Post-transcriptional regulation of development

发育的转录后调控

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-06775
• 负责人: Brill, Julie
• 金额: $ 3.93万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=616508
• 关键词: Post; transcriptional; regulation; development

Production of fertile sperm requires expression of more than 1000 proteins that are needed at different stages of sperm development. For example, some proteins act early in sperm development to ensure the sperm contains the correct number of chromosomes. Other proteins act later in sperm development to form the whip-like tail that propels the sperm towards the egg during fertilization. Despite recent progress in understanding how sperm cells develop, little is known about how proteins are made at the right place and time to form fertile sperm. We recently discovered that a factor called eIF4E-3 controls protein synthesis during sperm development in fruit flies. eIF4E-3 is a member of a conserved family of proteins that regulates initiation of protein synthesis. In the absence of eIF4E-3, some sperm proteins are expressed at lower than normal levels, interfering with cell division and sperm development and causing male sterility. Unexpectedly, knockdown of the canonical eIF4E (eIF4E-1 in flies) resembles loss of eIF4E-3, suggesting eIF4E-3 and eIF4E-1 may regulate similar proteins. However, eIF4E-3 is missing important amino acids, suggesting it may be regulated differently from eIF4E-1. In addition, fruit flies make three other testis-specific eIF4E proteins, eIF4E-4, -5 and -7. The proposed experiments will use a combination of cell biology, genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry to discover the role and regulation of eIF4E-3, determine the roles of the other eIF4Es, and identify target genes regulated by these eIF4Es during sperm development. Our experiments, which will be the first to systematically characterize mechanisms of translational regulation in the fruit fly male germline, will focus on the following specific aims: 1. Analyze the role and regulation of eIF4E-3 in spermatogenesis. We will use fluorescence microscopy to study the defects in eIF4E-3 mutants, and to compare them with loss of eIF4E-1. We will engineer knockouts of eIF4E-4, -5 and -7 and study their roles in spermatogenesis. We will use genetic crosses to test whether eIF4E-3 and eIF4E-1 have overlapping or unique roles, and perform rescue experiments to test the significance of the amino acids that are missing in eIF4E-3. 2. Investigate testis-specific eIF4F complexes and their targets. We will use co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) to identify the protein synthesis complexes present in testes. We will use mass spectrometry to test whether sequence changes in eIF4E-3 affect its regulation. We will carry out RNA co-IPs to identify sets of mRNAs that preferentially associate with each of the five eIF4Es expressed in testes. Significance: Our experiments will reveal the role and mechanism of translational control in fruit fly male germ cell development and will uncover broad principles underlying translational control regulation of key steps in differentiation of specialized cells during animal development.

产生可育精子需要表达1000多种蛋白质，这些蛋白质在精子发育的不同阶段都需要。例如，一些蛋白质在精子发育早期起作用，以确保精子含有正确数量的染色体。其他蛋白质在精子发育的后期形成鞭子状的尾巴，在受精过程中将精子推向卵子。尽管最近在了解精子细胞如何发育方面取得了进展，但人们对蛋白质如何在正确的地点和时间形成可育精子知之甚少。我们最近发现一种叫做eIF4E-3的因子控制着果蝇精子发育过程中的蛋白质合成。eIF4E-3是调节蛋白质合成起始的保守蛋白家族的成员。在缺乏eIF4E-3的情况下，一些精子蛋白的表达水平低于正常水平，干扰细胞分裂和精子发育，导致男性不育。出乎意料的是，规范eIF4E（果蝇中的eIF4E-1）的敲低类似于eIF4E-3的缺失，这表明eIF4E-3和eIF4E-1可能调节类似的蛋白质。然而，eIF4E-3缺少重要的氨基酸，这表明它的调节可能与eIF4E-1不同。此外，果蝇还会产生另外三种睾丸特异性eIF4E蛋白，eIF4E-4、-5和-7。拟开展的实验将结合细胞生物学、遗传学、分子生物学和生物化学，发现eIF4E-3的作用和调控，确定其他eIF4Es的作用，并确定这些eIF4Es在精子发育过程中调控的靶基因。