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SUMMARY:Checks and Balances in Drosophila Muscle and Heart Differentiation
  Programs. - Dr Mike Taylor\, Cardiff School of Biosciences\, Cardiff
DTSTART:20140206T143000Z
DTEND:20140206T153000Z
UID:TALK49223@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Caroline Newnham
DESCRIPTION:Cell differentiation programs underpin the production of speci
 alised tissues during development. Understanding these programs is also in
 dispensable for a range of applications\, including stem cell technology a
 nd tissue repair. We study muscle and heart\, which are established paradi
 gms for cell differentiation and significant for human health\, in the cla
 ssic model organism Drosophila melanogaster.\n\nPrograms of cell different
 iation are controlled by key transcription factors. In Drosophila there ar
 e two phases of myogenesis initiated from pools of progenitor cells and wh
 ich produce the larval musculature during embryogenesis and the adult musc
 les during metamorphosis. In both\, the conserved transcription factor Mef
 2\, which has many target genes\, plays a pivotal role. Development of the
  largest flight muscles\, in which degenerating larval muscles fuse with p
 rogenitor cells\, is fascinating and a paradigm for tissue remodelling. We
  found that Mef2 has temporally separable functions in remodelling and tis
 sue maintenance (Development 139:1270).\n\nRegulation of Mef2 activity is 
 crucial. In both phases of myogenesis Mef2 is present in progenitor cells 
 before differentiation gets underway (MOD 126:595) and different Mef2 targ
 et genes are expressed at different times (PNAS 105:918\; Development 139:
 1270). Current work is centred on the Mef2-interacting proteins required t
 o modulate Mef2 activity. We identified Him as a novel regulator of Mef2 (
 Curr.Biol. 17:1409) and have initiated a comprehensive screen for other po
 tential regulators with the goal of understanding how Mef2 orchestrates di
 fferent aspects of muscle differentiation programs.\n\nThe Drosophila hear
 t comprises two cell types: contractile cardioblasts surrounded by non-con
 tractile pericardial cells. As the two cell types develop Mef2 expression 
 is restricted to the cardioblasts and Him to the pericardial cells. I will
  present some recent findings on this developmental program centred on Mef
 2 and Him.  Analysis of Mef2 is a model for understanding in general how k
 ey regulators are used in multiple situations to generate different output
 s.\n\n\n\n
LOCATION:Part II Room\, Department of Genetics
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