Correlation of guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase activity and the synthesis of pterins in Drosophila melanogaster

1976 ◽  
Vol 14 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Fan ◽  
L. M. Hall ◽  
A. J. Skrinska ◽  
G. M. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Guanosine Triphosphate

A maternal product of the Punch locus of Drosophila melanogaster is required for precellular blastoderm nuclear divisions

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (12) ◽  
pp. 3501-3513 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Chen ◽  
E.R. Reynolds ◽  
G. Ranganayakulu ◽  
J.M. O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Mitotic Spindles ◽  
Guanosine Triphosphate ◽  
Protein Levels ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Essentially Normal ◽  
Chromosome Separation ◽  
Oocyte Cytoplasm ◽  
Mitotic Figures ◽  
Pteridine Biosynthesis

The Punch locus of Drosophila melanogaster encodes the pteridine biosynthesis enzyme guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase. One class of Punch mutants is defective for a maternal function that results in embryonic death. We demonstrate here that the embryos exhibit nuclear division defects during the precellular blastoderm stage of development. These defects include abnormal nuclear distribution, mitotic asynchrony, and persisting chromatin bridges. Daughter nuclei that do not complete chromosome separation nevertheless initiate new interphase and mitotic cycles. As a result, interconnected mitotic figures are observed. Mitotic spindles and nuclear envelopes appear essentially normal. A mutant phenocopy was induced in wild-type embryos by treatment with the guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase inhibitor, 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine, at a very early cleavage stage. Furthermore, an inhibitor of a terminal step in pteridine biosynthesis produced an identical phenotype. Immunolocalization experiments define expression of Punch protein in nurse cells during oogenesis. The protein is packaged into granules as it is transported into the oocyte cytoplasm. As syncytial blastoderm nuclear divisions proceed, Punch protein levels decrease and disappear by cellularization. Defects in the expression of the protein in Punch maternal effect mutants correlate well with the early phenotypes. These results show that a Punch product is directly involved in early nuclear divisions and suggest a possible role in chromosome separation.

Author response for "Location and arrangement of campaniform sensilla in Drosophila melanogaster"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gesa F. Dinges ◽  
Alexander S. Chockley ◽  
Till Bockemühl ◽  
Kei Ito ◽  
Alexander Blanke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Author Response ◽  
Campaniform Sensilla

Live Confocal Analysis of Fertilization and Early Development

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1012-1013
Author(s):  
Uyen Tram ◽  
William Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Fluorescent Probes ◽  
Primary Defect ◽  
Fluorescent Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Event ◽  
Enormous Amount ◽  
Fluorescent Studies

Embryonic development is a dynamic event and is best studied in live animals in real time. Much of our knowledge of the early events of embryogenesis, however, comes from immunofluourescent analysis of fixed embryos. While these studies provide an enormous amount of information about the organization of different structures during development, they can give only a static glimpse of a very dynamic event. More recently real-time fluorescent studies of living embryos have become much more routine and have given new insights to how different structures and organelles (chromosomes, centrosomes, cytoskeleton, etc.) are coordinately regulated. This is in large part due to the development of commercially available fluorescent probes, GFP technology, and newly developed sensitive fluorescent microscopes. For example, live confocal fluorescent analysis proved essential in determining the primary defect in mutations that disrupt early nuclear divisions in Drosophila melanogaster. For organisms in which GPF transgenics is not available, fluorescent probes that label DNA, microtubules, and actin are available for microinjection.

Apoptosis and development

2003 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 11-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin V McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Cell Number ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Apoptotic Pathway ◽  
Genetic Pathways ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Multicellular Organisms

Apoptosis is an evolutionarily conserved process used by multicellular organisms to developmentally regulate cell number or to eliminate cells that are potentially detrimental to the organism. The large diversity of regulators of apoptosis in mammalian cells and their numerous interactions complicate the analysis of their individual functions, particularly in development. The remarkable conservation of apoptotic mechanisms across species has allowed the genetic pathways of apoptosis determined in lower species, such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, to act as models for understanding the biology of apoptosis in mammalian cells. Though many components of the apoptotic pathway are conserved between species, the use of additional model organisms has revealed several important differences and supports the use of model organisms in deciphering complex biological processes such as apoptosis.

Insights into amyloid disease from fly models

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 69-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ko-Fan Chen ◽  
Damian C. Crowther
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorders ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Amyloid Β Peptide ◽  
Disease Pathogenesis ◽  
Amyloid Aggregates ◽  
Aβ Amyloid ◽  
Polypeptide Chains ◽  
Amyloid Diseases

The formation of amyloid aggregates is a feature of most, if not all, polypeptide chains. In vivo modelling of this process has been undertaken in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster with remarkable success. Models of both neurological and systemic amyloid diseases have been generated and have informed our understanding of disease pathogenesis in two main ways. First, the toxic amyloid species have been at least partially characterized, for example in the case of the Aβ (amyloid β-peptide) associated with Alzheimer's disease. Secondly, the genetic underpinning of model disease-linked phenotypes has been characterized for a number of neurodegenerative disorders. The current challenge is to integrate our understanding of disease-linked processes in the fly with our growing knowledge of human disease, for the benefit of patients.

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