Category Archives: drosophila
sestrins and ageing
The kinase molecule TOR (target of rapamycin) is involved in cell growth and proliferation by increasing protein and lipid synthesis. Persistent activation of TOR causes an imbalance in cellular metabolic processes, leading to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). … Continue reading
Filed under 4EBP, ageing, aging, drosophila, fly, fruitfly, mitochondria, reactive oxygen species, ROS, sestrins, structural biology, target of rapamycin, TOR
amino acid imbalance explains lifespan extension by dietary restriction in fruitflies
A study by Richard Grandison, Matthew Piper, and Linda Partridge (Nature advance online publication 2 December 2009 | doi:10.1038/nature08619) has identified the nutrients producing the responses of lifespan and fecundity to dietary restriction (DR) in the fruitfly Drosophila. “Adding essential … Continue reading
Filed under amino acids, dietary restriction, DR, drosophila, fecundity, fertility, fly, fruitfly, lifespan, lifespan extension
flies fed an “anti-Atkins” low protein diet live longer
Researchers at the Buck Institute are studying the regulation of mitochondrial genes in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster in relation to ageing and lifespan. They are trying to understand how mitochondrial function relates to diet and energy metabolism, specifically the molecular … Continue reading
Filed under 4EBP, ageing, aging, anti-ageing, anti-aging, Atkins diet, diet, dietary restriction, DR, drosophila, fly, fruitfly, lifespan, longevity, low-protein diet, mitochondrial DNA, rapamycin, target of rapamycin, TOR
perdurance
In 1971, Antonio Garcia-Bellido and John Merriam introduced the concept of perdurance to describe the persistence of a gene’s product after the removal of a gene from a cell. For example, if by mitotic exchange a m/m cell is made … Continue reading
Filed under drosophila, genetics, mitotic exchange, perdurance
telomere loss produces genomic instability
Simon Titen and Kent Golic studied telomere loss by breakage of an induced dicentric chromosome in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster [Genetics 2008 Dec;180(4):1821-32; Epub 2008 Oct 9]. They found that one outcome of this is cell death through Chk2 and … Continue reading
Drosophila CG6539 is orthologue of vertebrate gemin3
Mutations in the survival motor neuron (SMN1) gene cause spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by degeneration of spinal cord motor neurons leading to progressive muscular weakness. SMN1 encodes an RNA-binding protein, SMN, which is complexed with … Continue reading
Filed under biochemistry, biological sciences, biology, cell biology, deletion, drosophila, helicase, lethality, life sciences, science
endocycling cells
Sonam Mehrotra and colleagues reported that endocycling cells in Drosophila melanogaster do not apoptose in response to DNA rereplication genotoxic stress. Below is the abstract of their recent paper published in Genes and Development journal [doi: 10.1101/gad.1710208; Genes & Dev. … Continue reading
Filed under DNA damage, drosophila, endoreplication
ends-out gene targeting
Juan Huang and colleagues describe several approaches to improve crosses in ends-out gene targeting. They generated new sets of targeting vectors and fly stocks and introduced a novel negative selection marker, reducing the frequency of false-positive targeting candidates. Figure 1. … Continue reading
Filed under drosophila, fly, fruitfly, genetics
mitochondrial DNA subunits
Rajindar Sohal and colleagues recently made a study comparing the expression of mitochondrial DNA encoded subunits of cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) in Drosophila melanogaster. They compared mitochondrial proteins from 15-, 25-, 35-, 47- and 60-day-old flies. Subunits I, II and … Continue reading
Filed under ageing, aging, biology, drosophila, genetics, mitochondrial DNA, molecular biology
