growth factor. I have focused on the
interactions between both of these signaling pathways with respect to post-embryonic
neural stem cell proliferation using the Drosophila larval brain.
Using proliferation assays and quantitative real-time PCR, I have shown that Bnl
and Hh signaling is inter-dependent in the 1st instar larval brain and activates neural stem cell proliferation. I have also shown that overexpression of bnl can rescue
signaling and neuroblast proliferation in a hh mutant. However, overexpression of hh
does not rescue signaling or neuroblast proliferation in a bnl mutant, suggesting that Bnl
is the signaling output of the Bnl-Hh feedback loop and that all central brain and optic
lobe neural stem cells require Bnl signaling to initiated proliferation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/85784 |
| Date | 10 October 2008 |
| Creators | Barrett, Andrea Lynn |
| Contributors | Datta, Sumana |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, born digital |
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