Masters Dissertation Thesis: Behavioral Effects of amontillado RNAi Knockdown in the Drosophila melanogaster Circadian Clock Neuron Network

Abstract

Circadian rhythms are endogenous biological oscillations that are present in microbes, plants, nematodes, and mammals. All animals have an oscillation of approximately 24 hours, though the precise period of these oscillations varies between species. In Drosophila melanogaster, circadian rhythms are coordinated by the circadian clock neuron network (CCNN), which is divided into different classes of clock neurons. Many neuropeptides are synthesized in the CCNN, only some of which have been characterized. Before neuropeptides can become bioactive, their precursors have to go through neuropeptide processing. In Drosophila the enzyme involved in the first step of neuropeptide processing is the Drosophila protein convertase 2 (dPC2), also known as “amontillado.” I have used the GAL4/UAS-RNAi genetic tool to knock down amontillado expression in different groups of neurons in the CCNN to observe the effects on the fruit fly’s circadian rhythm of sleep and activity. Changes in such circadian rhythms in amontillado knockdown flies would reveal the roles that neuropeptides released from subsets of neurons play in their control.