Transcriptional analyses of neuron and glia specific knockdown of PIG-A in Drosophila melanogaster

We performed neuron and glia specific knockdown of PIG-A in Drosophila to understand the molecular defects that occur with loss of GPI anchored proteins. PIG-A encodes an enzyme responsible for the first step in GPI anchor biosynthesis. Loss of PIG-A in neurons and glia results in different neurological defects. Overall design: PIGA was knocked down in the glia using REPO-GAL4 x RNAi (BDSC 62696) and PIGA was knocked down in the neuron using ELAV-GAL4 x RNAi (BDSC 62696). Whole fly heads were collected from 5-10 flies. RNAseq was used to compare the PIGA KD flies to their respective genetically matched control (AttP).