Study of Saymo alternative splicing forms in dendrite development in Drosophila

• Main Authors: Kow-Wei Huang, 黃國瑋
• Other Authors: Cheng -Ting Chien
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/80499176602616388564

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 神經科學研究所 === 101 === Abstract Mechanisms of neuronal development are very complicated, which can be roughly classified into two major parts: extrinsic cues, such as extracellular signals and cell-cell interaction that provide exogenous sources for attraction or repulsion. For intrinsic cues, several trafficking molecules are involved in recycling and transport of organelles and proteins, cytoskeleton stability, temporal and spatial control of genetic programming, and alternative splicing of mRNA. Recently, various studies showed how alternative splicing of mRNA increases transcript diversity to regulate developmental processes differentially. We found a novel gene “saymo” (CG43365), which encodes at least 2 translation products. The Saymo-A form contains a BTB protein-protein interaction domain and a psq-type helix-turn-helix (HTH) DNA-binding domain, whereas the Saymo-F form contains a BTB domain and a distinct C-terminus. Here, I characterized their mRNA expression in different developmental stages of Drosophila, and their subcellular localization. I used gain-of-function transgenes and loss-of-function mutants to show their distinct roles in dendrite development of Drosophila dendritic arborization (da) neurons.