Mechanism that make a positional information in the animal body

为了正确地完成动物的形态发生，胚胎中的细胞必须知道它们在哪里。1952年，图灵提出了一个划时代的数学模型来回答这个问题。他的想法被称为反应-扩散模型，解释了动物体内位置信息的自主创造。尽管该模型在数学上很美，但由于缺乏生物学证据，40多年来几乎没有实验生物学家关注过该模型。1995年，我们(Kondo Et Al)发现，某些鱼类的图案变化可以用图灵模型来预测，这是图灵图案在生物学领域的第一个可靠证据。在本研究项目中，我们旨在鉴定假设的分子反应的分子同一性。为了了解海洋天使鱼皮肤中发现的现象有多普遍，我们研究了其他鱼类和其他脊椎动物皮肤模式变化的时间过程。我们发现，几种鱼、青蛙、蜥蜴的皮肤图案都按照图灵模型预测的方式发生了变化。脊椎动物的皮肤图案很可能是由共同的机制--反应-扩散系统形成的。为了获得斑马鱼皮肤花纹的遗传控制信息，我们在斑马鱼的皮肤花纹突变系之间进行了杂交，其中一个重要的结果来自于豹基因突变体的杂交。通过基于图灵模型的计算机模拟，可以预测等位基因和杂交种的所有不同皮肤图案。豹基因肯定是图灵反应的核心成分之一。我们现在正计划分离该基因。最近我们发现，一些有机溶剂的刺激可以改变叉尾鱼的皮肤图案。这一发现使直接找到影响反应扩散的化学物质成为可能。

To accomplish animal morphogenesis correctly, cells in the embryo must know where they are. In 1952, Turing presented an epoch-making mathematical model to answer the question. His idea, called the reaction-diffusion model, explains the autonomous creation of the positional information in the animal body. In spite of the mathematical beauty of the model, few experimental biologists had paid attentions to the model for more than 40 years because of the lack of biological evidence. In 1995, we (Kondo et al) have found that the pattern alteration of some fish is predictable by the Turing model, that is the first reliable evidence for the Turing pattern in the field of biology. In this research project, we aimed to identify the molecular identity of the hypothetical molecular reaction.Results1. To know how general is the phenomena found in the skin of marine angelfish (Pomacanthus), we investigate the time course of the skin pattern alteration with some other fish and other vertebrates. We found that the several species of fish, frog, lizart have skin patterns changing in the manner that Turing's model predicts. It is highly possible that skin patterns of vertebrates are made by the common mechanism, the reaction-diffusion system.2. To get the information about the genetic control of the skin pattern of zebrafish, we made the hybrid fish between the skin pattern mutant lines.One of the significant results came from the crosses of leopard gene mutants. All the different skin patterns of the alleles and hybrids are predictable by the computer simulation based on the Turing model. The leopard gene must be one of the core element of the Turing reaction. We are now planning to isolate the gene.3. Recently we found that the skin pattern of a catfish (plecostoms) can be changed by the stimulation of some organic solvents. This finding makes it possible to find directly the chemicals that affect the reaction-diffusion.