The Detection and Localization of Frost Protein in Drosophila

Abstract

In response to cold stress, Drosophila Melanogaster increase their expression of Frost, a candidate gene involved in cold response. The direct role of Frost in cold tolerance is yet to be determined, and its importance for survival in cold environments has been questioned. In this study, I attempt to better understand the molecular machinery of Frost by selecting for its protein in fly lysate knowing only its RNA has been found. Detection of Frost expression and subsequently studying its protein will hopefully lead to enhanced comprehension of cold responses in insects, which is the long-term goal of this research. I predict that Frost will be expressed in flies that undergo cold stress at 0oC for 2 hours before recovering at 220C for 3 hours before lysing. Two Western blots were executed using fly lysate that underwent the above treatment, whose antibodies were specific to Frost. No bands were seen in any of the lanes containing treated samples in either of the Immunoblots, indicating that Frost was either not expressed or not detected in fly lysate.