School of Science Division of Life Science 36 Niche Regulation of Stem Cell Self-renewal, Differentiation and Ageing Supervisor: XIE, Ting / LIFS Co-supervisor: TU, Renjun / LIFS Student: KIM, Hyejun / BIOT Course: UROP1100, Spring UROP2100, Summer Multiple intrinsic factors and niche signals have been demonstrated to play a crucial role in directing the control of stem cell response, both in vivo and in vitro. This control encompasses various aspects, including self-renewal and differentiation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell self-renewal and differentiation remain largely unclear. Stem cell studies using Drosophila ovaries can help identify genes associated with stem cell fate and understand more about stem cell niche. Drosophila melanogaster is a suitable model organism in the field of genetics for a large-scale genetic screening. In this study, GAL4/UAS system was adopted to knockdown each gene, and abnormal phenotypes, such as loss of GSC and accumulation of cystoblast, in their germariums were recorded using confocal imaging. Abnormalities in the number of GSCs and cystoblasts revealed that the genes affect stem cells’ ability to self-renew and differentiate. Taken together, I found that some genes, such as CG1494, CG15744, CG1599, CG15408, CG1636, and CG14855, play important roles in the stem cell niche. In the future, mechanical studies will be conducted to understand how these genes control the self-renewal and differentiation in the Drosophila ovary. Niche Regulation of Stem Cell Self-renewal, Differentiation and Ageing Supervisor: XIE, Ting / LIFS Co-supervisor: TU, Renjun / LIFS Student: PARK, Changmo / BIOT Course: UROP3100, Spring UROP4100, Summer Protein kinase being a complementary system that controls cellular signaling activities for development, still lacks detailed explanations of the specific functions and mechanisms. Throughout the genetic screening, the kinase genes of Ck1alpha, CkIIbeta, Fray, Polo, Pp1- 87B, Prp4k, and Wnk showed a significant impact on Germline Stem Cells (GSC). Each gene was knocked down by Nos-Gal4 with GeneSwitch (GS) system and RNA interference, and was found that they play various roles such as self-renewal, differentiation, development from an embryo to larvae, impact to Aubergine and possibly Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMP) and Orb translational regulator. In the future, a 17-day knockdown and protein proximity labeling with transgenic flies will be performed to find the key kinase targets and understand the mechanisms.
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