Requirement of Baboon/dsmad2-Mediated Tgf-Beta/activin Signaling for Post-Mitotic Neuronal Development in the Drosophila Brain

94 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.The intermingling of larval functional neurons with adult-specific neurons during metamorphosis contributes to the development of the Drosophila adult brain. This study provides evidence for cell-autonomous involvement of widespread Baboon/dSmad2-mediated TGF-beta/Activin signaling in various neuronal developmental processes prior to the prepupal ecdysone peak. Interestingly, this stage-specific Babo/dSmad2 signaling appears to accelerate maturation and morphogenesis of post-mitotic neurons throughout the entire nervous system. Loss of Babo/dSmad2 drastically delays adult-specific neurons' initial morphogenesis, while Babo/dSmad2 acts to assure timely expression of EcR-B1 in larval functional neurons. This study, thus, suggests that TGF-beta signaling prior to metamorphosis may be widely required to prepare neurons for the rapidly changing environment present during metamorphosis. Given that many vertebrate TGF-beta signaling molecules are dynamically present in the postnatal brain, it is possible that similar mechanisms may help modulate neural circuitry in higher organisms during periods of extensive morphogenesis.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD