Carolina Camelo (alumna)

The development of some organs, such as the  vascular system in vertebrates or the tracheal system in invertebrates, requires the connection between pre-formed branches in addition to branching events. In Drosophila melanogaster, this highly regulated process, known as tube fusion or anastomosis, involves the migration and contact between specialized tip cells in each branch, followed by cell shape rearrangements to allow the formation of a continuous tracheal lumen. In each tip cell, a cytoskeletal network directs the transport of essential membrane and luminal material to the cell-cell interface. In my project, I aim to understand how is the vesicular trafficking regulated in these specialized cells and how it contributes for the process of tube fusion.