母源背方决定因子Hwa功能及其定位调控机制研究

Spemann 组织者是指导脊椎动物胚胎细胞命运分化和背方体轴发育的信号活性中心，解析Spemann组织者生成的母源控制机制是发育生物学研究领域的重大问题之一。我们最近鉴定了一个新的母源因子Hwa在非洲爪蛙和斑马鱼Spemann组织者生成以及背方体轴发育中发挥既充分又必要的作用，为了进一步确定Hwa作为母源背方决定因子的功能，本申请项目计划在非洲爪蛙为主要模式系统，结合受体转移技术和多种分子生物学实验方案，重点探索母源Wnt11b/Lrp6信号通路与Hwa在诱导Spemann组织者生成和决定背方体轴发育中的相互依存关系。

Spemann organizer is essential for mebyonic cell differentiaiton and body axis formation in vertebrates. It is a fundamentally important to understand how the maternal dorsal determinants work to induce Spemann organizer formation and consequently determine dorsal body axis. Recently we characterized a novel maternal gene Hwa (Huluwa) that is a compoent of the long-sought after maternal determinants both necessary and sufficent for the dorsal axia formation. In order to know how the maternal Wnt signaling represented by Wnt11b and Lrp6 interacts with Hwa, we combine the unqiue host transfer technique with muyltiple lines of molecular techniques to study the potential control of Hwa mRNA localization or expression by the maternal Wnt signaling in Xenopus.