Genetics of latent zebrafish melanoblasts

成熟组织的生长、修复或维持通常涉及从 干细胞前体。在斑马鱼中，色素图案的黑素细胞由茎支撑 在动物的发育过渡、生长或随后的过程中被招募的细胞 幼虫或成虫的实验性消融。我们的目标是了解 招募干细胞以重新进入发育途径，或者在干细胞处于抑制状态时 不需要。为了达到这个目标，我们将研究黑素细胞干细胞是如何在下列化学物质中分裂的 去除幼虫黑素细胞，并研究遗传上不同的黑素细胞是如何相关的 通过干细胞标记。诱变筛选鉴定出两种黑素细胞再生特异性 突变体，Eartha(Gfptl)和Julie(skev2！2)。我们将调查这些突变是如何阻止 黑素细胞前体的发育，并产生温度依赖的等位基因来评估 它们在黑素细胞干细胞驱动的各种过程中的作用。这些变种人也会让我们 研究不同的前体状态对黑素细胞干细胞的反馈如何保持它 一动不动。最后，我们将继续我们成功的初步筛选，以鉴定新的黑素细胞 再生突变体。 这项工作将对理解调节成体干细胞的作用产生普遍影响。会的 确定在发育过程中或在发育过程中协调干细胞招募的关键基因 动态平衡。了解调节干细胞的机制将有助于指导努力 在体内和体外重建器官，也提供了对生长控制的见解 癌症的机制有缺陷。

The growth, repair or maintenance of mature tissues often involves recruitment of new cells from stem cell precursors. In zebrafish, the melanocytes of the pigment pattern are supported by stem cells that are recruited during developmental transitions, growth of the animal or following experimental ablation in larvae or adults. Our goal is to understand the mechanisms involved in recruiting stem cells to re-enter developmental pathways, or hold stem cells in check when they are not needed. To this goal, we will investigate how melanocyte stem cells divide following chemical ablation of larval melanocytes, and investigate how genetically distinct melanocytes are related through stem cell labeling. Mutagenesis screens have identified two melanocyte regenerationspecific mutants, eartha (gfptl) and Julie (skiv2!2). We will investigate how these mutations block development of melanocyte precursors, and generate temperature-dependent alleles to assess their roles in various melanocyte stem cell driven processes. These mutants will also let us investigate how different precursor states feedback on the melanocyte stem cell to keep it quiescent. Finally, we will continue our successful pilot screen to identify novel melanocyte regeneration mutants. This work will have a general impact in understanding the roles that regulate adult stem cells. It will identify key genes involved in orchestrating recruitment of stem cells during development, or during homeostasis. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate stem cells will help guide efforts to reconstitute organs in vivo and in vitro, and also provide insights into the growth control mechanisms defective in cancer.