A Whole-genome RNAi Screen Identifies Novel Regulators of Notch Signaling in Drosophila melanogaster

Abil Saj¹ - abil.saj@bsse.ethz.ch
Denise Stempfle¹ - denise.stempfle@bsse.ethz.ch
Werner Van Belle¹ - werner@yellowcouch.org, werner.van.belle@gmail.com
Gunter Merde¹^* - gunter.merdes@bsse.ethz.ch

1- Department for Biosystems Science and Engineering; ETH Zurich; Mattenstrasse 24, Building 1058, Basel; Switzerland
* Presented by

Abstract: Notch signaling is one of the most important and well conserved signaling pathways. It plays an integral role in many aspects of development such as cell proliferation, survival, growth, specification, patterning etc. And its malfunction has been linked to several cancers and to a number of human diseases. Several genes involved in the Notch signaling pathway have been identified in past decades. However, a comprehensive understanding of all the players in the pathway and their molecular mechanisms and biological outcomes during development and disease is incomplete. To this end we developed a strategy to approach a genome wide RNAi screen, based on the fact that Notch signaling is induced when the Notch receptor is blocked in an endosome. We have performed the whole genome RNAi screen in Drosophila S2 cells and identified several novel genes and components of Notch processing and trafficking through enodosomes. Several mutations in genes involved in endocytosis are implicated as tumorogenic, evidently through ectopic Notch signaling. Currently, we are validating the identified candidates and focus our research efforts on to the candidate genes which modulate the Notch signaling during receptor endocytosis.

Keywords: notch signalling siRNA screen normalization notch reporter system drosophila melanogaster
Reference: Abil Saj, Denise Stempfle, Werner Van Belle, Gunter Merde; A Whole-genome RNAi Screen Identifies Novel Regulators of Notch Signaling in Drosophila melanogaster; Presented at ETH Zurich Departmental Retreat Bad Zurzach; Switzerland; October 2008
Files: NotchAbilGunter.pdf
See also: A presentation covering the analysis details, All analysis graphs

http://werner.yellowcouch.org/
mailto:werner@yellowcouch.org