Structure and Function of Glionexin, An Insect Glial Glycoprotein

昆虫胶质糖蛋白 Glionexin 的结构和功能

• 批准号: 9402882
• 负责人: Mark Meyer
• 金额: $ 19.03万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-09-01 至 1997-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9402882&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Structure; Function; Glionexin; Insect; Glial

A class of cells found in the nervous system, though not nerve cells themselves is called glia, from their early presumed adhesive glue-like role to hold cells together. These glial cells are now known to be important for many aspects of normal function in the brain. Glial cells and their associated products participate in fundamental interactions which underline the development and organization of the nervous system. Insects are widely used as model system for development, and in insects the first antigen associated with glial cells was a glycoprotein compound called glionexin or GX, identified in the cricket. Features of its distribution, spatial and temporal expression, and preliminary functional tests suggested GX is involved in neural development as an adhesion/recognition molecule. This work uses antibody probes and microsequence analysis to screen genetic cDNA libraries from embryonic crickets and adult Drosophila flies, where we have a lot of genetic information, to isolate and sequence the gene encoding GX. Identification of the gene will allow new tests for function of this compound, which in turn will be important for understanding the complex interactions that guide nerve cell outgrowth during development and regeneration. The work may lead to better understanding of the evolution of cell adhesion macromolecules, and will have impact on developmental biology as well as neuroscience.

在神经系统中发现的一类细胞，虽然不是神经细胞本身，但被称为神经胶质，因为它们早期被认为具有将细胞保持在一起的粘合剂样作用。 现在已知这些神经胶质细胞对大脑正常功能的许多方面都很重要。 神经胶质细胞及其相关产物参与神经系统发育和组织的基本相互作用。 昆虫被广泛用作发育的模型系统，在昆虫中，与神经胶质细胞相关的第一个抗原是一种糖蛋白化合物，称为glionexin或GX，在蟋蟀中鉴定。 其分布，时空表达的特点，并初步功能测试表明，GX参与神经发育作为一个粘附/识别分子。 本工作利用抗体探针和微序列分析技术，从我们拥有大量遗传信息的胚胎蟋蟀和成年果蝇中筛选遗传cDNA文库，以分离和测序编码GX的基因。 该基因的鉴定将允许对这种化合物的功能进行新的测试，这反过来对于理解在发育和再生过程中指导神经细胞生长的复杂相互作用非常重要。 这项工作可能会导致更好地理解细胞粘附大分子的进化，并将对发育生物学和神经科学产生影响。