CAREER: Funtional and Structural Evolution of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone

促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）对脊椎动物生殖的启动和维持起着至关重要的作用。它刺激垂体释放两种激素，直接调节卵巢和睾丸的生长，并产生性类固醇激素，如雌激素和睾丸激素。GnRH产生和/或释放的缺陷将不可避免地导致不育。尽管这种激素在脊椎动物的繁殖中很重要，但对于GnRH最初是何时在进化中出现的，以及它何时开始承担中央生殖调节器的角色，人们知之甚少。蔡博士已经证明，类似gnrh的分子存在于一种叫做加州阿普里西亚的原生动物中。这些结果的进化意义是非常令人兴奋的，因为它表明GnRH可能已经存在于原始无脊椎动物祖先中，产生了不同的脊椎动物和无脊椎动物群体。在进化过程中，这种非凡的保守性为GnRH在进化过程中所扮演的功能角色提供了许多可能性。蔡博士将整合分子、生理和进化方法来研究GnRH的结构和功能保护。作为该职业奖的一部分，她将使用同样的多学科方法设计一门关于比较生殖生物学的新实验课程。此外，蔡博士将积极招收对分子技术解决进化问题感兴趣的学生，以开展研究项目。从她的研究项目中获得的信息将对目前在人类和其他脊椎动物中看到的生殖调节系统如何经过数百万年的进化产生深远的影响。

9733237 Tsai Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is central to the initiation and maintenance of reproduction in vertebrates. It stimulates the release of two hormones from the pituitary that directly regulate the growth of ovaries and testes and the production of sex steroid hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone. Defects in GnRH production and/or release will invariably lead to sterility. Despite this hormone's importance in the reproduction of vertebrates, very little is known about when GnRH originally arose in evolution and when it began to assume the role of a central reproductive regulator. Dr. Tsai has shown that GnRH-like molecules exist in a protostome, Aplysia californica. The evolutionary implication of these results is extremely exciting since it suggest that GnRH may have already been present in a primitive invertebrate ancestor that gave rise to diverse group of vertebrates and invertebrates. Such extraordinary conservation over the course of evolution opens up the door to many possibilities regarding the functional roles that GnRH had assumed over the course of evolution. Dr. Tsai will integrative molecular, physiological and evolutionary approaches to examine structural and functional conservation of GnRH. As part of this CAREER award, she will use the same multidisciplinary approach to design a new laboratory course on comparative reproductive biology. Moreover, Dr. Tsai will actively recruit students interested in addressing evolutionary questions with molecular techniques from regional campuses to initiate research projects. The information gained from her research program will have profound implications concerning how the system of reproductive regulation presently seen in humans and other vertebrates has evolved over many millions of years.