Lack of Blm Protein During Early Embryonic Development in Drosophila Impacts the Lifespan of Surviving Progeny

Additional Funding Sources

This project is supported by a 2020-2021 STEM Undergraduate Research Grant from the Higher Education Research Council and an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant No. P20GM103408.

Presentation Date

7-2021

Abstract

During the early stages of Drosophila embryogenesis, maternally loaded Blm DNA helicase is essential for proper DNA replication; embryos from Blm mutant females, who fail to provision Blm to their eggs, accumulate DNA damage and most do not survive this early developmental period. Despite this severe maternal effect lethality, a small percentage of embryos do survive in the absence of Blm. However, survivors of this Blm-null embryonic environment may experience sub-lethal DNA damage that poses long-term biological consequences, such as decreased lifespan. We found that flies that developed without Blm had a reduced lifespan compared to those that developed with Blm. Due to the role Blm plays in ensuring proper replication through repetitive DNA sequences, we hypothesize that Y chromosomes containing more repetitive DNA might further reduce lifespan in a Blm deficient background.

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Lack of Blm Protein During Early Embryonic Development in Drosophila Impacts the Lifespan of Surviving Progeny

During the early stages of Drosophila embryogenesis, maternally loaded Blm DNA helicase is essential for proper DNA replication; embryos from Blm mutant females, who fail to provision Blm to their eggs, accumulate DNA damage and most do not survive this early developmental period. Despite this severe maternal effect lethality, a small percentage of embryos do survive in the absence of Blm. However, survivors of this Blm-null embryonic environment may experience sub-lethal DNA damage that poses long-term biological consequences, such as decreased lifespan. We found that flies that developed without Blm had a reduced lifespan compared to those that developed with Blm. Due to the role Blm plays in ensuring proper replication through repetitive DNA sequences, we hypothesize that Y chromosomes containing more repetitive DNA might further reduce lifespan in a Blm deficient background.