Regulation of Drosophila Fat Body Remodeling by Brain-secreted Drosophila Insulin-Like Peptides During Metamorphosis
Date
2022-06-08
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Abstract
Understanding the role of the brain in regulating peripheral metabolic activities may help unveil mechanisms underlying metabolic disorders. Drosophila melanogaster is a widely-used animal model for biological research, given its relatively inexpensive maintenance and short life cycle. Notably, during the critical developmental stage of metamorphosis in Drosophila, the peripheral adipose tissue, the larval fat body (FB), receives signals from three brain-secreted Drosophila Insulin-like Peptides (DILPs). This interaction is one form of brain-body communication, and I aimed to study the effects of DILPs on the progression of larval FB remodeling during metamorphosis.
To examine the same, I generated two groups of transgenic flies with enhanced and suppressed insulin secretion by insulin-producing neurons at 30˚C. Transgenic and wild-type pupae were collected at the beginning of metamorphosis, incubated at 30˚C to induce enhanced or suppressed DILP-secretion, and aged to different times after puparium formation (APF). Animals were then dissected to examine the degree of FB dissociation.
A new quantitative method was developed to quantify the percentage of FB dissociation. Through linear regression analysis, the rate of FB dissociation APF was compared across three genotypes. Our data suggested that transient change in DILP-secretion from the beginning of metamorphosis did not significantly affect FB remodeling.
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Drosophila, Fat Body, Quantification, Python, Image Processing, Development