• BMB Reports
• /
• 제42권11호
• /
• pp.705-712
• /
• 2009

Our understanding of the relationships between genes, brains, and behaviors has changed a lot since the first behavioral mutants were isolated in the fly bottles of the Benzer lab at Caltech (1), but Drosophila is still an excellent model system for studying the neurobiology of behavior. Recent advances provide an unprecedented level of control over fly neural circuits. Efforts are underway to add to existing GAL4-driver lines that permit exogenous expression of genetic tools in small populations of neurons. Combining these driver lines with a variety of inducible UAS lines permits the visualization of neuronal morphology, connectivity, and activity. These driver lines also make it possible to specifically ablate, inhibit, or activate subsets of neurons and assess their roles in the generation of behavioral responses. Here, I will briefly review the extensive arsenal now available to drosophilists for investigating the neuronal control of behavior.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• 제26권6호
• /
• pp.576-582
• /
• 2008

Nervous system development takes place after positional information has been established along the dorsal-ventral (D/V) axis. The initial subdivision provided by a gradient of nuclear dorsal protein is maintained by the zygotic genes expressed along the D/V axis. In this study, an investigation was conducted to determine the range of Dpp function in repressing the expression of eagle (eg) that is present in intermediate neuroblasts defective (ind) and muscle specific homeobox (msh) gene domain. eg is expressed in neuroblast (NB) 2-4, 3-3 and 6-4 of the msh domain, and NB7-3 of the ind domain at the embryonic stage 11. In decapentaplegic (dpp) loss-of-function mutant embryos, eg was ectopically expressed in the dorsal region, while in dpp gain-of-function mutants produced by sog or sca-GAL4/UAS-dpp, eg was repressed by Dpp. It is worthy of note that Dpp produced from sim;;dpp embryos showed that Dpp could function at long range. However, Dpp produced from en-GAL4/UAS-dpp or wg-GAL4/UAS-dpp primarily acted at short-range. This result demonstrated that this discrepancy seems to be due to the repression of Dpp to EGFR signaling in sim;;dpp embryos. Taken together, these results suggest that Dpp signaling works at short-range, but can function indirectly at long-range by way of repression of EGFR signaling during embryonic neurogenesis.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
• /
• 제20권2호
• /
• pp.39-45
• /
• 2023

As advanced sequencing technologies continue to uncover an increasing number of variants in genes associated with human genetic diseases, there is a growing demand for systematic approaches to assess the impact of these variants on human development, health, and disease. While in silico analyses have provided valuable insights, it is essential to complement these findings with model organism studies to determine the functional consequences of genetic variants in vivo. Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent genetic model for such functional studies due to its efficient genetic technologies, high gene conservation with humans, accessibility to mutant fly resources, short life cycles, and cost-effectiveness. The traditional GAL4-UAS system, allowing precise control of gene expression through binary regulation, is frequently employed to assess the effects of monoallelic variants. Recombinase medicated cassette exchange or CRISPR-Cas9-mediated GAL4 insertion within coding introns or substitution of gene body with Kozak-Gal4 result in the loss-of-function of the target gene. This GAL4 insertion strategy also enables the expression of reference complementary DNA (cDNA) or cDNA carrying genetic variants under the control of endogenous regulatory cis elements. Furthermore, the CRISPR-Cas9-directed tissue-specific knockout and cDNA rescue system provides the flexibility to investigate candidate variants in a tissue-specific and/or developmental-timing dependent manner. In this review, we will delve into the diverse genetic techniques available in Drosophila and their applications in diagnosing and studying numerous undiagnosed diseases over the past decade.

