We are utilizing the highly accessible genetic model system Drosophila melanogaster to gain a comprehensive understanding of the biological principles that underlie the regulation of apoptosis in the context of a multicellular organism. In Drosophila, a large number of cells die during development in a similar manner as in vertebrates. Therefore, molecular genetic studies in Drosophila promise considerable potential for advancing our understanding of the basic control mechanisms involved in the regulation of apoptosis in vertebrates including humans. Knowledge obtained in these studies may provide new insights into diseases that are associated with altered rates of apoptosis.

Two major projects are currently under study in the lab.

1. We have developed a novel genetic screening method to identify genes involved in cell death control and execution in Drosophila. However, unexpectedly, we also identified genes involved in growth control, signal transduction and tumor suppression. These interesting genes and their role in normal development are currently under intensive study in the lab.

1. We are also interested to determine why cells die when they develop abnormally. Apparently, an unknown mechanism monitors the cell’s ability to develop correctly, and activates the apoptotic program if it fails to do so. There is virtually nothing known about the underlying mechanisms of this process. We are using several approaches to identify these mechanisms including gene array analysis, genetic screening and promoter analysis.

A tutorial in our lab will provide a detailed introduction into modern Drosophila techniques with emphasis on visualizing gene activity and cell death in wild-type and various mutant background, phenotypic analysis, generating transgenic flies and small scale genetic screens. In addition, students will gain experience in basic molecular biology and protein chemistry. The experiments will be aided by state-of-the-art facilities.

Selected publications

• Srivastava M, Scherr H, Lackey M, Xu D, Chen Z, Lu J, and Bergmann A (2007) ARK, the Apaf-1 related killer in Drosophila, requires diverse domains for its activity. Cell Death and Differentiation 14:92–102.
  
  
• Xu D, Wang Y, Willecke R, Chen Z, Ding T, and Bergmann A (2006) The effector caspases drICE and dcp-1 have partially overlapping functions in the apoptotic pathway in Drosophila. Cell Death and Differentiation 13:1697–1706.
  
  
• Herz, H-M., Chen, Z., Scherr, H., Lackey, M., Bolduc, C. and Bergmann, A. (2006) vps25 mosaics display non-autonomous cell survival and overgrowth, and autonomous apoptosis. Development 133:1871–1880.
  
  
• Arama E, Bader M, Srivastava M, Bergmann A and Steller H (2006) The two Drosophila cytochrome c proteins can function in both respiration and caspase activation. EMBO J. 25:232–243.
  
  
• Bergmann, A. (2006). IKKε: Not just NF-κB. Current Biology 16:R588–R590.
  
  
• Mendes CS, Arama E, Brown S, Scherr H, Srivastava M, Bergmann A, Steller H and Mollereau B (2006) Cytochrome-c-d regulates developmental apoptosis in the Drosophila retina. EMBO Reports 7:933–939.
  
  
• Xu D, Li Y, Arcaro M, Lackey M and Bergmann A (2005) The CARD-carrying caspase Dronc is essential for most, but not all, developmental cell death in Drosophila. Development 132:2125–2134.
  
  
• Cashio P, Lee TV and Bergmann A (2005) Genetic Control of Programmed Cell Death in Drosophila melanogaster. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology 16:225–35.
  
  
• Werz C, Lee TV, Lee PL, Lackey M, Stein DS and Bergmann A (2005) Mis-specified cells die by an active gene-directed process, or undergo developmental transformation by suppression of cell death in Drosophila. Development 132:5343–5352.
  
  
• Sathyanarayana P, Barthwal MK, Kundu CN, Lane ME, Bergmann A, Tzivion G and Rana A (2002) Activation of the Drosophila MLK by ceramide reveals TNF-a and ceramide as agonists of mammalian MLK3. Molecular Cell 10:1527–1533.
  
  
• Bergmann A, Tugentman M, Shilo B-Z and Steller H (2002). Regulation of Cell Number by MAPK-dependent control of apoptosis: a mechanism for trophic signaling. Developmental Cell 2:159–170.
  
  
• Bergmann A (2002). Survival Signaling goes BAD. Developmental Cell 3:607–608.
  
  
• Bergmann A, Agapite J, McCall K, and Steller H (1998). The Drosophila gene hid is a direct molecular target of Ras-dependent Survival Signaling. Cell 95:331–341.

Last updated 07/18/2007