Effects of Lipids and Mutations on Ca++ Regulation

虽然这项工作将在一种非常简单的单细胞生物上进行，即原生动物草履虫，但它将研究一个非常基本的问题，这个问题对包括人类在内的所有动物细胞都是共同的。这个问题源于膜主要由脂质组成的事实，因此，脂质组成决定了其他膜成分（如膜通道）的性质。通道特性的改变反过来又导致细胞离子代谢的不平衡，这一事件最终导致细胞病理和死亡。Hennessey博士已经证明草履虫中有许多自发突变会影响膜脂的组成。其中一些突变导致钙代谢异常。这些异常可以通过注入野生动物细胞质中突变的原生动物液滴来“治愈”。本研究的目的是找出注射的细胞质中哪一种特殊成分能有效地治疗由突变引起的缺陷。

Although this work will be done on a very simple unicellular organism, the protozoan Paramecium, it will examine a very basic problem which is common to all animal cells, including human ones. The problem stems from the fact that membranes are made up largely by lipids and, therefore, lipid composition determines the properties of other membrane constituents, such as membrane channels. Changes in the properties of the channels results, in turn, in the imbalance of the ion metabolism of cells, an event which ultimately leads to cell pathology and death. Dr. Hennessey has shown that in Paramecium there are a number of spontaneous mutations which affect the composition of membrane lipids. Some of these mutations result in abnormalities of calcium metabolism. These abnormalities can be "cured" by injecting in the mutated protozoa droplets of cytoplasm of wild ones. The objective of this research is to find out which particular constituent of the injected cytoplasm is effective in curing the defect caused by the mutation.