NITRIC OXIDE AND DROSOPHILA DEVELOPMENT

本研究的目的是了解一氧化氮（NO）在生物体发育中的作用。 NO是一种可扩散的多功能第二信使，参与动物的多种生理功能。 近年来，NO已成为细胞增殖、细胞分化和动物发育的重要因子。 我们的研究表明，NO在生物体发育过程中作为抗增殖剂，调节细胞增殖和分化之间的平衡，并最终控制发育中果蝇组织和器官的形状和大小。 这一建议将测试的假设，NO是一个一般的调节细胞增殖和分化在生物体发育和形态发生。 我们将联合收割机遗传学和分子生物学方法相结合来研究NO的作用机制。 我们将寻找dNOS基因座的突变。 这些突变将为dNOS基因发生特异性遗传病变和筛选dNOS基因伴侣提供起点。我们将对果蝇发育过程中的一氧化氮合酶（NOS）基因进行分子结构分析，并在果蝇基因组中寻找其他NOS基因。 我们将阐明能够抑制NOS活性的发育调节亚型的生物学功能，并寻找与NOS相互作用的其他基因。最近，我们已经证明，NO相互作用与视网膜母细胞瘤途径，以控制眼睛的发展在果蝇，在这里，我们建议研究NOS和细胞周期机制的组件之间的遗传和分子相互作用。

The overall goal of this project is to understand the function of nitric oxide (NO) in organism development. NO is a diffusible multifunctional second messenger implicated in numerous physiological functions in animals. Recently NO has emerged as an important factor in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and animal development. Our studies have shown that NO acts as an antiproliferative agent during organism development, regulating the balance between cell proliferation and differentiation, and, ultimately, controlling the shape and size of tissues and organs in the developing Drosophila. This proposal will test the hypothesis that NO is a general regulator of cell proliferation and differentiation during organism development and morphogenesis. We will combine genetic and molecular approaches to study the mechanisms of NO action. We will search for mutations in the dNOS locus. Such mutations will provide a starting point to develop specific genetic lesions in dNOS gene and to perform screens for genetic partners of dNOS. We will characterize the molecular organization of the isolated NO synthase (NOS) genes involved in Drosophila development, and we will search for other NOS gene(s) in Drosophila genome. We will elucidate the biological functions of the developmentally regulated isoforms which are capable of inhibiting NOS activity, and we will search for other genes that interact with NOS. Recently, we have demonstrated that NO interacts with the retinoblastoma pathway to control eye development in Drosophila, and here we propose to study genetic and molecular interactions between NOS and the components of the cell cycle machinery.