• 한국환경성돌연변이발암원학회지
• /
• 제22권3호
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 2002

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are the chemicals that affect endocrine systems through activation or inhibition of steroid hormone response. It is necessary to have a good system to evaluate rapidly and accurately endocrine-disrupting activities of suspected chemicals and their degradation products. The key targets of EDs are nuclear hormone receptors, which bind to steroid hormones and regulate their gene transcription. We constructed a co-expression system of Gal4p DNA binding domain (DBD)- ligand binding domain of human estrogen receptor $\alpha$ or $\beta$, and Gal4p transactivation domain (TAD)-co-activator AIB-1, SRC-1 or TIF-2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a chromosome-integrated lacZ reporter gene under the control of CYC1 promoter and Gal4p binding site (GAL4 upstream activating sequence, GAL4$_{UAS}$). Expression of this reporter gene was dependent on the presence of estrogen or EDs in the culture medium. We found that the two-hybrid system with combination of the hER$\beta$ LBD and co-activator SRC-1 was most effective in the xenoestrogen-dependent induction of reporter activity. The extent of transcriptional activation by those chemicals correlated with their estrogenic activities measured by other assay systems, indicating that this assay system is efficient and reliable for measuring estrogenic activity. The data in this research demonstrated that the yeast detection system using steroid hormone receptor and co-activator is a useful tool for identifying chemicals that interact with steroid receptors.s.

• 상하수도학회지
• /
• 제20권6호
• /
• pp.893-904
• /
• 2006

To improve sensitivity of biosensor as yeast two-hybrid detection system for estrogenic activity of suspected chemicals, we tested effects of several combinations of the bait and fish components in the two-hybrid system on Saccharomyces cerevisiae inducted a chromosome-integrated lacZ reporter gene that was under the control of CYC1 promoter and the upstream Gal4p-binding element $UAS_{GAL}$. The bait components that were fused with the Gal4p DNA binding domain are full-length human estrogen receptor ${\alpha}$ and its ligand-binding domain. The fish components that were fused with the Gal4p transcriptional activation domain were nuclear receptor-binding domains of co-activators SRC1 and TIF2. We found that the combination of the full-length human estrogen receptor ${\alpha}$ with the nuclear receptor-binding domain of co-activator SRC1 was most effective for the estrogen-dependent induction of reporter activity among the two-hybrid systems so far reported. The relative strength of transcriptional activation by representative natural and xenobiotic chemicals was well correlated with their estrogenic potency that had been reported with other assay systems.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제19권7호
• /
• pp.866-870
• /
• 2009

Fascin은 액틴결합 단백질로 형성을 포함한 많은 발생과정에 있어서 중요한 역할을 한다. Fascin은 암세포에 대한 생체표지인자로도 잘 알려져 있다. 그러나 이러한 fascin 유전자의 발현조절기전은 현재까지 잘 알려져있다. 그러나 이러한 fascin 유전자의 발현조절기전은 현재까지 잘 알려져 있지 않다. 본 연구에서는 Raf 돌연변이 초파리에서 이미 보고 되어있는 초파리 fascin 돌연변이 초파리의 휘어진 등털 표현형을 관찰함으로써 초파리 fascin 유전자의 발현이 Raf신호체계에 의해 조절되는 가를 조사하였다. RT-PCR과 Western blot의 실험 방법으로 Raf 유전자 돌연변이 초파리에서 fascin의 발현이 감소되어 있는 것을 확인하였으며, GAL4-UAS계로 Raf를 과발현시킨 초파리에서 fascin 발현이 증가하는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 또한 세포의 증식과 이동 연구모델계로 잘 알려져 있는 초파리의 혈액세포에서 이러한 조절기전을 확인하였다. 이러한 결과들은 fascin유전자의 발현이 Raf 신호체계에 의해 조절된다는 것을 나타낸다.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제17권5호
• /
• pp.719-722
• /
• 2007

