Project name: Drosophila melanogaster

Description: The COP9 signalosome (CSN), an eight-subunit protein complex, is conserved in all higher eukaryotes. CSN intersects the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, modulating signaling pathways controlling various aspects of development. We are using Drosophila as a model system to elucidate the function of this important complex. Transcriptome data was generated for four csn mutants, sampled at three developmental time points. Our results are highly reproducible, being confirmed using two different experimental setups that entail different microarrays and different controls. Our results indicate that the CSN acts as a transcriptional repressor during Drosophila development, resulting in achronic gene expression in the csn mutants. "Time shift" analysis with the publicly-available Drosophila transcriptome data indicates that genes repressed by the CSN are normally induced primarily during late embyogenesis, or during metamorphosis. These temporal shifts are likely due to the roles of the CSN in regulating transcription factors. A null mutation in CSN subunit 4, and hypomorphic mutations in csn5 lead to more severe defects than seen in the csn5null mutants strain, suggesting that CSN5 carries only some of the CSN function.Keywords: time course csn mutantsOverall design: four mutants (csn4null, csn5null, csn51, csn53) in two CSN subunits (CSN4 and CSN5) sampled at three time points of larval development 60, 72, and 96 hours after egg deposition (AED)Experiments were conducted such that mRNA populations isolated from mutants were compared with mRNA populations from age-matched WT larvae i.e. each array was hybridized with mRNA extractions from age matched mutant and WT larvae. Four biological repeats which included dye reversals were conducted for each experiment

Data type: Transcriptome or Gene expression

Sample scope: Multiisolate

Relevance: ModelOrganism

Release date: 2007-04-12

Last updated: 2007-03-17