EAGER: New insights into the biology of cell transdifferentiation

EAGER：细胞转分化生物学的新见解

• 批准号: 1936565
• 负责人: Maria Pia Miglietta
• 金额: $ 29.43万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-15 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1936565&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; New; insights; into; biology

The ultimate goal of regenerative research is to replace damaged cells in response to injuries and aging. Transdifferentiation (or cell reprogramming), a process through which a mature somatic cell transforms into a new type of mature somatic cell, can achieve this goal. The mechanisms by which cells spontaneously (in vivo) leave a differentiated state to become a new lineage are poorly understood. This is due to the difficulties in inducing transdifferentiation in live model systems. A new promising approach comes from the cnidarian Turritopsis dohrnii. Most animals reproduce, age, and die. T. dohrnii has escaped this fate. When faced with unfavorable circumstances, the jellyfish of T. dohrnii avoid death by reverting to a younger life cycle stage, the polyp. During the life cycle reversal, which covers a time span of about 24 hours, cell transdifferentiation occurs. These characteristics make T. dohrnii a potential new system for in vivo research on the molecular mechanisms of cell stability and transdifferentiation. This project will produce genomic tools and assess the potential of T. dohrnii as a system for the study of in vivo cellular differentiation. The research has three objectives: 1) Produce transcriptome assembly and annotation of T. dohrnii. 2) Produce a hybrid draft genome assembly and annotation of T. dohrnii. 3) Conduct differential gene expression analyses of life cycle stages of T. dohrnii. The genomic tools (draft genome and transcriptome assembly) will be crucial steps toward facilitating the development of genome editing tools. The differential gene expression analyses will provide insight on the specific genes that are associated with the mechanisms of cellular transdifferentiation that occur during the reverse development of T. dohrnii. This project supports outreach activities and the creation of a portal that will contain information, up to date research, useful links to scientific literature, pictures, and a high-definition video of T. dohrnii's life cycle reversal. With numerous unscientific and inaccurate websites on "the immortal jellyfish" these activities aim to populate the Internet with reliable information and visual products on T. dohrnii.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

再生研究的最终目标是替换受损细胞以应对损伤和衰老。转分化（或细胞重编程），一个过程，通过它一个成熟的体细胞转化成一种新类型的成熟体细胞，可以实现这一目标。细胞自发（体内）离开分化状态成为新谱系的机制知之甚少。这是由于在活模型系统中诱导转分化的困难。一种新的有希望的方法来自刺胞动物Turritopsis dohrnii。大多数动物繁殖、衰老和死亡。T. dohrnii逃脱了这一命运。当面临不利的环境时，T。dohrnii通过恢复到生命周期的一个更年轻的阶段，息肉来避免死亡。在生命周期逆转期间，其覆盖约24小时的时间跨度，发生细胞转分化。这些特性使T. dohrnii是一个潜在的新系统，用于在体内研究细胞稳定性和转分化的分子机制。该项目将产生基因组工具并评估T. Dohrnii作为研究体内细胞分化的系统。本研究有三个目的：1）进行T. dohrnii。2)构建了T. dohrnii。3)进行不同生活史阶段的差异基因表达分析。dohrnii。基因组工具（基因组草图和转录组组装）将是促进基因组编辑工具开发的关键步骤。差异基因表达分析将为T. dohrnii。该项目支持推广活动和创建一个门户网站，其中包含信息，最新研究，科学文献，图片和T的高清视频的有用链接。dohrnii的生命周期逆转。通过大量不科学和不准确的关于“不朽的水母”的网站，这些活动旨在向互联网提供可靠的信息和视觉产品。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。