Shabd Shienh
Research Mentor: Laura Buttitta
Mentor Department: MCDB, LSA
Author(s): Shabd Shienh, Laura Buttitta
Session: Session 6 (3:00 PM – 3:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 25
Abstract
Organisms often use compensatory growth methods to recover lost cell mass after tissue damage or cell loss. Tissues can utilize traditional methods of growth such as mitotic division to restore lost cells, but many tissues including the heart, liver, and kidney additionally use endocycles and endomitosis as alternate methods. These cell cycles engage in DNA replication without dividing into smaller cells, resulting in cells containing multiple copies of the genome in a state known as polyploidy. We recently discovered that the Drosophila prostate uses endocycles to contribute to compensatory growth after cell loss. The pathway that triggers these endocycles is currently unknown, but the Juvenile Hormone (JH) signaling pathway is a strong prospect. This pathway behaves similarly to the mammalian retinoic acid signaling pathway, known to promote regenerative growth in many mammalian organs. The liver is a particularly prominent site of hormonally regulated cell generation to use for observation of this pathway. This study examines how alterations in the JH signaling pathway regulators impact cell size in the Drosophila prostate and the larval fat body, which is equivalent to a liver. Genetic manipulations like RNAi, overexpression, and heat shock inducible flippase in specific tissues are used to alter key regulators in the pathway to increase or decrease JH production. The effects of the resultant signaling changes on cell and tissue size are examined through dissection, isolation, and microscopy of larval and adult fly tissues.
