# CELLULAR AND GENETIC ANALYSIS OF CELL DEATH

> **NIH NIH R01** · PURDUE UNIVERSITY · 1992 · $88,910

## Abstract

The long term goal of this project is to understand basic mechanisms of
cell death. Many age-related degenerative conditions are related to
cellular attrition. This decline is particularly acute in the nervous
system, which has a severely restricted capacity for the addition of new
cells; cell death is a significant element in many neurodegenerative
diseases. A rational therapy to reduce or eliminate cell death will require
an understanding of how cells die. Although accumulating evidence points to
a "suicide program" which cells turn on if deprived of special signals, the
broadest outlines of this program are still a matter of conjecture.

The work proposed here aims to begin a cellular and mutational analysis of
cell death in the developing Drosophila retina. The compound eye of the fly
is a sensitive pattern amplifier of a simple neural module, the unit eye,
or ommatidium. Each ommatidium is an exact repeat of a stereotyped unit
crystal. Ommatidial development is well characterized at the cellular
level, and cell death plays a key role in eliminating surplus cells from
the eye lattice. A roughened lattice results if these extra cells are not
eliminated, and allows a rapid and powerful screen for mutations that
disable normal cell death.

The baseline of cell death in normal eyes will be accurately mapped using a
variety of methods, including quantitative light and electron microscopy,
indicators for intracellular free calcium, and specially constructed
genetic transformants. Rough-eyed mutants will be screened to select eyes
with surplus cells and these will be examined to select candidates
defective in normal cell death. Putative "cell death" mutants will be
compared closely to the normal baseline. Genetic methods will be used to
determine the site of action of the gene product. Additional alleles of the
gene will be generated, particularly with a view to future molecular
characterization of the selected gene(s).

Many fundamental cellular mechanisms were established before arthropods and
chordates diverged, and it is reasonable to expect that a process as basic
as cell death will show strong parallels in the two groups. The ability to
bring to bear a combination of cellular, genetic and molecular methods in
the Drosophila eye has proved useful in exploring how cell fates are
specified during development, and it promises to be informative regarding
the machinery of the ultimate fate.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121142
- **Project number:** 5R01AG009302-03
- **Recipient organization:** PURDUE UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** YRXVL4JYCEF5
- **Principal Investigator:** DONALD F READY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1992
- **Award amount:** $88,910
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1990-09-01 → 1993-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121142

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121142, CELLULAR AND GENETIC ANALYSIS OF CELL DEATH (5R01AG009302-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121142. Licensed CC0.

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