Cellular mechanisms of amphibian metamorphosis

甲状腺激素调节生长、发育和新陈代谢。尽管这些激素对包括人类在内的所有脊椎动物都很重要，但这些激素的不同影响的最好例子是青蛙的正常胚胎后发育，在这个过程中，甲状腺激素触发蝌蚪变态为幼蛙。由于期待从水生食草动物转变为陆生食肉动物，蝌蚪的身体结构发生了显着的变化。几乎所有的蝌蚪组织都对甲状腺激素敏感(例如，尾巴消失、皮肤增厚、肝脏重新编程和嗅觉系统重建)，但除了组织类型外，反应还取决于甲状腺激素的种类。我的研究项目专注于了解组织反应的差异是如何产生的。我们假设存在导致这些差异的特定基因，我们将识别它们，并检查控制它们如何工作的分子开关。废水、药品和个人护理产品中的环境污染物会干扰甲状腺激素的作用。因此，了解组织依赖的甲状腺激素调节是如何发挥作用的，对于识别特别敏感的组织以减少其对人类和动物的有害影响非常重要。

Thyroid hormones regulate growth, development, and metabolism. Although important in all vertebrates including humans, the best example of the diverse effects of these hormones is the normal postembryonic development of the frog where thyroid hormones trigger tadpole metamorphosis into a juvenile frog. Tadpoles undergo remarkable remodeling of the body plan in anticipation of the transition from an aquatic plant-eater to a terrestrial carnivore. Virtually all tadpole tissues are sensitive to thyroid hormones (for e.g. the tail disappears, the skin thickens, the liver reprograms, and the olfactory system remodels) but the response is determined by the kind of thyroid hormone in addition to the tissue type. My research program focuses on understanding how the differences in tissue responses come about. We hypothesize that there are specific genes that contribute to these differences and we will identify them and examine the molecular switches that control how they work. Environmental contaminants in wastewater, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products can interfere with thyroid hormone action. Hence understanding how tissue-dependent thyroid hormone regulation works is important to identify particularly sensitive tissues to reduce their deleterious impact on humans and animals.