Cytokinesis in Aspergillus Nidulans

构巢曲霉的细胞分裂

• 批准号: 9513489
• 负责人: Steven Harris
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut Health Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-09-01 至 1997-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9513489&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cytokinesis; Aspergillus; Nidulans

Harris 9513489 Cytokinesis is a fundamental cellular process subject to both spatial and temporal controls. Specifically, a plane of cell division must be specified and the components necessary for cytokinesis recruited to the incipient division site. Furthermore, cytokinesis must be temporally co-ordinated with nuclear division. Progress towards understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cytokinesis has been hampered by the lack of a complete inventory of the components required for the process. The overall goal of our research is to help rectify this problem by exploiting the genetically tractable filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans to identify and characterize proteins required for cytokinesis. Two such gene products, sepA and sepB, were identified as a result of previous genetic screens. Molecular characterization of the genes encoding these proteins has provided valuable clues about their functional role in cytokinesis. In particular, the sepB gene product appears to serve as an upstream component of a regulatory system which maintains the co-ordination of septum formation and nuclear division, whereas the sepA gene product may be a component of a cortically localized complex of proteins which directs actin polymerization at the division site. Our research will address these hypotheses by using a variety of approaches to determine the sub-cellular location of the sepA and sepB gene products. In addition, genetic screens will be used to enhance our understanding of sepA and sepB function by identifying the proteins with which they interact. A better understanding of the basic mechanisms controlling cell division will be achieved as a result of this research. Furthermore, filamentous fungi have a pronounced impact upon human affairs. Thus, learning how fungal cells grow and divide should have numerous practical benefits. For example, it will provide information which can be used to combat fungal infection of plants, animals, and humans. In addition, it will allow fu ngi to be utilized more efficiently for the production of important food and industrial compounds.

Harris 9513489胞质分裂是一种受空间和时间控制的基本细胞过程。具体地说，必须指定细胞分裂的平面，并将胞质分裂所需的成分招募到最初的分裂部位。此外，胞质分裂必须在时间上与核分裂相协调。由于缺乏这一过程所需成分的完整清单，在了解细胞质分裂的分子机制方面取得的进展一直受到阻碍。我们研究的总体目标是通过利用遗传易驯化的丝状真菌nidulans来鉴定和表征细胞质分裂所需的蛋白质来帮助纠正这个问题。两种这样的基因产物，SepA和SepB，被鉴定为先前基因筛查的结果。编码这些蛋白质的基因的分子特征为了解它们在胞质分裂中的功能作用提供了有价值的线索。特别是，SepB基因产物似乎是维持隔膜形成和核分裂协调的调控系统的上游组成部分，而SepA基因产物可能是指导分裂位点肌动蛋白聚合的皮质局部蛋白质复合体的组成部分。我们的研究将通过使用各种方法来确定SepA和SepB基因产物的亚细胞位置来解决这些假设。此外，遗传筛选将被用来通过识别与它们相互作用的蛋白质来增强我们对SepA和SepB功能的理解。这项研究将使人们更好地理解控制细胞分裂的基本机制。此外，丝状真菌对人类事务有显著的影响。因此，了解真菌细胞是如何生长和分裂的应该有很多实际的好处。例如，它将提供可用于对抗植物、动物和人类的真菌感染的信息。此外，它还将使FuNGI更有效地用于生产重要的食品和工业化合物。