Genetic analysis of planar polarity in the adult eye of drosophila melanogaster

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

Research objectives and content Tissue polarity is a fundamental property of cells. In adult cuticle of Drosophila melanogaster, polarised structures, such as bristles and hairs point posteriorly on the thorax and abdomen. The molecular basis of tissue polarity has hardly been studied and any progress in understanding will have considerable scientific impact. Experiments in Drosophila have supported earlier suggestions that tissue polarity might orient in response to a vector of a gradient of a diffusible morphogen. In spite of recent efforts to identify new tissue polarity genes, the nature of the polarity signal has remain elusive. The eye allows a new approach to this problem. I plan to study the mechanisms of cellular polarity by (i) systematically identifying genes whose products are essential for the specification of polarity in the dorsal and ventral haves of the eye and (ii) characterising the products of these candidate loci. The devised strategy to identify these genes allows the rapid scoring of a polarity phenotype in live flies. The method includes the use of silencer-trap lines that label the position of the equator in the adult eye of the living fly. Mutations will be selected by their ability to alter the expression and position of the equatorial lines in living flies. Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact) My primary goal is to identify new genes responsible for polarity as well as to discover any roles of known genes in polarity. I also hope to learn new methods of developmental genetics and molecular biology that will enable me to tackle any issue in developmental genetics in my future research work. Links with industry / industrial relevance (22) The project will have no direct link with industry, but any progress in understanding of tissue polarity will have considerable scientific impact. The identification of new polarity genes would in the long run be likely to have applications.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology · CambridgeCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

Links

• View on CORDIS