Drosophila clc-a: a chloride channel required in the glial niche for neural development

• Autores: Haritz Plazaola Sasieta
• Directores de la Tesis: Marta Morey Ramonell (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat de Barcelona ( España ) en 2018
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Javier Morante Oria (presid.), Sofía J. de Moura Minguez Araujo (secret.), Sergio Casas Tintó (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Genética por la Universidad de Barcelona
• Materias:
  • Ciencias de la vida
    • Genética
    • Biología de insectos (entomología)
      • Desarrollo de los insectos
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The chloride channel ClCN2 is expressed in glia in the mature nervous system of vertebrates and some physiological functions have been proposed. In addition, human patients with mutations in the gene or dysfunction of the protein, have, among other defects, learning disabilities and mental retardation. Since these later symptoms usually arise from errors in the assembly of neural circuits during development, it is possible that ClC-2 has a role in glia during development. Glia act as niche cells in the neurogenic niche of both vertebrates and Drosophila during development. The process of neurogenesis has to adapt to each developmental stage and has to react to systemic changes. In this work we studied the role of ClC-2 fly homologue ClC-a during CNS development. We showed that the ionic homeostasis of the niche microenvironment is also necessary for the correct regulation of stem cell proliferation. In Drosophila melanogaster, the chloride channel ClC-a is expressed in cortex glial cells that extend processes that ensheath both neuroepithelia and central brain neuroblasts and the loss of the channel in those cortex glial niche leads to a decreased neuroepithelial proliferation. Probably neuroblast proliferation is also decreased. Also, cortex glial cells wrap neuronal cell bodies and ClC-a is required for their survival. We provide evidence that defects in central brain neuroblast lineage distribution, a decreased proliferation and an increase in cell death conclude in a reduction of a specific population of migratory glia in the optic lobe, necessary for the correct axonal guidance of photoreceptors. Altogether, the results of this work contribute to the understanding of how a chloride channel can affect the development of a neural tissue, controlling the niche microenvironment during neurogenesis.