Allan Spradling (Carnegie Inst. for Science)

Drosophila oogenesis as a model system for understanding differentiation and quiescence
Date
Mar 8, 2017, 12:00 pm12:00 pm
Location
Thomas Laboratory, 003
Audience
Free and open to the university community and the public.

Speakers

Allan Spradling
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Director of the Department of Embryology
Carnegie Institution for Science

Details

Event Description

Drosophila germline and follicle development provide unparalleled opportunities to understand fundamental aspects of cellular differentiation and reproduction. We have developed techniques for placing the same reporter at specific genomic sites and using reporter behavior during oogenesis to reveal with single cell resolution when chromatin changes such as Polycomb-mediated repression take effect. We have also been investigating chromatin changes in follicle cell progenitors downstream from their stem cell that are needed to become receptive to the Notch signal that initiates terminal differentiation. Finally, we have found that oocyte mitochondria lose membrane polarity, and disassemble their respiratory complexes in response to changes in insulin pathway signaling in order to prepare for oocyte completion and metabolic quiescence. We have developed a system that allows us to characterize the molecular processes that take place within quiescent oocytes and limit how long they can remain viable.

Sponsor
Paul Schedl, Department of Molecular Biology
Event Category
Butler Seminar Series