Title
15. The Application of Fruit Flies in Studying Human Neurodegenerative Diseases
Faculty Mentor(s)
Jo Qian, PhD, Adam Davis, PhD
Campus
Gainesville
Proposal Type
Poster
Subject Area
Biology
Location
Nesbitt 3110
Start Date
25-3-2022 12:00 PM
End Date
25-3-2022 1:00 PM
Description/Abstract
The Application of Fruit Flies in Studying Human Neurodegenerative Diseases
Summer Gibson*, Ranah Ocampo*, Adam Davis, and Jo Qian 3820 Mundy Mill Rd, University of North Georgia, Oakwood, GA 30566
The intracellular transport of diverse cargoes, such as organelles, from one end of the axon to the other, is crucial for the survival, development, and function of a neuron. Disturbances in axonal transport are key pathological events that contribute to many neurodegenerative diseases. Fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is commonly used as a model organism to address mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases, due to the highly conserved genome between flies and humans and the simplicity of fly nervous system compared to that of humans. In this project, we focused on the fruit fly gene p150glued, which is a homolog of the human gene DCTN1. P150glued encodes the major subunit of dynactin, a protein complex that functions in intracellular transport. We performed bioinformatics studies by analyzing amino acid sequences of p150gluedbetween various model organisms. We identified the conserved aminoterminal cytoskeleton-associated protein glycine-rich (CAP-Gly) microtubule-binding domain of p150glued. We found a number of disease-associated amino acid variants present in that domain, which cause two distinct, nonoverlapping autosomal dominant neurodegenerative syndromes in humans, distal hereditary motor neuronopathy type VIIB (HMN7B) and Perry Syndrome. In addition, we performed antibody staining and immunofluorescence microscopy to visualize axonal transport in flies. We found the process of axonal transport was disrupted in the loss-of-function mutation of the p150glued third-instar larvae, possibly due to deadly traffic jams on neuronal highways. This project sheds light on the function of p150glued by revealing its potential role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases
Media Format
flash_audio
15. The Application of Fruit Flies in Studying Human Neurodegenerative Diseases
Nesbitt 3110
The Application of Fruit Flies in Studying Human Neurodegenerative Diseases
Summer Gibson*, Ranah Ocampo*, Adam Davis, and Jo Qian 3820 Mundy Mill Rd, University of North Georgia, Oakwood, GA 30566
The intracellular transport of diverse cargoes, such as organelles, from one end of the axon to the other, is crucial for the survival, development, and function of a neuron. Disturbances in axonal transport are key pathological events that contribute to many neurodegenerative diseases. Fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is commonly used as a model organism to address mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases, due to the highly conserved genome between flies and humans and the simplicity of fly nervous system compared to that of humans. In this project, we focused on the fruit fly gene p150glued, which is a homolog of the human gene DCTN1. P150glued encodes the major subunit of dynactin, a protein complex that functions in intracellular transport. We performed bioinformatics studies by analyzing amino acid sequences of p150gluedbetween various model organisms. We identified the conserved aminoterminal cytoskeleton-associated protein glycine-rich (CAP-Gly) microtubule-binding domain of p150glued. We found a number of disease-associated amino acid variants present in that domain, which cause two distinct, nonoverlapping autosomal dominant neurodegenerative syndromes in humans, distal hereditary motor neuronopathy type VIIB (HMN7B) and Perry Syndrome. In addition, we performed antibody staining and immunofluorescence microscopy to visualize axonal transport in flies. We found the process of axonal transport was disrupted in the loss-of-function mutation of the p150glued third-instar larvae, possibly due to deadly traffic jams on neuronal highways. This project sheds light on the function of p150glued by revealing its potential role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases