The role of taiman in axon pruning of 𝛄 neurons in the Mushroom Body of Drosophila melanogaster

By: Eliya Roth

Guided By: Neta Marmor- Kollet

Head of the Lab: Professor Oren Shuldiner

The nervous system continues to develop after birth in a process called neuronal remodeling, which is essential for the function of the adult brain. Remodeling includes cell death, synapse elimination pruning of either dendrites or long starches of axons without causing cellular death, occasionally followed by regrowth of the axons towards new targets. Interestingly, defects in remodeling are correlated with neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. The Drosophila mushroom body (MB) is a great model to study remodeling since the brain undergoes massive changes during metamorphosis. It is comprised of 3 types of neurons, out of which only the 𝛄 neurons undergo remodeling.

Despite the importance of remodeling, most of the genes that activate and execute the process are yet to be discovered. In this research, I tried to understand what is the role of the transcription factor taiman (tai) in 𝛄-neurons axon pruning in the MB.

Unlike in control animals, when tai was either silenced using RNAi or mutated using tissue specific CRISPR/Cas9 in 𝛄 neurons, we observed defects in the pruning of MB 𝛄 neurons. These results indicate that tai is important for 𝛄 axon pruning, whether directly or indirectly as a transcription factor that activates target genes that are essential for the process. Furthermore, this discovery shed light on the mechanism of diseases such as autism, Alzheimer`s and schizophrenia, and form a better understanding of our nervous system.