Knockdown duch (Drosophila ubiquitin carboxy−terminal hydrolase) play a role on the regulation of the oxidative stress in fruit fly eye

Abstract

UCH−L1 is a ubiquitous protein in human neurons. The abnormal expression of UCH−L1 has been reported in several neurodegenerative diseases and cancers, suggesting a cellular function of UCH−L1. However, the role of UCH−L1 in tissue development remains poorly understood. Using Drosophila melanogaster, this paper presented the demonstration of the loss function of dUCH, a protein that is homologous to UCH−L1. This protein could exert an abnormal eye phenotype, increase reactive oxygen species in the eye imaginal disc and decrease the expression of the sod2, gstd1 and gstd2 antioxidant genes. Except for the induced abnormal eye phenotype, the effects of the decreased dUCH expression were ameliorated by feeding flies with 2.5 mM vitamin C. The results suggested that dUCH could affect the fly eye development by regulating the oxidative stress.