Regulation of Potassium and Calcium Channels in Drosophila

果蝇钾钙通道的调节钾钙通道的调节在多种细胞功能中起着重要作用。研究人员已经在两个基因上发现了突变，它们扰乱了果蝇体内K+和钙离子通道的调节。这项拟议的研究将识别这两个基因并克隆它们。该项目使用P元素突变和X射线照射来产生两个调控基因中每一个的额外突变等位基因。这些新等位基因中的一些将被P元件或“染色体断点”的存在“标记”。这些被标记的等位基因将被用来促进这两个基因的分离和表征。对野生型和突变型等位基因的序列分析将确定每个突变等位基因中存在的突变。过去的研究经验清楚地表明，参与离子通道调节的机制在进化上具有很强的保守性。对正在研究的两个基因的鉴定，以及随后对编码基因产物如何调节K+和Ca~(2+)通道的分析，将为研究果蝇离子通道调节的分子机制提供有价值的见解。预计这些监管机制也将适用于其他系统。由于离子通道与其他细胞功能共享调控途径，这些研究也将提供有关一般细胞调控途径的有用信息。

Regulation of Potassium and Calcium Channels in DrosophilaRegulation of potassium and calcium channels plays an important role in several cellular functions. The investigators have identified mutations, in two genes, that disrupt the regulation of K+ and Ca2+ channels in Drosophila. The proposed research will identify these two genes and clone them. The project uses P-element mutagenesis and X-irradiation to generate additional mutant alleles of each of the two regulatory genes. Some of these new alleles will be "tagged" by the presence of the P-element or a "chromosomal breakpoint". These "tagged" alleles will be used to facilitate the isolation and characterization of the two genes. Sequence analysis of the wild-type and mutant alleles will identify the mutations present within each of the mutant alleles.Past research experience has clearly demonstrated a strong evolutionary conservation of mechanisms involved in the regulation of ion channels. Identification of the two genes under study, and subsequent analysis of how the encoded gene products regulate the K+ and the Ca2+ channels, will provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of Drosophila ion channels. These regulatory mechanisms would be expected to be applicable to other systems. Since ion channels share regulatory pathways with other cellular functions, these studies will also provide useful information on general cellular regulatory pathways.