Major
Biology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2021
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
In Drosophila Melanogaster, the embryonic gonad is composed of somatic gonadal precursors (SGPs) and germ cells (GCs). The coalescence and compaction of SGPs is important for proper embryonic gonad formation.. In Drosophila, mutations in the Alk gene results in a failure of SGPs to undergo cluster fusion and compaction during gonad formation. To explore the role of ALK role in gametogenesis in Drosophila, the GAL4/UAS system was used to manipulate gene expression. Knockdown experiments were conducted using germ-cell specific nanos-Gal4, and result in defects in spermatogenesis in males. Experiments are underway to examine a requirement for Alk in somatic cells.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Jennifer Mierisch, Department of Biology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
The Role of ALK (Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase) in Gonad Development
In Drosophila Melanogaster, the embryonic gonad is composed of somatic gonadal precursors (SGPs) and germ cells (GCs). The coalescence and compaction of SGPs is important for proper embryonic gonad formation.. In Drosophila, mutations in the Alk gene results in a failure of SGPs to undergo cluster fusion and compaction during gonad formation. To explore the role of ALK role in gametogenesis in Drosophila, the GAL4/UAS system was used to manipulate gene expression. Knockdown experiments were conducted using germ-cell specific nanos-Gal4, and result in defects in spermatogenesis in males. Experiments are underway to examine a requirement for Alk in somatic cells.