Determining the functional order of Wnt signalling components

在发育过程中，细胞群通过一个细胞分泌的蛋白质信使相互交流，并与邻近细胞的受体结合。一个重要的蛋白质信使家族被称为Wnts（发音为wints）。当接收到信息后，响应的细胞会启动细胞核中的一些基因，这些基因反过来会改变生长和细胞类型等过程。细胞内将Wnt信号从细胞表面传递到细胞核的连接非常重要，因为它们控制着信号如何被放大并瞄准正确的基因。提出的研究将使用一种方法来顺序连接Wnt信号组件在细胞内的功能。基本的想法是使用一种非常敏感的细胞，当Wnt信号在细胞核中活跃时，这种细胞就会发出一束光。然后，我们使用一种称为RNAi的新方法来去除可能是Wnt连接组件的蛋白质。如果蛋白质是必需的，那么光的爆发就会消失。这个问题一遍又一遍地被问到，许多基因使用机器人来加速这一过程。我们可以询问Wnt信号传导是否需要以及需要多少基因，一旦我们知道哪些蛋白质参与了Wnt通路，我们就可以研究它们是如何工作的以及它们是如何控制动物发育的。

During development, groups of cells communicate with each other using protein messengers that are secreted from one cell and bind to receptors on neighbouring cells. One important family of protein messengers are called Wnts (pronounced wints). When the message is received, the responding cell switches on a number of genes in its nucleus that in turn bring about changes to processes such as growth and cell type. The connections inside the cell that transmit the Wnt signal from the cell surface to the nucleus are very important since they control how the signal is amplified and aimed at the right genes. The proposed research will use a method to the order in which connecting Wnt signalling components function inside the cell. The basic idea is to use a very sensitive cells that have been engineered to send out a burst of light when the Wnt signal is active in the nucleus. We then use a new method called RNAi to remove proteins that might be Wnt connecting components. If the protein IS required, the burst of light will be lost. This question is asked again and again for many genes using robots to speed up the process. We can ask whether and how many genes are required for Wnt signalling Once we know which proteins are involved in the Wnt pathway, we can study how they work and how they control animal development.