The role of E2F family proteins on programmed cell death during drosophila development

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The shape and size of multi-cellular organisms are determined by the coordination of the cell division and cell death pathways. Cell division produces sufficient masses of cells while cell death prevents over-production. These processes are regulated at the genetic level by several key genes. Studying how theses genes function helps us to understand how an organism grows during development and has potential importance in understanding the manifestation of certain diseases. A number of key genes involved in coordinating cell division belong to a family of evolutionarily conserved genes called E2Fs. E2Fs have the ability to promote both cell division and cell death. Indeed, E2Fs are shown to play important roles in controlling cell number in many different organisms including the fruit fly, Drosophila Melanogaster. Here, I propose to use Drosophila to investigate the role of E2Fs in cell death during development. While the function of E2Fs in cell division has been extensively studied, their role in cell death has been difficult to study due to the technical limitation. Recent advances in molecular and genetic techniques have made Drosophila an ideal system to study the effects of E2Fs on cell death during development. Both molecular and genetic analysis will be used to study how E2Fs coordinate cell division and cell death during Drosophila development. Furthermore, the most recent genetic techniques will be applied to develop tools that will facilitate this study.