Research Interest

Lateral chordotonal organs of stage 16 embryo stained with atonal-lacZ (red) and alpha-tubulin-85E (green). The arrows point to the cap and ligament attachment cells.

Cell fate diversification in the Drosophila chordotonal organs

One of the fascinating questions in developmental biology is how different cells, which develop within a given tissue, acquire different properties that allow them to work together as a functional unit.

We are using the proprioceptive organs in the PNS of Drosophila (also called chordotonal organs) as a model system for studying cell fate diversification.  The fly proprioceptors are structured as linear arrays of lineage-related cells with distinct identities and properties that allow them to work together as a functional organ.

Very little is known about the mechanisms regulating the specification of these various cell identities. Through our work on the dei gene we have identified distinct regulatory elements that direct expression to specific proprioceptor cell types. We have used these elements to construct a fly strain in which different cell types in the proprioceptors are labeled with different fluorescent reporters. This strain will be used in a large-scale RNAi-based F1 screen for novel determinants of cell fate specification in the proprioceptive lineage. In addition, this strain allows us for the first time to study post-embryonic aspects of proprioceptor development

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