Cellular mechanisms of amphibian metamorphosis

甲状腺激素调节生长、发育和新陈代谢。虽然对包括人类在内的所有脊椎动物都很重要，但这些激素的多种影响的最好例子是青蛙正常的胚胎后发育，甲状腺激素触发蝌蚪蜕变为幼年青蛙。蝌蚪在从水生食草动物转变为陆生食肉动物的过程中，经历了显著的身体重塑。几乎所有蝌蚪的组织都对甲状腺激素敏感（例如尾巴消失，皮肤变厚，肝脏重组，嗅觉系统重塑），但除了组织类型外，这种反应还取决于甲状腺激素的种类。我的研究项目侧重于了解组织反应的差异是如何产生的。我们假设有特定的基因导致了这些差异，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，了解组织依赖性甲状腺激素调节的工作原理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.