Novel functions of the Drosophila Hox gene Ultrabithorax in central nervous system development

果蝇Hox基因Ultrabithorax在中枢神经系统发育中的新功能

• 批准号: 265672880
• 负责人: Dr. Ana Rogulja-Ortmann
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Centre for Organismal Studies (COS)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/265672880?language=en
• 关键词: Novel; functions; Drosophila; Hox; gene

Understanding the morphological and functional diversity of the central nervous system (CNS), which allows fulfillment of diverse regional requirements for control of locomotion, feeding, respiration and reproduction, and how this diversity arises during development is one of the fundamental challenges in biology. Homeotic genes encode one important class of transcription factors that regulate cell diversity along the anterior-posterior body axis. However, the functions that these genes exert during development of the CNS are largely unknown. The fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster is a widely used model organism for research in developmental biology. In the proposed project, functions of the homeotic gene Ultrabithorax in differentiating neurons of the Drosophila embryonic CNS will be investigated by means of an RNAi-mediated knock-down of Ubx specifically in various subsets of differentiating neurons. In addition, potential Ubx interaction partners identified in a previously performed yeast-two-hybrid screen will be verified further and the significance of the interaction with Ubx for CNS development investigated.

了解中枢神经系统（CNS）的形态和功能多样性，以及这种多样性是如何在发育过程中产生的，这是生物学的基本挑战之一。中枢神经系统允许实现控制运动、摄食、呼吸和繁殖的不同区域需求。同卵异体基因编码一类重要的转录因子，这些转录因子沿着身体的前后轴调节细胞的多样性。然而，这些基因在中枢神经系统发育过程中发挥的功能在很大程度上是未知的。黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）是一种广泛应用于发育生物学研究的模式生物。在本项目中，我们将通过rnai介导的Ubx在不同分化神经元亚群中的特异性敲除，来研究同源基因Ultrabithorax在果蝇胚胎中枢神经系统分化神经元中的功能。此外，在之前进行的酵母-双杂交筛选中确定的潜在Ubx相互作用伙伴将得到进一步验证，并研究与Ubx相互作用对中枢神经系统发育的意义。