Food for thought: how the growth of Drosophila CNS is spared under nutrient restriction

On Thursday 18 August 2011, Dr Louise Cheng, of the Department of Developmental Neurobiology at the National Institute for Medical Research in London will speak on the subject of 'Food for thought: how the growth of Drosophila CNS is spared under nutrient restriction' as part of QBI's regular Neuroscience Seminar series.
 
Developing animals survive periods of starvation by protecting the growth of critical organs at the expense of other tissues.  Dr Cheng's group uses Drosophila to explore the as-yet-unknown mechanisms regulating this privileged tissue growth.
 
As in mammals, we observe in Drosophila that the CNS is more highly spared than other tissues during nutrient restriction (NR).
 
We demonstrate that Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (Alk) protects neural progenitor (neuroblast) growth against reductions in amino acids and Insulin-like peptides during NR via two mechanisms.
 
Firstly, Alk suppresses the growth requirement for amino acid sensing via Slimfast/Rheb/TOR Complex 1 and secondly, Alk, rather than Insulin-like Receptor, primarily activates the PI3-Kinase pathway.
 
Alk maintains PI3-Kinase signalling during NR as its ligand, Jelly Belly (Jeb), is constitutively expressed from a glial cell niche surrounding neuroblasts.
 
Together, these findings identify a brain sparing mechanism that shares some regulatory features with the starvation-resistant growth programs of tumours.
 
DETAILS
 
Date: Thursday 18 August 2011
Time: 12-1pm
Location: Level 7 Auditorium, QBI Building (#79), St.Lucia Campus
 
Your attendance at these seminars is both welcomed and encouraged.
 
For a list of upcoming seminars at QBI, go to http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars
 
 

 

 

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