LABORATORY OF DEVELOPMENTAL GENETICS (LDG)

Scientific directions of the laboratory

• Hormonally controlled ontogenetic processes, particularly metamorphosis, are studied on the ideal genetic model of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The main research targets include: (1) hormonally responsive genes operative in initiation and regulation of cell differentiation and morphogenesis, (2) genes participating in hormonally controlled programmed cell death, (3) identification and analysis of the function of genes coding for basal metabolism and post-translational modifications which perform cell- or time-specific functions in the course of postembryonal developmental phases of Drosophila melanogaster.

The most important publications of workers of the Laboratory of developmental genetics (IF ≥2)

1. Akdemir F., Farkaš R., Chen P., Juhasz G., Medvedova L., Sass M., Wang L., Wang X., Chittaranjan S., Gorski S.M., Rodriguez A. and Abrams J.M. (2006) Autophagy occurs upstream or parallel to the apoptosome during histolytic cell death. Development 133 (8): 1457-1465. IF= 9,162

2. Liszeková D., Polakovičová M. Beno M. and Farkaš R. (2009) Molecular determinants of juvenile hormone action as revealed by 3D QSAR analysis in Drosophila. PLoS One. 4 (6): e6001. IF = 4,523

3. Wilson T.G., Wang S., Beňo M., Farkaš R. (2006) Wide mutational spectrum of a gene involved in hormone action and insecticide resistance in Drosophila melanogaster. Molec. Genet. Genomics 276 (3): 294-303. IF= 2,632

4. Beňo M, Liszeková D, Farkaš R. (2007) Processing of soft pupae and uneclosed pharate adults of Drosophila for scanning electron microscopy. Microsc. Res Tech. 70 (12): 1022-1027. IF=2,524

5. Sláma K., Farkaš R. (2005) Heartbeat patterns during the postembryonic development of Drosophila melanogaster. J. Insect Physiol. 51 (5): 489-503. IF = 2,310

Fig. 1 Pharmacophoric CoMFA analysis of steric and electrostatic fields, which are essential for biological activity and bond of JH agonist into their receptors, specific for aliphatic(A) and oligocyclic (B) analoges.

Fig. 2 Morphogenetic effects of exogenous aplicated JH (B, D) to postembryonic development of imaginal structures of external sensoric organs (A, B) and on the rotation of the male's genital arch (C, D).

Fig. 3 Scheme of secretion of three types: (A) merocrine secretion (exocytosis), (B) apocrine secretion, (C) holocrine secretion.