The Application of RNA Interference to Knock Out Groucho Expression in Drosophila S2 Cells

摘要

The development of a complex nervous system requires the actions of intricate genetic mechanisms that influence and maintain the differentiation of common nervous system progenitor cells into neurons and glial cells. In Drosophila melanogaster, the gene glial cells missing (gcm) encodes the transcription factor Gcm that, when active, causes early nervous system cells to preferentially differentiate into glial cells by activating the reversed polarity (repo) gene, as well as others. However, the Gcm protein also plays a role in the differentiation of both macrophages and tendon cells. This suggests that there are other transcription factors or cofactors that interact with Gcm, leading to its different functions under different contexts. The possible role of Groucho as a collaborator with Gcm can be examined by performing RNA interference in Drosophila S2 cells to remove the Groucho protein, which was attempted in this experiment. While the results were inconclusive, some important ideas for the reproduction of the experiment were obtained.