1992 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Molecular Analysis of the A63 Gene That Is Essential for Drosophila Neurogenesis
| Project/Area Number |
03833038
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
分子細胞生物学
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| Research Institution | National Institute of Neuroscience, NCNP |
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Principal Investigator |
MATSUZAKI Fumio National Institute of Neuroscience, NCNP. Dept. of Molecular Genetics. Section Chief, 神経研究所・遺伝子工学研究部, 室長 (10173824)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NABESHIMA Yoichi National Institute of Neuroscience, NCNP. Dept. of Molecular Genetics. Departmen, 神経研究所・遺伝子工学研究部, 部長 (60108024)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1991 – 1992
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| Keywords | Drosophila melanogaster / Neurogenesis / prospero / Neural precursor cells / Post-transcriptional control / 前駆細胞 / 転写調節 / 多様性 |
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| Research Abstract |
The Drosophila central nervous system comprises an enormous diversity of neurons that are originated from neuronal stem cells, neuroblasts. They generate a specific series of ganglion mother cells, each of which is once cleaved into a pair of neurons. Neuronal identity seems to be determined by neuroblasts from which, and by lineages through which neurons are born. While much is not known about the molecular process for individual neurons to correctly acquire their identity, it has been shown that cell fate determination in the developing central nervous system involves segmentation genes that are known to control the establishment of the segmental structure in early embryogenesis.
We have screened for mutations in genes controlling neurogenesis by the enhancer trap method, and identified the prospero (pros) gene that is required for neurogenesis. Loss of pros function causes lethal defects in the neural morphology, and abnormal expression patterns of segmentation genes, fushitarazu (ftz), even-skipped (eve) and engrailed (en) in the central nervous system, resulting in wrong path finding of axons in some identified neurons. To understand how pros functions, we have isolated the pros gene. pros encodes a nuclear protein containing a homeodomain-like sequence. In neuronal lineages of the central nervous system, pros protein is specifically detected in ganglion mother cells, although their parental neuroblasts have begun expressing a significant level of pros transcripts, suggesting a post-transcriptional control of pros expression. Our results provoke that in neuronal cell differentiation ganglion mother cells might play a pivotal role associating with the pros function.
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