Characterization of the cichlid orange blotch mutant

描述（由申请人提供）：利用多能干细胞的再生疗法有望治疗各种病理状况。然而，在发育过程中与成年生物体中参与组织再生的祖细胞相比，决定组织生长、模式化和体内平衡的机制在很大程度上仍然未知。鱼的色素图案是一个有吸引力的模型系统，直接可视化机制的图案在成年人，因为鱼经历幼虫到成年人的变态，涉及到色素细胞群体的生长和组织的变化，以及再生鳍的能力，允许检查色素细胞生物学在组织再生。该研究旨在描述自然发生的慈鲷鱼橙子斑点突变体的特征。色素细胞迁移和分化将在成体发育和再生过程中使用空间和时间分析进行比较分析，以及基于原位的分化状态与谱系标志物的表征。此外，橙子斑点基因将被确定在以前的映射间隔使用定向映射方法和候选基因分析。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Regenerative therapy utilizing pluripotent stem cells holds promise for treatment of a variety of pathological conditions. However, the mechanisms that determine the growth, patterning, and homeostasis of tissue from progenitor cells during development versus those involved in tissue regeneration in an adult organism remain largely unknown. Pigment pattern in fishes represents an attractive model system to directly visualize mechanisms of patterning in adults, since fish undergo larval to adult metamorphosis that involves changes in growth and organization of pigment cell populations, and the capacity to regenerate fins permits examination of pigment cell biology during tissue regeneration. The proposed research aims to characterize the naturally occurring cichlid fish orange blotch mutant. Pigment cell migration and differentiation will be comparatively analyzed during adult development and regeneration using spatial and temporal analysis, as well as in situ-based characterization of differentiation state with lineage markers. Also, the orange blotch gene will be identified within the previously mapped interval using a directed mapping approach and candidate gene analysis.