Hox regulation of wingless expression sculpts morphogenesis of the adult Drosophila abdomen

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Yoder laboratory studies genetic control of events that shape animal form. Patterning animal bodies requires integration of genetic signals that converge on otherwise similarly fated parts of the developing body conferring unique identities. Likewise, development of sex-specific characters relies on gene regulation that propels initially similar regions of organisms down very different paths. Sex-specific characters of the adult fly Drosophila melanogaster afford an excellent opportunity to investigate how initially similar structures, both within an individual organism and between the sexes, are sculpted into their ultimate forms. Importantly, many of the same genes that pattern the fly are functionally conserved across all animals. Investigating such developmental processes in model organisms, like Drosophila, provides foundational knowledge for human developmental genetics and avenues into disease research. Hox proteins are transcription factors, proteins that regulate expression of numerous target genes to pattern the regions of the body in which they are expressed. The Yoder lab will investigate how one Hox protein, Abdominal-B, controls regional and sex-specific differences in the segments of the adult fly. How does the same protein lead to different expression of target genes in adjacent tissue and in the same tissue between the sexes, ultimately generating regional and sex-specific fates? Combining molecular and genetic analyses, the Yoder lab will dissect interactions between Abdominal-B, other regulatory proteins and DNA control elements necessary for differential activation and repression of genes critical for regional and sex specific identity. This work will broaden understanding of how subtle differences in gene regulation lead to large-scale differences in form. This award will provide opportunities for several undergraduate students, in addition to graduate researchers, to participate in scientific research and explore the fundamental basis and genetics of organismal development.