Ecdysteroid and Retinoid Receptors in Crustacea: Expressionin Regenerating Limbs

当旧的腿丢失或受伤时，甲壳类动物会再生新的行走腿。几乎在所有节肢动物中控制生长的外甾体激素（无脊椎动物的类固醇激素）也影响与再生有关的特殊生长。本研究将探讨这些类固醇在拳击蟹（Uca pugilator）腿部再生中的作用。由于螃蟹的再生涉及细胞分化和合成代谢活动，这项研究将对这两个非常不同的事件的分子控制产生新的见解。使用我们最近分离的外皮类固醇受体DNA探针，霍普金斯博士将研究再生过程中受体的表达模式，以及类固醇激素、其他影响生长的化合物（如类维生素a）及其受体之间的结构/功能关系。由于无脊椎动物的类固醇受体与高等脊椎动物非常相似，本研究产生的数据应该能更好地理解类固醇是如何控制和协调复杂的生长现象的。＊＊＊

9408342 Hopkins Crustaceans regenerate new walking legs when old ones are lost or injured. Ecdysteroids (the invertebrate steroid hormones) which control growth in virtually all arthropods also influence the special kind of growth involved in regeneration. The research proposed here will investigate the role of these steroids in leg regeneration in the crab, Uca pugilator. Since regeneration in crabs involves both cellular differentiation and anabolic activities, this research will yield new insights into the molecular controls of these two very different events. Using our recently isolated DNA probe for the ecdysteroid receptor, Dr. Hopkins will look at the patterns of receptor expression during regeneration and the structural/functional relationships between steroid hormones, other growth-affecting compounds (such as the retinoids), and their receptors. Because steroid receptors of invertebrates are so similar to those of higher vertebrates, the data generated by this research should provide a better understanding of how steroids, in general, control and coordinate the complicated phenomena of growth. ***