Japan JSPS Program: Isolation of Genetic Markers for Insect3B-forming-3-Ketoreductase

该奖项将为杜克大学的Dorothy Rountree博士与樱井正博士在日本金泽大学进行为期12个月的合作研究提供补充支持。Rountree和Sakurai将利用Rountree在分子内分泌学方面的专业知识来研究酮还原酶及其在调节昆虫生理和发育中的作用。昆虫被一层几丁质外骨骼包裹着，当昆虫生长时，外骨骼脱落或蜕皮。这种蜕皮过程是由被称为蜕皮类固醇的类固醇激素家族控制的。这些促胸激素的合成是由昆虫大脑释放的促胸激素（pth）——促胸激素（ecdysone）触发的。最近发现了另一种蜕皮激素，3-脱氢蜕皮激素，是一些昆虫分泌的甲状旁腺激素。这种甲状旁腺激素被一种叫做酮还原酶的酶还原为蜕皮激素。Sakurai博士目前是世界上首屈一指的酮还原酶研究者，Rountree博士在分子和内分泌技术方面的经验将促进酮还原酶在分子和遗传水平上的研究。提供该酶在昆虫发育中的重要调节作用的信息。

This award will provide supplementary support to enable Dr. Dorothy Rountree of Duke University to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Sho Sakurai for 12 months at Kanazawa University in Japan. Rountree and Sakurai will utilize Rountree's expertise in molecular endocrinology to investigate ketoreductase and its role in regulating insect physiology and development. Insects are encased by a chitinous exoskeleton which is shed or molted when the insects grow. This molting process is controlled by a family of steroid hormones known as ecdysteroids. Synthesis of these ecdysteroids in the insect's prothoracic glands is triggered by the release of a prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH), ecdysone, from the insect's brain. Recently another ecdysteroid, 3-dehydro-ecdysone, was discovered to be the PTTH secreted by some insects. This PTTH is reduced to ecdysone by an enzyme, ketoreductase. Dr. Sakurai is currently the world's premier investigator of ketoreductase and Dr. Rountree's experience with molecular and endocrine techniques will facilitate the study of ketoreductase at the molecular and genetic level, providing information on the enzyme's vital regulatory role in insect development.