Results

Conclusion

  1. We successfully constructed a plasmid that can express the CAHS3 protein in cells and fruit flies.
  2. CAHS3 does not have harmful effect on fruit fly, but it cannot attenuate hTau expression induced eye morphology defects.

    3. The picture from the electron microscope and data analyzed using the method of mathematical modeling show that CAHS3 expression alone has no impact to the fly eye morphology. The expression of CAHS3 does not significantly attenuate the eye morphology defects caused by hTau protein expression. Here, LacZ was expressed alone or together with hTau as a control.

    The table shows the comparison between the corresponding groups has no statistical significance (p>0.05), suggesting that the expression of CAHS3 has no significant effects to both the wildtype and hTau expressing fly eyes.

  3. The Western blot experiments showed that CAHS3 may be partially degraded in Drosophila, which may explain why it was not effective. We observed that there were extra bands under the band with the molecular weight corresponding to CAHS3, which suggested that CAHS3 protein was partially degraded in flies.

Future Plan

  1. Perform more detailed analysis on the effects of CAHS3 when expressed in fruit flies, such as effects during aging and other stressed conditions.
  2. Explore CAHS3's effects on other neurodegenerative disease models.
  3. Laverage our genetic statistical model. This model could be used to analyze how genetic and environmental factors influence Drosophila eye health over time. Using this model can reduce human error and improve efficiency for Drosophila experiments.