Expression-Based Cell Lineage Analysis inDrosophilaThrough a Course-Based Research Experience for Early Undergraduates

Abstract

A variety of genetic techniques have been devised to determine cell lineage relationships during tissue development. Some of these systems monitor cell lineages spatially and/or temporally without regard to gene expression by the cells, whereas others correlate gene expression with the lineage under study. The GAL4 Technique for Real-time and Clonal Expression (G-TRACE) system allows for rapid, fluorescent protein-based visualization of both current and past GAL4 expression patterns and is therefore amenable to genome-wide expression-based lineage screens. Here we describe the results from such a screen, performed by undergraduate students of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Undergraduate Research Consortium for Functional Genomics (URCFG) and high school summer scholars as part of a discovery-based education program. The results of the screen, which reveal novel expression-based lineage patterns within the brain, the imaginal disc epithelia, and the hematopoietic lymph gland, have been compiled into the G-TRACE Expression Database (GED), an online resource for use by the Drosophila research community. The impact of this discovery-based research experience on student learning gains was assessed independently and shown to be greater than that of similar programs conducted elsewhere. Furthermore, students participating in the URCFG showed considerably higher STEM retention rates than UCLA STEM students that did not participate in the URCFG, as well as STEM students nationwide.

Genomics Education in the Era of Personal Genomics: Academic, Professional, and Public Considerations

“…In surveying the literature, three studies about genomic CUREs stood out. Olson et al published a genomic CURE designed to screen gene expression in Drosophila [63]. With over 250 co-authors, this study demonstrated significant success in involving a large introductory class size in research-based genomic learning.…”

A functional genomics screen identifying blood cell development genes inDrosophilaby undergraduates participating in a course-based research experience

“…The Undergraduate Research Consortium for Functional Genomics (URCFG) was established at UCLA in 2003 as an entity representing the collaborative research effort of undergraduates, typically first- and second-year students, participating in a discovery-based laboratory course called Biomedical Research 10H (formerly Life Sciences 10H ). Since that time, the URCFG has conducted several large-scale genetic research projects that have yielded publishable data and research resources ( Chen et al 2005 ; Liao et al 2006 ; Call et al 2007 ; Evans et al 2009 ; Olson et al 2019 ).…”

“…Drosophila has three defined terminally differentiated blood cell types called plasmatocytes, crystal cells, and lamellocytes ( Evans et al 2014 ; Olson et al 2019 ). Plasmatocytes are professional phagocytes, similar to human macrophages and neutrophils, and are by far the most prevalent blood cell type (∼95%) produced.…”

speck, First Identified in Drosophila melanogaster in 1910, Is Encoded by the Arylalkalamine N-Acetyltransferase (AANAT1) Gene

“…Though undergraduate scientists have been a staple of Drosophila research groups since Alfred Sturtevant worked for Morgan, only relatively recently has this research been extended to the classroom. Multi-year projects in lab courses at the University of California, Los Angeles identified mutations responsible for eye development ( Call et al 2007 ) and cell lineage analysis ( Olson et al 2019 ) and a multi-year, multi-University consortium directed from Washington University in St. Louis had over 900 undergraduate students finish and annotate the dot chromosomes of a number of Drosophila species ( Leung et al 2015 ). Other C ourse-based U ndergraduate R esearch E xperiences (CUREs) have gained more prominence at Universities as faculty identify the advantages of such an approach ( Shaffer et al 2014 ) (see CUREnet: curenet.cns.utexas.edu for additional information), and using genetic complementation to characterize mutants derived from a screen has been quite successful ( Bieser et al 2019 ; Stamm et al 2019 ).…”