一种新型酵母细胞粘附变异的遗传解析及分子机制

细胞粘附是细胞社会性的主要纽带，对生物体正常生理活动的实现及病理活动的演变起重要作用。科学界一直认为酿酒酵母粘附性主要由FLO基因家族决定，但我们最近的研究发现：Amn1可以触发一种完全独立于FLO基因的新型细胞粘附机制。为此，本项目拟整合统计遗传学、进化遗传学的理论分析与表达谱芯片、染色质免疫共沉淀、酵母双杂交等现代高通量实验分析技术，构建该新型细胞粘附行为的遗传调控网络，并阐明该粘附机制的种间进化规律。本项目的实施必将对细胞表面糖蛋白导致粘附的观点予以全新视角的探索研究，开拓和丰富对细胞粘附性的认知；并有助于系统了解病原真菌感染和侵袭宿主的生物过程，提高医学和农业的防治水平。

Cell adhesion provides circuiting links of cells to form the cellular societies, and plays a pivotal role in physiological and pathological functions of the social modules. A dogma has been long held in the literature that the cell adhesion is largely determined by the FLO gene family in S. cerevisiae. Recently, our study has revealed that Amn1 is a novel determinant of cell adhesion, and is independent of the functional pathway of the FLO genes. To establish the molecular mechanism of Amn1 mediated cell adhesion, we proposed here to integrate the analytical powers of statistical genetics and the modern techniques of functional genomics such as expression profiling, chromatin immunoprecipitation, yeast two-hybrid etc. We proposed to create the genetic regulatory network that underlie the Amn1 centered cell adhesion and ultimately to illuminate the inter-species evolutional law in yeast. Accomplishment of this project will open a new window to explore and reveal the novel mechanisms of the adhesion glycoproteins on the cell surface and, in turn, to systematically understand how fungal pathogens infect and invade host cells. The study is highly relevant to improve the efficiency of prophylaxis and treatment in medicine and agriculture.