Studies on the mechanism on the neuron specific gene expression.

鞭毛系统中存在多种细胞，具有不同的特征功能。这些细胞中的大多数从共同的祖先神经上皮细胞分化而来，迁移到它们定义的位置，形成组织良好的神经系统结构。作为了解这些过程中涉及的分子机制的第一步，我们一直在识别调节神经细胞中特定产生的蛋白质的基因表达的元件。少突胶质细胞标志蛋白髓磷脂碱性蛋白和星形胶质细胞标志蛋白胶质纤维酸性蛋白基因明显被类核因子-1元件(S)激活，而神经元特异性蛋白神经丝基因似乎被下调。髓鞘蛋白脂蛋白(PLP)在空间和时间上与MBP相似，但其基因表达的调控机制似乎与MBP基因截然不同。因此，神经细胞以各种方式激活基因，可能是因为每个基因的表达都必须对环境变化做出精细的反应，才能展示神经系统的复杂功能。

Many kinds of cells are present in the vervous system and exhibit various characteristic functions. Most of these cells differentiate from a common ancestor, neuroepithelial cells, migrate to their defined positions, and form well-organized architecture of the nervous system. As a first step toward understanding molecular mechanisms involved in these processes, we have been identifying the elements which regulate the gene expression of the proteins specifically produced in the neural cells. The genes for myelin basic protein (MBP), an oligodendrocyte marker protein, and glial fibrally acidic protein, an astrocyte marker protein, were apparently activated by NF-1 like element(s), while the gene for neurofilament, a neuron-specific protein, seemed to be de-repressed in neuron. Myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) is produced spacially and timely similar to MBP, however, the regulatory mechanism involved in its gene expression seemed to be quite distinct from that of the MBP gene. Thus, the neural cells activate the genes in various ways, presumably because each gene expression has to finely respond to the environmental change in order to exhibit the complex functions of the nervous system.