Investigating the role of a V‐ATPase in the Development of the Air Sac Primordia

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster is a commonly used organism in biological research. Their Air Sac Primordium (ASP) is analogous to the human lungs in that it supplies oxygen to the flight muscles. Furthermore, the ASP has emerged as a good structure to study cellular invasive processes with the potential to aid in our understanding of tumor metastasis. The ASP originates on the outside of the wing imaginal disc and then burrows into the wing imaginal disc as it develops. What genes are involved in this process is not well understood. A genetic screen for genes that are expressed in the ASP identified a proton pump gene encoding a V‐ATPase. The V‐ATPase is a vacuolar proton pump that plays a large array of roles from regulating the pH of cells internal space, to regulating endocytosis, to processing proteins and degradation. In insects, the V‐ATPase are important in establishing a membrane potential to drive K+ secretion. It has also been found to influence tracheal branching. Using RNA interference, the gene for the V‐ATPase was knocked down resulting in a defect in ASP development. Data from these and other experiments will be presented and their significance will be discussed.Support or Funding InformationKentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (KBRIN) GrantGatton Academy Research Internship Grant (RIG)Faculty Undergraduate Student Engagement (FUSE) Grant