FUNCTION OF FFA-1/WRN, XBLM AND REPLICATION FOCI

本实验室的研究是为了研究真核细胞如何维持其 基因组。正常细胞可以忠实地传递它们的基因 信息。当细胞失去这种能力时，就像在许多 人类遗传病、二次突变会频繁出现。 这些突变中的大多数会对细胞有害，并导致早期 衰老。然而，一些突变可能激活癌基因或使其失去活性。 肿瘤抑制基因和癌症最终会进化。这个 这里提出的实验旨在将青蛙卵提取液用作 研究蛋白质FFA-1结构和功能的模型系统 在染色质上组织复制焦点所需的。 具体地说，FFA-1将从鸡蛋提取物中耗尽，其影响 将对DNA复制进行评估。这些研究将揭示新奇的 关于如何维持基因组稳定性的信息，可以使用 设计新的抗癌药物和/或延缓癌症的药物 老化过程。

The research in this lab is to study how eukaryotic cells maintain their genomes. Normal cells can faithfully transmit their genetic information. When cells lose this ability, as having been found in many human genetic diseases, secondary mutations would frequently arise. Most of these mutations will be deleterious to cells and cause early senescence. However, some mutations may activate oncogenes or inactive tumor suppressor genes and cancer will eventually evolve. The experiments proposed here are designed to use the frog egg extract as a model system to study the structure and function of FFA-1, a protein required for the organization of replication foci on chromatin. Specifically, FFA-1 will be depleted from egg extracts and the effect on DNA replication will be assessed. These studies will reveal novel information on how genomic stability is maintained, which may be used to for the design of new anti-cancer drugs and/or drugs that delay the aging process.