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SUMMARY:Asymmetry in Drosophila neuroblasts: centrosomes & mRNA. - Dr Jens
  Januschke\, College of Life Sciences\, University of Dundee 
DTSTART:20150122T143000Z
DTEND:20150122T153000Z
UID:TALK56510@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Caroline Newnham
DESCRIPTION:Asymmetric cell division can be seen as a tumor suppressor con
 dition in stem cells. If this delicately balanced process is perturbed\, c
 ell fate information might not be correctly transmitted to the resulting d
 aughter cells letting them to derail from their normal developmental route
 s. We are interested in the control of asymmetry in Drosophila neuroblast\
 , the stem cells that generate the adult CNS during larval life. We partic
 ularly focus on the polarity of the cytoskeleton\, notably microtubules an
 d centrosomes and analyse the role they play in establishing and maintaini
 ng neuroblast polarity.\n\nNeuroblasts have an extremely short cell cycle 
 and go through repeated rounds of rapid polarization and depolarization of
  the cell cortex\, while the axis of cell polarity remains stable between 
 different cell cycles. How the orientation of this neuroblast polarity axi
 s is set and remembered between the different cell cycles is not known. We
  have previously found a role for centrosomes and the interphase microtubu
 le network in this process but their precise contribution remains unclear.
 \n\nOne interesting possibility is that the microtubule network positions 
 cues that function as landmarks to orient the cell polarity axis. Intrigui
 ngly many transcripts of genes that are involved in asymmetric cell divisi
 on have been reported to localize to the apical side of neuroblasts. Given
  the tight time constraints of the neuroblasts cell cycle\, we reasoned th
 at spatially controlled translation of localizes mRNAs might contribute to
  establish cell polarity in neuroblasts. How mRNAs are maintained apically
  and if their localization contributes to establishing neuroblast polarity
  remains unclear. I will report on a surprising localization pattern of on
 e transcript during the larval neuroblasts cell cycle\, its connection to 
 centrosomes and what we learned so far about the molecular mechanism behin
 d this\, which we uncovered in great part by tracing mRNAs in neuroblasts 
 by live microscopy.
LOCATION:Part II Room\, Department of Genetics
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