PROTEIN DEGRADATION DURING VERTEBRATE EMBRYOGENESIS

泛素介导的蛋白降解途径是调控基因功能的重要机制。尽管与发育控制的一些途径有关，但对胚胎发生过程中受调节的蛋白质降解的作用程度知之甚少。从广义上讲，参与发育的特定基因的错误调控与几种恶性肿瘤有关，因此蛋白质降解很可能具有越来越重要的临床意义。为了探索在发育过程中调节蛋白质降解的功能，我们采用了一种新的方法筛选爪蟾cdna小池，以鉴定在胚胎发育的不同阶段被降解的基因。在我最初的搜索中，我发现Xom。该基因以特定阶段的方式降解，最有可能是通过unbiquitin途径。以前的研究表明Xom。在背腹模式的形成中起重要作用。因此，我们假设Xom的阶段特异性降解。可能对Xom的正确表达很重要。在胚胎发生。在未来的实验中，我们将尝试确定Xom降解的机制，并研究由不可降解的Xor突变体表达引起的任何发育缺陷。在胚胎发生。我们还将继续筛选以特定阶段方式降解的基因，以确定它们在发育过程中是否起重要作用。

Regulated protein degradation by the unbiquitin medicated pathway is emerges as an important mechanism for regulating gene function. Although implicated in few pathways of developmental control, little is known about the extent of the role of regulated protein degradation during embryogenesis. Since broadly speaking, mis-regulation of specific genes involved in development has been implicated in several malignancies, it is likely that protein degradation will have increasing clinical significance. To explore the function of regulate protein degradation during development, we employed a novel method of screening small pools of Xenopus cDNAs to identify genes that are degraded at different stages of embryonic development. In my initial search, I found that Xom., a Xenopus homeobox gene, is degraded in a stage specific manner, most likely through the unbiquitin pathway. Previous studies suggested that Xom. plays am important role in dorsal-ventral pattern formation. Therefore, we hypothesized that the stage specific degradation of Xom. could be important for proper expression of Xom. during embryogenesis. In the future experiments, we will try to identify the mechanism of Xom degradation and study any developmental defects caused by expression of non-degradable mutants of Xor. during embryogenesis. We will also continue to screen genes that are degraded in stage specific manner and determine whether they play important role during development.