The Role Of Translation Initiation Regulating Kinases, Lk6 And Tor, On Nociceptor Development And Function In Drosophila Melanogaster
- ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Haley Alexis McGuirt (Creator)
- Institution
- Appalachian State University (ASU )
- Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
- Advisor
- Andrew Bellemer
Abstract: Chronic pain affects over 100 million adults in the United States and costs the US over $500 billion dollars annually due to expenses associated with healthcare and lost productivity. Effective treatments for chronic pain are lacking due to our incomplete understanding of the complex mechanisms that underly the development of chronic pain. To improve treatments, it is important to characterize the signaling pathways responsible for changes in nociceptor sensitivity. This project used a model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and focused on characterizing the involvement of two kinases, Lk6 and Tor, that are known to positively regulate the rate of translation initiation through interaction with eIF4E. Expression levels of Lk6 and Tor in the nociceptors of Drosophila larvae were altered using the GAL4/UAS-RNAi system. The results suggest nociceptor-specific knockdown of Lk6 played an important role in the development of thermal nociceptor sensitization following UV-induced tissue injury, while playing no role in baseline nociceptor sensitivity. Nociceptor-specific knockdown of Tor showed phenotypes that suggested the involvement of the Tor signaling pathway in baseline nociceptor sensitivity, and it is hypothesized that Tor would also play a role in the translation of mRNAs known to be involved in nociceptor plasticity.
The Role Of Translation Initiation Regulating Kinases, Lk6 And Tor, On Nociceptor Development And Function In Drosophila Melanogaster
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Created on 1/7/2020
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- McGuirt, H. (2019). The Role Of Translation Initiation Regulating Kinases, Lk6 And Tor, On Nociceptor Development And Function In Drosophila Melanogaster. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
- Language: English
- Date: 2019
- Keywords
- MNK, LK6, TOR, Nociception, Drosophila melanogaster