Ecdysteroid and Retinoid Receptors in Crustacea: Expressionin Regenerating Limbs

9408342只霍普金斯大学的甲壳类动物在旧的行走腿丢失或受伤时会再生新的行走腿。蜕皮类固醇(无脊椎动物类固醇激素)控制着几乎所有节肢动物的生长，也影响与再生有关的特殊类型的生长。这里提出的研究将调查这些类固醇在螃蟹Uca pugilator腿部再生中的作用。由于螃蟹的再生既涉及细胞分化，也涉及合成代谢活动，这项研究将对这两种截然不同的事件的分子控制产生新的见解。使用我们最近分离的蜕皮激素受体DNA探针，霍普金斯博士将研究再生期间受体的表达模式，以及类固醇激素、其他影响生长的化合物(如维甲酸)及其受体之间的结构/功能关系。由于无脊椎动物的类固醇受体与高等脊椎动物的类固醇受体非常相似，这项研究产生的数据应该可以更好地理解类固醇一般是如何控制和协调复杂的生长现象的。***

9408342 Hopkins Crustaceans regenerate new walking legs when old ones are lost or injured. Ecdysteroids (the invertebrate steroid hormones) which control growth in virtually all arthropods also influence the special kind of growth involved in regeneration. The research proposed here will investigate the role of these steroids in leg regeneration in the crab, Uca pugilator. Since regeneration in crabs involves both cellular differentiation and anabolic activities, this research will yield new insights into the molecular controls of these two very different events. Using our recently isolated DNA probe for the ecdysteroid receptor, Dr. Hopkins will look at the patterns of receptor expression during regeneration and the structural/functional relationships between steroid hormones, other growth-affecting compounds (such as the retinoids), and their receptors. Because steroid receptors of invertebrates are so similar to those of higher vertebrates, the data generated by this research should provide a better understanding of how steroids, in general, control and coordinate the complicated phenomena of growth. ***