View Program - 63rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference

Rapidly changing dietary and environmental conditions are of concern as to how they influence our genome. Transposable elements (TEs) are widespread DNA sequences that are able to move throughout the genome. They have large potentials to impact our genome, including perturbing the expression of neighboring genes via epigenetic mechanisms. Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, predisposition to cancer, and other diseases are often caused by TEs. Accordingly, it is important to determine how our environment affects this jumping DNA. To mitigate the spreading of TEs, repressive markers are enriched at the TE location. While this epigenetic marker is successful at limiting the movement of TEs, it can also repress neighboring genes. In this experiment, we used a reporter assay that consists of a reporter gene next to a TE. Altered expression level of the reporter gene would inform the extent of TE-mediated silencing of neighboring reporter gene. We focus on two major directions: varied climate variables and altered dietary conditions. Our preliminary results suggest that, while changing climate conditions have inconclusive effects on repressive markers, altered diet is likely to have significant influences. We have already seen that a high sugar diet causes increased expression of the reporter gene This indicates reduced TE-mediated silencing of neighboring genes. We will continue testing other dietary conditions to identify factors that alteredTE-mediated silencing. Identification of these prevalent factors could help mitigate TE-mediated abnormal expression of important genes that cause detrimental diseases.

Environmental Effects on the Epigenetic Silencing of Transposable Elements