US-France Cooperative Research: Cell Adhesion and Innate Immunity in C. Elegans

在生物体发育过程中发生的结构变化，称为形态发生，涉及细胞黏附的调节。细胞可以附着在表达相似或不同蛋白质的其他细胞上。有些细胞表面分子具有抗粘附性。细胞黏附的机制与先天免疫有相似之处，先天免疫是一种古老而保守的自我非我识别系统。加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的Andrew Chisholm和马赛免疫中心的Jonathan Ewbank和Nathalie Pujol开展了这项为期三年的美法合作研究项目，探索线虫中这两个基本过程之间的联系。奇泽姆实验室在线虫形态发生的分子遗传学方面拥有专业知识。位于马赛的Ewbank实验室以线虫为模型研究先天免疫。在研究Toll受体的线虫同源物的功能时，他们确定了该受体在胚胎形态发生中与细胞黏附有关的作用。Toll受体在其他生物体中对抵抗感染具有重要作用。在这个项目中，他们将使用自动分选器来分发蠕虫和分选动物，并使用法国Ewbank实验室提供的全基因组RNA干扰库来识别与线虫形态发生中已知的细胞黏附途径相互作用的基因。这些对简单生物体线虫中细胞黏附和先天免疫途径的研究将促进对其他动物中相同途径的更复杂版本的理解，并进一步加深我们对细胞黏附在先天免疫中作用的了解。本科生和研究生将接受跨学科和后基因组方法的培训，以研究复杂的生物过程。国家科学基金会(NSF)和国家科学研究中心(CNRS)共同支持这一项目。NSF将支付美国调查人员和学生访问法国的费用。CNRS为法国调查人员访问美国提供资金。

0351728ChisholmThe structural changes occurring in an organism during its development, known as morphogenesis, involves the modulation of cell adhesion. Cells can adhere to other cells expressing similar proteins or different proteins. Some cell surface molecules are anti-adhesive. The mechanisms of cell adhesion show similarities with innate immunity, an ancient and conserved system of self-nonself recognition. This three-year U.S.-France cooperative research project, between Andrew Chisholm of the University of California at Santa Cruz and Jonathan Ewbank and Nathalie Pujol of the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille, explores connections between these two basic processes in the nematode C. elegans. The Chisholm lab has expertise in molecular genetics of morphogenesis in C. elegans. The Ewbank lab in Marseille studies innate immunity using C. elegans as a model. While investigating the function of the nematode homologue of the receptor Toll, known to be important in other organisms for resistance to infection, they have determined that the receptor has a role in embryonic morphogenesis linked to cell adhesion. In this project they will identify genes that interact with known cell adhesion pathways in C. elegans morphogenesis using an automated sorter to dispense worms and sort animals and a whole genome RNA interference library available at the Ewbank lab in France. These studies of cell adhesion and innate immunity pathways in the simple organism C. elegans will advance understanding of more complex versions of the same pathways in other animals and further our knowledge about cell adhesion's role in innate immunity. Undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in interdisciplinary and post-genomic approaches for studying complex biological processes. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) jointly support this project. NSF will cover the costs of visits to France by the U.S. investigators and students. The CNRS provides funding to the French investigators for their visits to the United States.