Project description:This study identifies those genes that are dependent on EcR for their proper regulation at the onset of metamorphosis in Drosophila melanogaster. Keywords: Nuclear receptor gene regulation
Project description:We compared ecdysone receptor (EcR)-dependent gene expression in the Drosophila fat body on 0.15 M sucrose and 0.5 M sucrose high-sugar diets in order to gain insight into the role of this gene during caloric overload. Phenotypic analyses showed an increased severity of EcR RNAi phenotypes with increasing dietary sugar concentration. Because EcR is a transcription factor, we performed RNA-seq studies to identify transcriptional targets that might underlie insulin resistance downstream of EcR RNAi.
Project description:This study identifies those genes that are dependent on EcR for their proper regulation at the onset of metamorphosis in Drosophila melanogaster. Experiment Overall Design: hs-EcRi-11 third instar larvae were heat-treated twice at 37°C, each time for 1 hour, at 24 hours and 18 hours prior to pupariation, as described [29]. RNA was harvested for microarray analysis at -4, 0, and 4 hours relative to pupariation from three independent collections of animals for each time point. Data obtained from these arrays was compared to array data from control animals at the same stages of development to identify EcR-dependent genes.
Project description:We used the DamID method to systematically identify the binding sites of Ecdysone Receptor and its heterodimeric partner USP across the whole genome in Drosophila Kc cells. We find that the EcR sites are a subset of the USP sites and that only a proportion are ecdysone regulated from an accompanying ecdysone profiling study. The role of EcR/USP in the ecdysone network appears to be coordinated by the recruitment of many transcription factors as well as signaling molecules. Keywords: DamID, chromatin profiling, DNA microarray
Project description:In Drosophila, the ecdysone steroid hormone is essential for coordinating developmental timing across physically separated tissues. Ecdysone directly impacts genome function through its receptor, a heterodimer of the EcR and Usp proteins. Ligand binding to EcR triggers a transcriptional cascade, including activation of a set of primary response transcription factors. The hierarchical organization of this pathway has left the direct role of EcR in mediating ecdysone responses obscured. Here, we investigate the role of EcR in controlling tissue-specific ecdysone responses, focusing on two tissues that diverge in their response to rising ecdysone titers: the larval salivary gland, which undergoes programmed destruction, and the wing imaginal disc, which initiates metamorphosis. We find that EcR functions bimodally, with both gene repressive and activating functions, even at the same developmental stage. We find that EcR DNA binding profiles are highly tissue-specific, and transgenic reporter analyses demonstrate that EcR plays a direct role in controlling enhancer activity. Despite a strong correlation between tissue-specific EcR binding and tissue-specific open chromatin, we find that EcR does not control chromatin accessibility at genomic targets. We conclude that EcR contributes extensively to tissue-specific ecdysone responses. However, control over access to its binding sites is subordinated to other transcription factors.
Project description:In Drosophila, the ecdysone steroid hormone is essential for coordinating developmental timing across physically separated tissues. Ecdysone directly impacts genome function through its receptor, a heterodimer of the EcR and Usp proteins. Ligand binding to EcR triggers a transcriptional cascade, including activation of a set of primary response transcription factors. The hierarchical organization of this pathway has left the direct role of EcR in mediating ecdysone responses obscured. Here, we investigate the role of EcR in controlling tissue-specific ecdysone responses, focusing on two tissues that diverge in their response to rising ecdysone titers: the larval salivary gland, which undergoes programmed destruction, and the wing imaginal disc, which initiates metamorphosis. We find that EcR functions bimodally, with both gene repressive and activating functions, even at the same developmental stage. We find that EcR DNA binding profiles are highly tissue-specific, and transgenic reporter analyses demonstrate that EcR plays a direct role in controlling enhancer activity. Despite a strong correlation between tissue-specific EcR binding and tissue-specific open chromatin, we find that EcR does not control chromatin accessibility at genomic targets. We conclude that EcR contributes extensively to tissue-specific ecdysone responses. However, control over access to its binding sites is subordinated to other transcription factors.
Project description:In Drosophila, the ecdysone steroid hormone is essential for coordinating developmental timing across physically separated tissues. Ecdysone directly impacts genome function through its receptor, a heterodimer of the EcR and Usp proteins. Ligand binding to EcR triggers a transcriptional cascade, including activation of a set of primary response transcription factors. The hierarchical organization of this pathway has left the direct role of EcR in mediating ecdysone responses obscured. Here, we investigate the role of EcR in controlling tissue-specific ecdysone responses, focusing on two tissues that diverge in their response to rising ecdysone titers: the larval salivary gland, which undergoes programmed destruction, and the wing imaginal disc, which initiates metamorphosis. We find that EcR functions bimodally, with both gene repressive and activating functions, even at the same developmental stage. We find that EcR DNA binding profiles are highly tissue-specific, and transgenic reporter analyses demonstrate that EcR plays a direct role in controlling enhancer activity. Despite a strong correlation between tissue-specific EcR binding and tissue-specific open chromatin, we find that EcR does not control chromatin accessibility at genomic targets. We conclude that EcR contributes extensively to tissue-specific ecdysone responses. However, control over access to its binding sites is subordinated to other transcription factors.
Project description:Coupling immunity and development is essential to ensure survival despite changing internal conditions in the organism. The metamorphosis of the fruit fly represents a striking example of drastic and systemic physiological changes that need to be integrated with the innate immune system. However, the mechanisms that coordinate development and immune cell activity in the transition from larva to adult in Drosophila remain to elucidate. The steroid hormone ecdysone is known to act as a key coordinator of metamorphosis. This hormone activates a nuclear receptor, the Ecdysone Receptor (EcR), which acts as a heterodimer with its partner Ultraspiracle (USP). Together, they activate the transcription of primary response genes, which in turn activate the transcription of a battery of late response genes. We have revealed that regulation of macrophage-like cells (hemocytes) by the steroid hormone ecdysone is essential for an effective innate immune response over metamorphosis. We have shown that in response to ecdysone signalling, hemocytes rapidly up regulate actin dynamics, motility and phagocytosis of apoptotic corpses, and acquire the ability to chemotax to damaged epithelia. Most importantly, individuals lacking ecdysone-activated hemocytes are defective in bacterial phagocytosis and are fatally susceptible to infection by bacteria ingested at larval stages, despite the normal systemic production of antimicrobial peptides. This decrease in survival is comparable to the one observed in pupae lacking immune cells altogether, indicating that ecdysone-regulation is essential to hemocyte immune functions and survival after infection. To better understand the ecdysone regulation of hemocyte activities, we have performed gene expression analysis. In order to identify the genes which expression change at the onset of metamorphosis, we have sorted hemocytes from 3rd instar larvae and from young prepupae and compared their gene expression. Moreover, and in order to identify which genes are regulated by the ecdysone signalling, we have used individuals expressing a dominant negative form of the Ecdysone Receptor specifically in their hemocytes. We have sorted hemocytes from 3rd instar and young prepupae of this genotype to compare their gene expression to the gene expression in larvae and prepupae from the control individuals. Hemocytes were isolated by FACS from selected 3rd instar larvae (at the late feeding stage) and prepupae (from 1h to 2h after puparium formation - APF) corresponding to two different genotypes: individuals w;HmlDeltaGal4, UAS-GFP/+ that express GFP specifically in hemocytes (genotype control), and individuals w;HmlDeltaGal4; UAS-GFP/UAS-EcRB1DN W650A which hemocytes express an Ecdysone Receptor Dominant Negative construct in addition to the GFP (EcRDN). For each of the four conditions we performed three biological replicates.