EMBO Fellows Meeting 2012

Bhavna Chanana
EMBO Fellows Meeting 2012
Function of Hippo tumour suppressor pathway in the female and male germline of
Drosophila melanogaster
Abstract
Deregulation of the conserved Salvador-Warts-Hippo tumour suppressor pathway leads to tumour formation
and developmental patterning defects. The mechanism of Hippo pathway action however remains elusive, as
the identity and function of its transcriptional targets are largely unknown. We have attempted to identify
“direct” transcriptional targets of the Hippo pathway using the Drosophila egg chamber as an experimental
system. The egg chamber is an ideal system to address both functional aspects of the Hippo pathway, tumour
formation and patterning defects, in parallel as absence of Hippo pathway activity during oogenesis results in
uncontrolled division of follicle cells, lack of posterior follicle cell differentiation and failure in oocyte
polarisation. This work was therefore directed towards the identification of target genes responsible for this
proliferation-to-differentiation switch and towards understanding the interplay among these genes that results
in functional Hippo pathway activity.
We are also investigating the role of the Hippo pathway in the male germline that houses two stem cell
populations, the Germline Stem Cells (GSCs) and the Somatic Stem Cells (SSCs) around a well-defined niche;
thus serving as an excellent model to address the mechanisms governing stem cell proliferation and
differentiation. Our results suggest that GSCs and SSCs respond differently to Hippo pathway, which appears to
be required for the maintenance of GSCs but not the SSCs stem cell fate. At present we are addressing
the molecular interplay upstream and downstream of Hippo pathway and conversely the interactions that
ensue upon loss of Hippo pathway activity.
Bhavna Chanana, Deepthy Francis, Isabel M Palacios
University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK
14-17 June 2012, Heidelberg, Germany