Abraham Sontay

Investigating Catsup’s Role within Drosophila Cells

Cell motility is an important aspect in research areas such as development and immune system response. During the development of the Drosophila ovary, a group of migratory cells called border cells with two non-migratory polar cells migrate in a cluster from the anterior to the posterior side of the egg chamber. My project focused on a protein located in the endoplasmic reticulum that was discovered during a genetic screening for defects in border cell migration. Catsup is the Drosophila ortholog of mammalian Zip 7 (family of zinc transporter) and is hypothesized to play a role in border cell migration. Investigating the border cell migration model can give us insight to diseases that use similar cell migratory mechanisms such as cancer metastasis. With insights on Catsup’s function within border cell migration, future directions include analyzing response in signaling maintenance and exploring point mutations within Catsup that could rescue migration defects.