The Drosophila Ommatidium: a model neural system for cell recruitment and fate specification during development

项目摘要 在高度结构化的器官中，细胞以精确的模式排列，每个细胞占据一个特定的空间。 定位并执行特定功能。因此，在细胞的 的位置和命运。调节位置的机制通常涉及细胞亲和力的变化 和运动的细胞，而命运分配的过程涉及 细胞分化的特定程序的执行。这就提出了一个问题， 在分子水平上，决定位置的机制与决定 命运这项提议使用发育中的小眼果蝇作为模型系统， 研究细胞位置和命运之间的联系。小眼通过募集细胞来精确地 它们在结构中的位置，细胞命运的规格取决于它们接触的细胞。的 受体酪氨酸激酶和Notch信号通路在小眼发育中起关键作用， 在这项工作中，我们测试了这两种途径是否同时控制着细胞的募集和细胞的命运， 规范.具体来说，我们问招募和命运规范步骤是否代表 早期和晚期的信号传递过程。

Project Summary In highly structured organs, cells are arranged in precise patterns with each cell occupying a defined position and performing a specific function. Thus, there is an intimate linkage between a cell’s position and its fate. The mechanisms that regulate position usually involve changes in cell affinities and movement of cells, whereas the processes of fate assignment involve the execution of specific programs of cellular differentiation. This raises the question of how at the molecular level the mechanisms that determine position are integrated with those that determine fate. This proposal uses the developing Drosophila ommatidium as a model system with which to study the linkage between cell position and fate. Ommatidia grow by recruiting cells to precise positions in their structure, and the cell fate specifications depends on the cells they contact. The Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and Notch signaling pathways play key roles in ommatidial development, and in this work we test whether these two pathways control both the recruitment and cell fate specifications. Specifically, we ask whether the recruitment and fate specification steps represent early and late aspects of the same signaling process.