Autoregulation of the Glial Gene reversed polarity in Drosophila melanogaster
type: CreativeWork
description: During development, cells of the nervous system begin as unspecified precursors and proceed along one of two developmental paths to become either neurons or glia. I seek to understand more about the genes that control this process, focusing on the lesser understood of the cell types, glial cells. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, previous work from my lab and others has established the role of the master regulatory transcription factor Gcm in directing neuronal precursor cells to assume a lateral glial fate. Gcm acts on many target genes, one of which is reversed polarity (repo). repo is necessary for proper glial cell differentiation; once activated, its expression is maintained throughout the life of the fly through currently unknown mechanisms. I propose that repo expression is maintained in an autoregulatory manner, whereby Repo protein acts as a transcription factor on its own regulatory DNA sequence. Three canonical Repo binding sites (RBSs) are located within the 4.3 kb repo cis-regulatory DNA (CRD). Using both S2 cell culture and in vivo expression systems, I have evidence that suggests Repo protein interacts strongly with one of these sites, designated RBS1, to induce the expression of reporter genes. Mutagenesis of RBS1 results in a significant decrease of reporter gene expression in both systems, while RBS2 and RBS3 appear to have no role in autoregulation of repo expression.
abstract: During development, cells of the nervous system begin as unspecified precursors and proceed along one of two developmental paths to become either neurons or glia. I seek to understand more about the genes that control this process, focusing on the lesser understood of the cell types, glial cells. Using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, previous work from my lab and others has established the role of the master regulatory transcription factor Gcm in directing neuronal precursor cells to assume a lateral glial fate. Gcm acts on many target genes, one of which is reversed polarity (repo). repo is necessary for proper glial cell differentiation; once activated, its expression is maintained throughout the life of the fly through currently unknown mechanisms. I propose that repo expression is maintained in an autoregulatory manner, whereby Repo protein acts as a transcription factor on its own regulatory DNA sequence. Three canonical Repo binding sites (RBSs) are located within the 4.3 kb repo cis-regulatory DNA (CRD). Using both S2 cell culture and in vivo expression systems, I have evidence that suggests Repo protein interacts strongly with one of these sites, designated RBS1, to induce the expression of reporter genes. Mutagenesis of RBS1 results in a significant decrease of reporter gene expression in both systems, while RBS2 and RBS3 appear to have no role in autoregulation of repo expression.
author: Wood, Jamie L.
keywords: autoregulation, Drosophila, gcm, glia, repo, Biology
date published: 2015-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:06:44Z
provider: University of Mississippi
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Mississippi