Regulation of actin dynamics by drosophila drak kinase

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The complex forms of animals originate from simple balls and sheets of cells during embryonic development. One major mechanism that is used to sculpt developing tissues is to alter the shapes of cells within the tissues in a controlled and coordinated way. The shapes of individual cells are governed by scaffolds made up of various filamentous proteins, which serve a a sort of frame within the cell. The organization of this so-called cytoskeleton is dynamic, allowing cell to, for instance, stretch, flatten or move in response to the appropriate developmental signal. One of our research interests is in understanding how cytoskeleton dynamics are controlled during development. We use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a genetically tractable model organism for studying these processes. We have been characterizing a novel protein called Drak that is required for proper formation of multiple tissues in the fly embryo. We have shown that requirement is due to its involvement in the regulation of Myosin II, a major protein component of the cytoskeleton that together with its filamentous binding partner Actin generates pulling forces, or tension, within cells. Our current research has two major goals. The first is to characterize at a molecular level how Drak regulates Myosin II, by determining how it interacts with other proteins known to control Myosin II activity. The second is to understand how this regulation contributes to shaping tissues during development, by characterizing how tissue shape is affected in mutant animals lacking Drak. Together, these studies will provide a clear mechanistic understanding of the role of Drak in cytoskeleton regulation, and the importance of this for proper generation of complex forms in animal tissues.