Investigating the Role of the ER Integral Membrane Protein Jagunal in Neural Development in Drosophila melanogaster
Authors: Maria Mendoza, Nina Nicole Marcelo
Faculty Supervisor: Blake Riggs
Department: Biology
Cell division is an important occurrence of life and is essential for the creation of all multicellular organisms. Although we understand how cells divide during mitosis, it is still unknown how cells adopt their cell fate to become specialized cells. Recent studies have shown that Jagunal (Jagn), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein, is a potential regulator for cell fate differentiation. It was found that Jagn plays a role in asymmetric cell division of the ER during mitosis in Drosophila embryogenesis. Preliminary data shows that Jagn-deficient larval brains display a shift towards stemness with an over proliferation of neuroblast. This leads us to test how Jagn is involved in neurogenesis. We hypothesize that Jagn plays an important role in cell differentiation allowing for cell fate determinants to orient properly which is necessary in maintaining homeostasis and development of tissues. We conduct experiments to see if Jagn is necessary in the development of the Drosophila larval ventral nerve cord (VNC) as well as a functional brain. Our results show that Jagn-deficient 3rd instar larva carry a small-size brain phenotype compared to the wildtype. Furthermore, our findings will contribute to the understanding of cell division and neurodegenerative related diseases.