Tumorigenesis in Drosophila melanogaster

Because cancer is such a prevalent problem in modern society, efforts are constantly being made to learn about the mechanisms that drive it, and for that Drosophila melanogaster has proved a perfect genetic model, with many genes and pathways discovered to be influential in cancer. The aim of this experiment was to discover and analyze potential tumor suppressor genes or interactions in Drosophila. Using a method to knockdown the tumor suppressor gene lethal giant larva (lgl), RNAi gene lines were crossed against it. It was hypothesized that any RNAi line which, when crossed with the lgl knockdown line, caused tumorigenesis and had some roll in tumor suppression. The lines that showed tumorigenesis were then selected for and crossed against different driver lines (that lacked any lgl construct) to determine whether or not the tumorigenesis was caused by the gene alone, or by its interaction with lgl knockdown. The most interesting gene found to be tumorigenic in the initial screening is Delta, which is part of the Notch pathway. It also showed over-proliferation when crossed with dpp Gal4, UAS- GFP/TM6B, indicating that tumorigenesis was somehow affected by the interaction with lgl. Currently, this result continues to be analyzed with future steps in the laboratory. There is little to no research already completed on the potential interactions between the neoplastic tumor suppressor gene lgl and the signal-triggering molecule Delta, but the results of this experiment suggest that Delta could have a role in tumorigenesis in the Drosophila wing disc.