20-P025 Cell migration in vivo; determining the function of Ena

Abstract

Cell migration has been studied extensively in vitro, however, fewer studies address this subject in vivo. Our aim is to determine in vivo, the role of the actin regulatory protein, Ena. To enable this we are studying Drosophila hemocytes in the developing embryo. Hemocytes are the primary immune cells of Drosophila and during development they follow stereotyped pathways to distribute throughout the embryo. Using the Gal4UAS system to express GFP specifically in hemocytes allows us to visualize the migrating hemocytes using the confocal microscope. This system is also used to overexpress Ena or interfere with its function. Here we show that Ena localizes to the