Notable findings include the discovery of metabolic heterogeneity in Drosophila brain tumors, which affects lactate production and tumor progression (Garcez et al., under preparation). We also uncovered the role of amino acid transporters in brain tumor growth (Rebelo et al., Cell Mol Life Sci, 2023) and identified a novel mechanism controlling neurotransmitter gene expression during neuron maturation. In Marques et al. (2024, PLoS Biology), we show that early-born neurons undergo a three-phase maturation process in which neurotransmitter gene transcription precedes translation, which occurs later in coordination with developmental timing. Our research also highlighted the importance of one-carbon metabolism in neuroepithelial development (Silva et al., Development, 2024). We further found that developmental cues, particularly those from hormone signaling, are critical for instructing neural stem cells to stop proliferating, thus terminating neurogenesis at the appropriate time. Additionally, we explored how the germ stem cell fate is coordinated with mitochondrial activity and dynamics. We discovered that mitochondrial dynamics in the Drosophila ovary regulate germ stem cell number, cell fate, and female fertility (Garcez et al., Front Cell Dev Biol, 2021). The findings were also disseminated at national and international conferences.
In addition to these results, the project led to the development of innovative tools, including FLYNC, a software that uses transcriptomic data to identify novel long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in Drosophila (dos Santos et al., BioRxiv, 2024). Overall, these results and innovations are expected to significantly advance stem cell and cancer research.
