The endocytic protein Asrij modulates multiple signalling pathways to regulate drosophila hematopoiesis and immunity

Abstract

The circulatory/cardiovascular system is the first organ system to develop and function in a vertebrate embryo. The vertebrate cardiovascular system, made up of the heart, blood and the vessels performs the functions of oxygen supply and waste metabolite removal. A functional circulatory system is essential for development of any multicellular organism (Maltepe and Simon 1998). Many model organisms such as mouse, zebrafish, chick embryo and Drosophila melanogaster have been extensively used to study conserved molecules and mechanisms involved in cardiovascular development. The basic principles and the regulatory mechanisms of the circulatory system can be better understood by a comparative approach and drawing parallels across vertebrate and invertebrates. Drosophila melanogaster has been extensively used as a model organism to understand various developmental processes and hence has been a model of choice due to a) the availability of a completely sequenced genome, b) a wealth of genetic information, c) the ability to manipulate gene expression and d) a high degree of conservation (60%) of genes responsible for human diseases (Dow 2003a; Dow 2003b).