Identification of Region-specific Targets of Wingless Signalling in Drosophila Melanogaster Using Oligonucleotide Microarrays

Download or read book Identification of Region-specific Targets of Wingless Signalling in Drosophila Melanogaster Using Oligonucleotide Microarrays written by Miranda Jayne Butler and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goal of this study in developmental genetics was to identify targets of Wingless signalling specific to the notal region of the wing imaginal disc in Drosophila melanogaster. RNA expression profiling of tissue-was carried out using oligonucleotide microarray technology. First a comparison was made of RNA profiles of surgically separated notum and wing pouch tissue, identifying 94 transcripts showing enriched expression in the notal region. The spatial expression patterns of a number of the genes identified were Investigated using in situ hybridisation. Notum specific genes were identified, which were specifically expressed in epithelial, adepithelial or tracheal tissue, suggesting they could be involved in the development of these tissues. Mutant wing discs were created, by manipulating wingless expression in the disc, resulting in replacement of the wing pouch region by a duplicate notum. These wing discs had greatly reduced wingless activity, and so comparison of the RNA profile of this tissue with the surgically separated notal tissue permitted identification of potential Wingless targets in this tissue. Several transcripts showed a response to wingless signalling, and the putative functions of these genes suggested that there might be new roles for Wingless in the notum. A small subset of these genes was selected, that were specifically expressed in the notum, and their response to manipulation of Wingless signalling was investigated. The gene encoding Glucose dehydrogenase (Gld), which was found to be activated by Wingless signalling, was selected for further study. 11.