Regulation and function of a novel fibroblast growth factor early response gene in embryonic development and cell differentiation

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The formation of all living organisms begins with the fertilization of a single cell, the egg. The discipline of developmental biology attempts to define the mechanisms that control how a single egg divides into billions of cells and how each of these cells specializes into the proper tissue type to give rise to a recognizable, fully functional organism. Cells in the embryo receive signals from their surroundings that tell them what to do, when to grow, when to specialize, what tissue to become. Cells pick up these signals, which are then transferred to the inside of the cell through a circuit that ends in the nucleus, the "brain" of the cell.  Upon receiving the signal, the nucleus issues a set of instructions that are translated into the appropriate action.The work in this proposal investigates a natural signal of the body, fibroblast growth factor (FGF), that plays a crucial role in embryonic development.  Recently, we have discovered a new gene, named mi-er1, which is activated when the FGF signal reaches the nucleus; mi-er1 controls activation of other genes and is important for proper development of the embryo.  Our research in this proposal is aimed at uncovering how this new FGF response gene works and how it is regulated. In this way, we will gain information about the molecules that help shape the embryo.