Genetic Analyses of Pathway Specificity and Pattern Formation in Sensory Organ Precursor Selection(I)

Project: National Science and Technology CouncilNational Science and Technology Council Academic Grants

Project Details

Abstract

Development of a complex multicellular organism from a single fertilized egg is one of the most complicated processes in biology, and it is tightly regulated by genetic networks. The development of external sensory (ES) organ in fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster provides a genetically advantageous system to study how genes function and interact with each other during development. Because of the complexity of the biological processes and the limitation of the genetic and molecular approaches, it is difficult to analyze the dynamics of the whole genetic networks. To further understand how genes work within a complex network, our group and Dr. Hsu’s group have developed a computer simulated model to study the fate specification of external sensory organ precursor (SOP). SOP specification is determined by the expression of bHLH-type proneural protein and the Delta-Notch signaling pathway. Integrated studies of in-vivo approaches and the computational simulation have revealed novel insight in genetic regulation of SOP specification. In this grant, we propose to perform the following genetic experiments to further understand the complex genetic circuit in SOP development, and also to test the hypothesis obtained from the simulated model: 1. Pathway specificity and redundancy in selection of Drosophila sensory organ precursors. 2. Functions of Delta in positioning of SOP. 3. Genetic screening for novel components in regulating phyllopod expression in SOP formation.

Project IDs

Project ID:PA9408-0971
External Project ID:NSC94-2627-M182-001
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date01/08/0531/07/06

Keywords

  • SOP
  • proneural
  • pathway
  • Delta
  • phyllopod

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