Genetic screening for molecules involved in dopaminergic neuron specification.

• Main Author: Koh, Venessa Sock-Kheng.
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52937
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a multisystem, neurodegenerative disorder that affects the entire central nervous system. At present, there is no absolute cure for PD due to the complexity of the disease and the inability to define the precise pathology of PD. In this project, we would be examining dopamine (DA) neurons using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. We examined the climbing ability of the Drosophila as well as the development of the DA neurons in the adult fly brain. Among the 33 P-element insertion lines that we examined, we discovered that 17 lines presented a phenotype. We observed that 3 different DA neuron clusters, PPM3, PPL2 and VUM, are mostly affected by the mutation.