Project Title: Drop Dead Gene in Drosophila

Project Description:

The project deals with isolating genes and purifying proteins related to the drop-dead brain degeneration gene in Drosophila. The biochemical functions of the drop-dead gene product are not known. One hypothesis is that the drd gene product might function as a receptor (or ligand) for glial and/or neuronal cell survival. The functions of the drd protein might be thus mediated through signaling molecules. Understanding the function requires isolating molecules that directly interact with the drd protein. The putative student would do molecular and biochemical experiments on this problem.

Background Information:

Our lab uses fruit flies to study genes that function in neural circuits. The drop-dead mutant flies die much earlier than normal flies. The corresponding gene was isolated to be expressed in glial cells. If it is mutated, neural cells die in fly brain. Since the drd protein is membrane protein, it is likely that neuron cells may have proteins interacting with the drop-dead protein.

Literature References:

Buchanan, R.L. and Benzer, S. Defective flia in the Drosophila brain degeneration mutant drop-dead. Neuron 10, 839-850 (1993)

Requirements:

The research sponsor suggests you refer to the following for information on the project:

The sponsor requires that interested students meet the following requirements:
Basic biochemical laboratory skills.

This opportunity is for:

Caltech students. Will consider non-Caltech students

Research Sponsor

Sponsor: Seymour Benzer
Division: Biology
Mail Code: 156-29
Phone: 4963
E-mail: benzer@caltech.edu

For further information about the project, the student should contact: Changsoo Kim, x-4965