Title
Mammalian dystroglycan is found in many different tissues, but has been most characterized in skeletal muscle. It has been found that the loss of dystroglycan-dystrophin interaction leads to muscular dystrophy. Structurally, the extra cellular domain of dystroglycan is known to interact with laminins and various proteoglycans; whereas the cytoplasmic domain interacts with rapsyn, dystrophin, utrophin, and GRB2. Still, little is understood about dystroglycan function in development. Drosophila melanogaster is a good model system because its entire genomic sequence has been mapped and mutations are easily generated. Using cDNA micro array technology, we will observe which genes are affected when dystroglycan is over expressed in the follicle cells of developing eggs. This will enable us to discover novel genes that are linked to dystroglycan pathway in follicle cells of Drosophila, which will yield important insight on how dystroglycan functions in mammals.