IgA nephropathy(IgAN)의 정확한 병리적 기전은 아직 완전히 알려지지 못했지만 유전적 혹은 환경적요인인 깊이 관여하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 최근엔 IgA의 구조 이상이나 과다한 IgA가 생산되어 사구체에 침착되어 병변이 일어나는 것이 보고되고 있다. Megsin은 glomerular mesangium에서 지배적으로 발현되며 IgAN에서 과발현된다. Megsin의 생물학적 기능을 이해하기위하여 인간형 megsin이 과발현하는 D. melanogaster 형질전환체(actin-gal4>UAS-Megsin fly)를 만들었다. 이 형질전환체의 유전적 표현형은 melanin deficiency-abdomen이며 도입된 유전자와 단백질의 발현은 각각 RT-PCR과 Western blotting을 로 확인되었으며 megsin 유전자는 안정적으로 자손에게 유전되었다.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제22권12호
• /
• pp.1600-1607
• /
• 2012

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)는 세포외골격의 주요 조절효소로, 배아발생, 혈관생성, 상처치료 및 조직 재생과정에 중요한 인자로 알려져 있다. MMP의 조절 이상은 비정상적 세포외골격 분해로 인해 암 전이와 같은 질병을 일으킨다. 따라서, MMP의 발현과 활성은 엄격하게 조절되고 있다. 최근, 초파리 Mmp1이 소화기관에서 강하게 발현되며, 장줄기세포의 비정상적인 활성을 억제하여 장의 항상성 유지에 중요함을 밝혔다. 하지만, 장조직에서 Mmp1의 발현 조절 기전은 아직 밝혀지지 않았다. 본 연구에서는, 장조직에서 Mmp1의 발현이 장 발생과 항상성 유지에 중요한 Caudal homeobox 유전자에 의해 조절되는지를 연구하였다. GAL4/UAS 조절계를 이용하여 장조직 특이적으로 Caudal의 발현을 감소시켰을 때, Mmp1의 발현이 감소함을 확인하였으며, Caudal을 과발현 시켰을 때, Mmp1의 발현이 증가함을 in vitro와 in vivo 실험 모두에서 확인하였다. 또한, Mmp1 promoter에 Caudal 전사인자 결합 부위가 존재하며, 이 부위가 Mmp1 발현에 중요한 역할을 함을 확인하였다. 이상의 본 연구는, 정상적 혹은 암화 과정에서 Mmp1이 Caudal의 표적 유전자일 수 있음을 의미한다.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제49권12호
• /
• pp.693-698
• /
• 2016

In this study, a tissue-specific GAL4/UAS activation tagging system was used for the characterization of genes which could induce lethality when ubiquitously expressed. A dominant mutant exhibiting stunted growth was isolated and named defective root development 1-D (drd1-D). The T-DNA tag was located within the promoter region of AtTX12, which is predicted to encode a truncated nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) protein, containing a Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain. The transcript levels of AtTX12 and defense-related genes were elevated in drd1-D, and the misexpression of AtTX12 recapitulated the drd1-D phenotypes. In the presence of ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY 1 (EDS1), a key transducer of signals triggered by TIR-type NLRs, a low-level of AtTX12 misexpression induced strong defective phenotypes including seedling lethality whereas, in the absence of EDS1, a high-level of AtTX12 misexpression induced weak growth defects like dwarfism, suggesting that AtTX12 might function mainly in an EDS1-dependent and partially in an EDS1-independent manner.

• 동의생리병리학회지
• /
• 제22권5호
• /
• pp.1215-1222
• /
• 2008

Recent studies indicate that the deposition of ${\beta}$-amyloid ($A{\beta}$) is associated with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the underlying mechanism is not clear yet. To investigate the effects of Jangwonhwangagambang (JWHG) extract on AD pathogenicity, we have generated transgenic Drosophila model in which GMR-APP-GAL4/UAS-GRIM system was designed to overexpress amyloid precursor protein(APP), We examined fly's survival ratio, flight behavior, and morphological patterns of chest and eye. We found that JWHG treatment improved fly's survival ratio by inhibiting apoptosis and flight behavior. APP-GRIM transgenic flies treated with JWHG showed had significantly lower levels of APP deposition in the chest and eye compared to control animals. JWHG treatment further inhibited chest and eye degeneration. These results suggest that JWHG prevents APP-induced neurotoxicity, and thus may be applicable for the development of preventive or therapeutic agents for AD treatment.