Regulation of Matrix metalloproteinase 2 Expression by E93 during Fat Body Remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster
Date
2012-05-17
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Abstract
Regulation of Matrix metalloproteinase 2 Expression by E93 during Fat Body Remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster
Student presenter: Nshunge Musheshe
Project advisor: Craig Woodard
Changes in Drosophila melanogaster occur as the larva undergoes a complete transformation during metamorphosis to give rise to the adult. During this transformation some larval tissues are destroyed while other larval tissues such as the fat body which is involved in fueling metamorphosis undergo proliferation and differentiation .
The steroid-regulated gene, E93, plays an important role in larval salivary gland and midgut programmed cell death early in metamorphosis . E93 protein is bound to the sites of steroid-regulated genes and cell death genes on polytene chromosomes. E93 mutants possess larval salivary glands that fail to undergo steroid-triggered programmed cell death. This indicates that E93 may control the pupal-specific responses of many target genes since it is required for preformation at the pupal stage . It has been shown that the remodeling of the fat body in Drosophila melanogaster requires expression of Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), presumably to break down the extracellular matrix (ECM) holding the tissue together . The remodeling of the larval fat body takes place during early metamorphosis and it involves the dissociation of the polygonal tissue of closely associated cells into individualized spherical cells. Fat body remodeling is divided into three stages: retraction, disaggregation, and detachment . The detachment phase of fat body remodeling occurs concurrently with expression of MMP2 during the prepupal to pupal transition stage .
Past research has shown that ecdysone signaling cascades are required for fat body remodeling. During the second pulse of 20E, the most active form of ecdysone, both E93 and MMP2 are expressed. In my research I examine E93 loss-of-function mutants and wild type for expression of MMP2 transcripts in fat body to test the hypothesis that E93 regulates transcription levels of MMP2 during fat body remodeling in Drosophila melanogaster.
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MMP2, E93, Downregulation of MMP2, Regulation of MMP2 Expression by E93