Pattern Formation in the Wing of Drosophila

果蝇的翅膀是一种相对简单但高度有序的组织。它包含有限数量的组织学可识别的细胞类型，排列成精确的结构模式。形成一种特定细胞类型的决定大部分是在翅膀成像盘生长的后期阶段做出的，布莱尔博士正在研究这些事件背后的机制。他在这里建议研究机翼静脉的图案化形成问题。具体目标如下：1)分离和鉴定细胞特异性静脉标志物，使他能够详细跟踪静脉形成的过程；筛选已知基因以及新的增强子陷阱系，已经导致分离出专用于前静脉、成熟静脉和后交叉静脉的标记；2)使用这些标记来跟踪不同类别的脉络在发育过程中的变化。新开发的技术将允许对存活和胚胎致命突变的影响进行调查，未来的研究也将利用基因局部过度表达的技术。这些研究的目的是确定脉络形成过程中的关键步骤以及每个步骤所需的基因。还将讨论这些突变的细胞自主性和基因在对构图过程至关重要的细胞-细胞相互作用中所起的作用，3)启动新的和先前表征的静脉-图样基因的遗传和分子表征，以及4)对盘进行外科操作，以便更好地理解静脉构图所需的细胞-细胞相互作用。

The wing of Drosophila is a relatively simple but highly ordered tissue. It contains a limited number of histologically identifiable cell types arranged into a precise pattern of structures. The decision to form a particular cell type is made for the most part during the latter stages of the growth of the wing imaginal disc and Dr. Blair is examining the mechanisms underlying these events. He here proposes to look at the problem of patterned formation of wing veins. The specific aims are as follows: 1) To isolate and characterize cell-specific vein markers which will allow him to follow the process of vein formation in detail; screening known genes as well as new enhancer trap lines, has already led to the isolation of markers which are specific for preveins, mature veins, and the posterior cross vein, 2) To use these markers to follow the effects of different classes of venation mutations during development. Newly developed techniques will allow an investigation of the effects of both viable and embryonic lethal mutations and future studies will also make use of techniques for the localized over expression of genes. The purpose of these studies is to identify critical steps in the venation process and the genes required for each. Also addressed will be issues of cell autonomy of such mutations and the roles played by genes during the cell- cell interactions critical to the patterning process, 3) To initiate the genetic and molecular characterization of novel and previously characterized vein-pattern genes, and 4) To perform surgical manipulations to the disc in order to better understand the cell-cell interactions required for vein patterning.