Student Scholars Day

Co-suppresion of endogenous Hdc expression by the heterologous transgene, pHdc-eGFP, in Drosophila melanogaster

Henry Hall Atrium 89

The Hdc gene encodes the enzyme Histidine decarboxylase, which is responsible for histamine synthesis. Previous work has identified a region of the Hdc gene that induces expression in histaminergic neurons. Using a pHdc-eGFP transgene, which induces the expression of eGFP in histaminergic neurons, immunocytochemical analysis of larval brain tissue in pHdc-eGFP bearing flies has indicated that four copies of this pHdc-eGFP transgene induces a loss of histamine immunoreactivity in otherwise normal flies. Transpositions of the original pHdc-eGFP transgenes were performed to determine whether differently positioned pHdc-eGFP transgenes can still cause this co-suppression effect on Hdc expression. Histamine immunocytochemistry will be conducted on the newly generated 4-copy flies to confirm whether the suppression of Hdc is due to the specific location of the pHdc-eGFP transgene or due to the number of transgene copies in the Drosophila genome.