A gene regulatory pathway that balances animal survival and proliferation

环境的变化，包括污染，是对动物多样性和人类福祉的主要威胁。转录因子(CNCs)是保护动物免受环境胁迫的基因的主要调节者。理解和预测动物和人类如何应对环境压力将需要对计算机控制系统的规则和功能有详细的了解。遗传模式生物秀丽线虫在研究这些过程方面具有许多实验优势。线虫也是了解线虫生物学的模型，线虫作为寄生虫每年损害800亿美元的农作物，给畜牧业带来负担，并感染全球多达三分之一的人类。线虫只有一个名为SKN-1的计算机控制系统。该项目的目标是1)通过将蛋白质生物化学与活体动物的转基因实验相结合来确定SKN-1在环境胁迫期间是如何调节的，以及2)利用遗传学和分子生物学来识别和表征与SKN-1功能相关的基因。这一新知识将有助于更深入地了解动物如何适应和适应具有挑战性的环境，并将为了解线虫对抗寄生虫药物的防御和宿主免疫反应提供基础。这个项目将教育和培训大学预科、本科生、研究生和博士后水平的学生、教师和科学家。新的概念和想法将通过强化的高级本科课程的压力生物学模块向大约225名主要是医学预科、牙科、兽医和博士生传授。推广计划将向小学生介绍线虫，一个培训模块将向高中教师介绍线虫，作为教育、动物生物学、生物技术和生物医学研究的遗传和分子模型系统。

Changes to the environment including contamination are major threats to animal diversity and human wellbeing. Cap 'n' collar transcription factors (CNCs) are master regulators of genes that protect animals from environmental stress. Understanding and predicting how animals and humans respond to environmental stress will require a detailed understanding of CNC regulation and function. The genetic model organism Caenorhabditis elegans has numerous experimental advantages for studying these processes. C. elegans is also a model for understanding the biology of nematodes, which as parasites damage $80 billion of crops per year, burden animal husbandry, and infect as many as 1/3 of humans world-wide.C. elegans has a single CNC named SKN-1. The objectives of this project are to 1) define how SKN-1 is regulated during environmental stress by combining protein biochemistry with transgenic experiments in live animals and 2) use genetics and molecular biology to identify and characterize genes that function with SKN-1. This new knowledge will facilitate a deeper understanding of how animals acclimate and adapt to challenging environments and will provide a foundation for understanding nematode defenses to anti-parasitic drugs and host-immune responses.This project will educate and train students, teachers, and scientists at the pre-collegiate, undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels. New concepts and ideas will be translated to ~225 largely pre-medical, dental, veterinary, and doctoral students through a stress biology module in an intensive upper level undergraduate course. Outreach programs will introduce primary school students to nematodes and a training module will introduce high-school teachers to C. elegans as a genetic and molecular model system for education, animal biology, biotechnology, and biomedical research.