Molecular mechanism for pattern formation

本项目旨在分析细胞间边界形成的分子机制。斑马鱼条纹由两种色素细胞组成：黑素细胞和黄素细胞。我们对色素模式突变体大理进行了分析，该突变体显示出黑素团和黄素团混合的色素模式。我们在teespan3c （teespan3c）蛋白中发现了一个氨基酸取代，它具有将膜蛋白锚定在细胞表面的功能。该突变导致teespan3c蛋白修饰和黑色素细胞迁移活性的缺陷。此外，我们检测到黑素团和叶黄素团之间的排斥相互作用的丧失，导致突变鱼的色素模式混杂。

The purpose of this project is to analyze molecular mechanism of boundary formation between cells. Zebrafish stripe consists of two types of pigment cells, melanophores and xanthophores. We analyzed pigment pattern mutant, dali, which shows intermingled pigment pattern of melanophores and xanthophores. We identified an amino acid substitution in Tetraspanin 3C (Tespan3C) protein which has a function to anchor membrane proteins at cell surface. The mutation caused defects in protein modification of Tespan3C and in cell migration activity of melanophore. Furthermore we detected the loss of repulsive interaction between melanophore and xanthophore, which caused intermingled pigment pattern of the mutant fish.