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Research Description:
Dr. Celotto is currently involved in three research projects:
1. The link between glycolysis and Mitochondrial energy production and their effect on the Na/K pump and how their dysfunction may lead to seizures.
2. Allotopic ATP6 expression used to rescue the Drosophila MILS model of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy.
3. Drug discovery using Drosophila neurodegenerative models. Dr. Celotto’s interests are focused on studying the connection between energy production and neurological conditions, such as seizures, migraine and neurodegeneration. She has discovered mutations causing degeneration and reduced longevity that markedly reduce glycolysis or mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, neither of which results in a bioenergetic crisis. These results demonstrate that energy derived from different sources cannot fully compensate for such impairments suggesting certain essential processes are dependent upon specific sources of energy. It is believed that ATP produced through glycolysis is specifically generated at sites of high need in the neuromuscular system, for example the Na+/K+ pump, an important regulator of cellular ion homeostasis. Thus changes in the source of ATP production due to mutations affecting glycolysis or mitochondrial function may result in neurological disease by altering Na+/K+ activity. To study this, she uses Drosophila mutants affecting the glycolytic enzyme, triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), a component of the mitochondrial ATP synthase (ATP6) and the Na+/K+ pump (ATPalpha).
Education:
B.S. Biology and Chemistry, Saint Joseph College, CT (1995)
Ph.D. Biomedical Sciences, University of Connecticut Health Center, CT (2002)
Post-doctoral Training: Dr. Phil Anderson University of Wisconsin-Madison (2002-2003)
Dr. Michael Palladino University of Pittsburgh (2003-2007)
Important Publications:
- Celotto AM, AC Frank, JLSeigle and Palladino MJ. Drosophila model of human inherited triosephosphate isomerase deficiency glycolytic enzymopathy. Genetics 174(3):1237-1246, 2006
- Celotto AM, AC Frank, SW McGrath, T Fergestad, WA Van Voorhies, KF Buttle, CA Mannella and MJ Palladino. Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy in Drosophila. J Neurosci 26(3):810-820, 2006
- Celotto AM and MJ Palladino. Drosophila: A "model" model system to study neurodegeneration. Mol Interv 5(5):292-303, 2005
- Celotto AM, JW Lee and BR Graveley. Exon-specific RNA interference: A tool to determine the functional relevance of proteins encoded by alternatively spliced mRNAs. Methods Mol Biol 309:273-282, 2005
- Park JW, K Parisky, AM Celotto, RA Reenan and BR Graveley. Identification of alternative splicing regulators by RNA interference in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101(45):15974-15979, 2004
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