Analysis of the dorsal-ventral patterning in Rhodnius prolixus”

• PAGOLA, L; ESPODA BEHERENS, N; LAVORE, A; RIVERA POMAR, R

Santa Cruz

Encuentro; V International Meeting of the Latin American Society of Developmental Biology (LASDB); 2010

Latin American Society of Developmental Biology (LASDB)

Our knowledge of the genetics of insect development mostly derives from the work on Drosophila melanogaster. However, D. melanogaster is a highly evolved insect, thus, it is not the best model to understand the paths of evolution. It is noteworthy that the concepts of segmentation, polarity, gradients, and compartments, were put forward on Rhodnius prolixus and Oncopeltus fasciatus. The recently sequenced genome of R. prolixus makes it again a suitable model to understand the basic morphogenetic and molecular processes that underlay the establishment of the dorso-ventral axis on the embryo. The aim of our work is the identification of the components of the cascade that set the dorso-ventral axis in Rodnius prolixus and functional study of its components. We have identified some of the components of this pathway, namely dorsal (dl), toll, decapentaplegic (dpp), and twist (twi) both in silico and by means of cloning. We have performed in situ hibridazation to determine the embryonic expression pattern and parental RNAi to analyze the phenotypes.