TexasScholarWorks
    • Login
    • Submit
    View Item 
    •   Repository Home
    • Student Works
    • Honors Theses
    • View Item
    • Repository Home
    • Student Works
    • Honors Theses
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Overexpression of the isolated protease domain of the Nudel protein does not affect Dorsal-Ventral polarity determination in Drosophila

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Kang_BIO_08.pdf (134.0Kb)
    Date
    2008
    Author
    Kang, Minjung
    Share
     Facebook
     Twitter
     LinkedIn
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Most of living organisms begin life from one-cell egg. Generally, an egg begins developments after it gets fertilized. From very early stages, however, depending on the locations in an embryo, each embryonic cell undergoes specific patterns of differentiation. Therefore, the determination and recognition of spatial coordination within an embryo are important before any other developmental events can occur. Due to the lack of zygotic genome, many embryos initially use maternal materials to generate the axes of head-to-tail (Anterior-Posterior, AP) and back-to-belly (Dorsal-Ventral, DV). Also, the environmental surroundings, such as the presence of an egg shell structure, can also influence the axes. In Drosophila, the existence of follicle cells surrounding the egg during its formation, which provide nutrition and genetic materials to an egg, generates asymmetrical egg shape. With the ability to distinguish specific region in the egg, researchers found the localization of maternal genetic materials at particular sites within the egg, and showed them to be responsible for the determination of the axes. Those maternal genes were identified to work as switches that will turn on and off zygotic genes we need to be expressed at a specific region or at the specific timing during development. Although the individual functions of maternal genes have been studies in artificial conditions, the combinatorial activities of those materials in living cells are still not fully understood. Mutations affecting the Nudel protein, one of the maternal gene products involved in development, produce an abnormal dorsal-ventral polarity in an embryo or an embryo with aberrant eggshell structure, depending on the position of the mutation within the protein. The unusually large size of protein Nudel is composed of several parts showing different functions. The increasing amount of one portion of protein Nudel, which has a function as an enzyme, does not affect the determination of DV axis or development of eggshell structure. Further research should address the functionality of Nudel protease whether it requires direct activities of Nudel protein or it has the correct construct to express the protease.
    Department
    Biological Sciences, School of
    Subject
    College of Natural Sciences
    Drosophila
    Nudel protein
    dorsal-ventral axis
    Nudel protease
    dorsal-ventral polarity
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/2152/13365
    Collections
    • Honors Theses

    University of Texas at Austin Libraries
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • instagram
    • youtube
    • CONTACT US
    • MAPS & DIRECTIONS
    • JOB OPPORTUNITIES
    • UT Austin Home
    • Emergency Information
    • Site Policies
    • Web Accessibility Policy
    • Web Privacy Policy
    • Adobe Reader
    Subscribe to our NewsletterGive to the Libraries

    © The University of Texas at Austin

     

     

    Browse

    Entire RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsDate IssuedAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentsThis CollectionDate IssuedAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartments

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Information

    About Contact Policies Getting Started Glossary Help FAQs

    University of Texas at Austin Libraries
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • instagram
    • youtube
    • CONTACT US
    • MAPS & DIRECTIONS
    • JOB OPPORTUNITIES
    • UT Austin Home
    • Emergency Information
    • Site Policies
    • Web Accessibility Policy
    • Web Privacy Policy
    • Adobe Reader
    Subscribe to our NewsletterGive to the Libraries

    © The University of Texas at Austin