School of Science Division of Life Science 34 Genetic Studies on Stem Cell Regulation Supervisor: XIE, Ting / LIFS Co-supervisor: TU, Renjun / LIFS Student: SONG, Jeongann / SSCI Course: UROP1100, Fall Protein kinases are enzymes that have both catalytic functions in protein phosphorylation and non-catalytic functions such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, allosteric effects on enzymes, and DNA binding (Rauch, Volinsky, Romano, Kolch). Kinases are a noteworthy research topic to study cell functioning as a large part of the functions remain undiscovered. This study uses genetic screening by crossing Drosophila melanogaster with Bab1-Gal4 and 30 RNA interference (RNAi) lines encoding for different kinases. This investigation led to the conclusion that a number of kinase genes had an effect on germline stem cell development by causing a self-renewal defect in Drosophila germariums. Future studies will be required to confirm the extent of the kinase genes’ effects on germline stem cell development. Genetic Studies on Stem Cell Regulation Supervisor: XIE, Ting / LIFS Co-supervisor: TU, Renjun / LIFS Student: SUH, Daeun / SSCI Course: UROP1000, Summer Stem cells have potential to differentiate into various types of cells and their self-renewal and differentiation help developing cells and replacing damaged cells. These characteristics of stem cells made them to have significant potential in clinical therapy. Therefore, understanding unknown roles of many proteins that may upregulate or downregulate gene expression in germline stem cell (GSC) will be important for developing treatments using stem cells. In this study, using the RNA interference (RNAi) approach, we screened for potential genes that might control regulation of GSC development in Drosophila. The study figured out that knocking down ATP7, ATP8B Atpalpha, ATPsyn-beta, Axs, brv1, brv2, and bves in the self-renewal niche and ATP7, ATP8B Atpalpha, ATPsyn-beta, Axs, botv, and bves in the differentiation niche resulted defects in selfrenewal and differentiation in Drosophila. Genetic Studies on Stem Cell Regulation Supervisor: XIE, Ting / LIFS Co-supervisor: TU, Renjun / LIFS Student: TENG, Josh Bennet Choi / SSCI Course: UROP1000, Summer Stem cells are progenitor cells that are essential for the homeostatic and renewal functions essential amongst multicellular organisms. Their distinct ability to differentiate into specialized cell types and selfrenew themselves has put them in the center focus for much research. The study focuses on the screening for essential genes involved in proper Drosophila germline stem cell renewal using the RNA interference methodology. Results indicate that ABCB7, Alg10, and AlstR may play a part in proper function as a knockout seemed to induce self-renewal and differentiation defects. Although, the underlying mechanisms causing improper function from the loss of said genes still remains elusive.
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