Hox regulation of wingless expression sculpts morphogenesis of the adult Drosophila abdomen

Hox对无翅表达的调节塑造了成年果蝇腹部的形态发生

• 批准号: 0919891
• 负责人: John Yoder
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-06-01 至 2013-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0919891&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Hox; regulation; wingless; expression; sculpts

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Yoder laboratory studies genetic control of events that shape animal form. Patterning animal bodies requires integration of genetic signals that converge on otherwise similarly fated parts of the developing body conferring unique identities. Likewise, development of sex-specific characters relies on gene regulation that propels initially similar regions of organisms down very different paths. Sex-specific characters of the adult fly Drosophila melanogaster afford an excellent opportunity to investigate how initially similar structures, both within an individual organism and between the sexes, are sculpted into their ultimate forms. Importantly, many of the same genes that pattern the fly are functionally conserved across all animals. Investigating such developmental processes in model organisms, like Drosophila, provides foundational knowledge for human developmental genetics and avenues into disease research. Hox proteins are transcription factors, proteins that regulate expression of numerous target genes to pattern the regions of the body in which they are expressed. The Yoder lab will investigate how one Hox protein, Abdominal-B, controls regional and sex-specific differences in the segments of the adult fly. How does the same protein lead to different expression of target genes in adjacent tissue and in the same tissue between the sexes, ultimately generating regional and sex-specific fates? Combining molecular and genetic analyses, the Yoder lab will dissect interactions between Abdominal-B, other regulatory proteins and DNA control elements necessary for differential activation and repression of genes critical for regional and sex specific identity. This work will broaden understanding of how subtle differences in gene regulation lead to large-scale differences in form. This award will provide opportunities for several undergraduate students, in addition to graduate researchers, to participate in scientific research and explore the fundamental basis and genetics of organismal development.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。约德实验室研究塑造动物形态的事件的基因控制。动物身体的模式化需要整合遗传信号，这些信号汇聚在发育中身体的其他类似命运的部分，赋予独特的身份。同样，性别特征的发展依赖于基因调控，而基因调控最初会推动生物体中相似的区域沿着截然不同的路径前进。成年果蝇黑腹果蝇的性别特征提供了一个很好的机会来研究最初相似的结构，无论是在单个有机体内还是在性别之间，是如何塑造成它们的最终形式的。重要的是，形成苍蝇模式的许多相同基因在所有动物中都是功能保守的。在果蝇等模式生物中研究这种发育过程，为人类发育遗传学提供了基础知识，并为疾病研究提供了途径。HOX蛋白是一种转录因子，调节许多靶基因的表达，以形成表达它们的身体区域的模式。约德实验室将研究一种名为腹部B的HOX蛋白是如何控制成虫果蝇各部分的区域差异和性别差异的。同样的蛋白质如何导致目标基因在相邻组织和同一组织中的不同性别表达，最终产生地区性和性别特异性的命运？结合分子和遗传分析，约德实验室将剖析腹型B蛋白、其他调控蛋白和DNA控制元件之间的相互作用，这些相互作用是区分激活和抑制对区域和性别特定身份至关重要的基因所必需的。这项工作将扩大对基因调控中的细微差异如何导致形式上的大规模差异的理解。这个奖项将为几个本科生，除了研究生研究人员，提供参与科学研究的机会，并探索有机体发育的基本基础和遗传学。