Characterization of genetic enhancers of ksr-1 lethality in C. elegans

秀丽隐杆线虫是一种非常强大的遗传模式生物，用于鉴定介导生物体发育复杂性的基因和调控系统。细胞增殖、细胞命运规范和形态发生必须得到适当的协调，这样一个单细胞才能发育成具有多种组织类型的多细胞生物。细胞信号是细胞在发育过程中沟通和协调行动的必要条件。在从蠕虫到人类的后生动物物种中，少数在发育过程中反复使用的信号通路是高度保守的。我们的实验室正在使用秀丽隐杆线虫来了解这种途径在不同的细胞类型和不同的发育阶段是如何被不同地调节的。这样的研究将为我们提供新的范例，通过它我们可以理解发育过程中的信号是如何被调节的。此外，它们还为药物的开发提供了新的潜在药物靶点。

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a very powerful genetic model organism for the identification of genes and regulatory systems that mediate the complexities of organism development. Cell proliferation, cell fate specification and morphogenesis must be properly coordinated such that a single cell can develop into a multicellular organism with many tissue types. Cell signaling is essential for cells to communicate and coordinate their actions during development. A handful signaling pathways are highly conserved across metazoan species from worm to man that are used repeatedly during development. Our lab is using C. elegans to understand how one such pathway is differentially regulated in different cell types and at different stages of development. Such studies will provides us with new paradigms by which we can understand how signaling during development is regulated. Furthermore, they provide new potential drug targets for the development of pharmaceuticals.