I participated in STAR in the summer of 2021. The title of my project was "Uncovering the Interactions Between Kismet and HATs/HDACs in Axon Pruning in Drosophila melanogaster Gamme Neurons" and my abstract was as follows: "Axon pruning (AP) is a normal neurodevelopmental process that refines synaptic connections. In Drosophila melanogaster, AP in gamma neurons is driven by the steroid hormone ecdysone binding to its receptor (EcR). Kismet (Kis) is a chromatin reader that recognizes epigenetic marks and, upon binding to the EcR locus, promotes additional epigenetic modifications. Loss of Kis and subsequent loss of EcR transcription prevents proper AP, and this loss is associated with defects in immediate recall memory in the adult fly. Kis cannot modify chromatin alone. It is thought to recruit enzymes that can modify histones, such as histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). The specific HATs and HDACs that regulate EcR expression are not known. We used pharmacological inhibition and RNA interference (RNAi) to ask which HATs and HDACs regulate the EcR locus. We are looking to see whether these specific inhibitor or RNAi treatments lead to changes in axon pruning or EcR expression, which would suggest that these enzymes are relevant to regulating this process. Understanding how HATs and HDACs affect AP will expand our knowledge of epigenetics while providing leads for therapeutic targets of neurodevelopmental conditions."
