SynLight: a bicistronic strategy for simultaneous active zone and cell labeling in the Drosophila nervous system.

At synapses, chemical neurotransmission mediates the exchange of information between neurons, leading to complex movement, behaviors, and stimulus processing. The immense number and variety of neurons within the nervous system make discerning individual neuron populations difficult, necessitating the development of advanced neuronal labeling techniques. In Drosophila, Bruchpilot-Short and mCD8-GFP, which label presynaptic active zones and neuronal membranes, respectively, have been widely used to study synapse development and organization.

SynLight: a dicistronic strategy for simultaneous active zone and cell labeling in the nervous system.

At synapses, chemical neurotransmission mediates the exchange of information between neurons, leading to complex movement behaviors and stimulus processing. The immense number and variety of neurons within the nervous system makes discerning individual neuron populations difficult, necessitating the development of advanced neuronal labeling techniques. In , Bruchpilot-Short and mCD8-GFP, which label presynaptic active zones and neuronal membranes, respectively, have been widely used to study synapse development and organization.

Localized modulation of DNA supercoiling, triggered by the Shigella anti-silencer VirB, is sufficient to relieve H-NS-mediated silencing.

In Bacteria, nucleoid structuring proteins govern nucleoid dynamics and regulate transcription. In Shigella spp., at ≤30°C, the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS) transcriptionally silences many genes on the large virulence plasmid.

Localized modulation of DNA supercoiling, triggered by the anti-silencer VirB, is sufficient to relieve H-NS-mediated silencing.

In Bacteria, nucleoid structuring proteins govern nucleoid dynamics and regulate transcription. In ., at ≤ 30 °C, the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS) transcriptionally silences many genes on the large virulence plasmid.

γ-secretase promotes Drosophila postsynaptic development through the cleavage of a Wnt receptor.

Developing synapses mature through the recruitment of specific proteins that stabilize presynaptic and postsynaptic structure and function. Wnt ligands signaling via Frizzled (Fz) receptors play many crucial roles in neuronal and synaptic development, but whether and how Wnt and Fz influence synaptic maturation is incompletely understood. Here, we show that Fz2 receptor cleavage via the γ-secretase complex is required for postsynaptic development and maturation.

Genetic regulation of central synapse formation and organization in Drosophila melanogaster.

A goal of modern neuroscience involves understanding how connections in the brain form and function. Such a knowledge is essential to inform how defects in the exquisite complexity of nervous system growth influence neurological disease. Studies of the nervous system in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster enabled the discovery of a wealth of molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying development of synapses-the specialized cell-to-cell connections that comprise the essential substrate for information flow and processing in the nervous system.

Mob Family Proteins: Regulatory Partners in Hippo and Hippo-Like Intracellular Signaling Pathways.

Studies in yeast first delineated the function of Mob proteins in kinase pathways that regulate cell division and shape; in multicellular eukaryotes Mobs regulate tissue growth and morphogenesis. In animals, Mobs are adaptors in Hippo signaling, an intracellular signal-transduction pathway that restricts growth, impacting the development and homeostasis of animal organs. Central to Hippo signaling are the Nuclear Dbf2-Related (NDR) kinases, Warts and LATS1 and LATS2, in flies and mammals, respectively.

Insights into transcriptional silencing and anti-silencing in Shigella flexneri: a detailed molecular analysis of the icsP virulence locus.

Transcriptional silencing and anti-silencing mechanisms modulate bacterial physiology and virulence in many human pathogens. In Shigella species, many virulence plasmid genes are silenced by the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein H-NS and anti-silenced by the virulence gene regulator VirB. Despite the key role that these regulatory proteins play in Shigella virulence, their mechanisms of transcriptional control remain poorly understood.

The repertoire of epithelial morphogenesis on display: Progressive elaboration of Drosophila egg structure.

Epithelial structures are foundational for tissue organization in all metazoans. Sheets of epithelial cells form lateral adhesive junctions and acquire apico-basal polarity perpendicular to the surface of the sheet. Genetic analyses in the insect model, Drosophila melanogaster, have greatly advanced our understanding of how epithelial organization is established, and how it is modulated during tissue morphogenesis.

Bunched and Madm Function Downstream of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex to Regulate the Growth of Intestinal Stem Cells in Drosophila.

The Drosophila adult midgut contains intestinal stem cells that support homeostasis and repair. We show here that the leucine zipper protein Bunched and the adaptor protein Madm are novel regulators of intestinal stem cells. MARCM mutant clonal analysis and cell type specific RNAi revealed that Bunched and Madm were required within intestinal stem cells for proliferation.