In vivo analysis of the coupling between alternative splicing poly-adenylation and miRNA regulation in the Drosophila Hox gene Ultrabithorax

制造动物的指令都被编码在它紧凑的遗传物质中。这是在细胞核中发现的，以被定义为基因的离散DNA序列的形式。基因被复制成RNA信息，这些信息将在细胞内存活不同的时间，最终被翻译成蛋白质。正是这些蛋白质，在数量合适的情况下，加上它们特殊的酶或结构特性，才真正决定了动物组织和器官的形状和功能。我们可以说基因提供计划和想法，而蛋白质使它们发生。由于同一动物体内的所有细胞都具有完全相同的基因，现代生物学中的一个重要问题是确定RNA信息“如何、何时、何地”被“表达”，从而使它们的最终产物能够控制动物形成的特定方面，例如，腿最终与眼睛和大脑不同。为了研究这个问题，大多数生物学家都把他们的研究集中在基因是如何“开启”的。这就是DNA序列被复制成RNA信息的过程。然而，一旦生成的RNA信息可能会在结构上发生改变（剪接），这可能会使它们存活很长时间或很快被破坏。我的工作集中在能够改变RNA结构的机制上，这样它们就可以更快或更慢地降解。想想看，如果RNA被吃掉了，它就不会产生任何蛋白质，基因就不会为细胞或有机体发挥任何功能。在这个项目中，我将研究一个特定的基因，一个来自果蝇的基因，它的发育功能已经被彻底研究过了。一个多世纪以来，果蝇一直被用作非常有用的实验模型来研究动物是如何构建自身的。这些研究大多提供了重要的想法和信息，以了解动物结构的这些过程如何在包括人类在内的所有其他动物中起作用。

The instructions to build an animal are all encoded in its compact genetic material. This is found in the cell nuclei, in the form of discrete DNA sequences defined as genes. Genes are copied into RNA messages, which will survive for variable times within the cell and finally be translated into proteins. It is the proteins, in the right amount and with their particular enzymatic or structural properties that will actually define the shape and functions of animal tissues and organs. We could say that genes provide the plans and ideas, and proteins make them happen. Since all cells in a given animal have exactly the same genes, an important question in modern biology is to determine 'how, when and where' RNA messages are 'expressed' enabling their final products to control particular aspects of animal formation, so that for example, legs end up being different from eyes and brains. To study this question, most biologists, have concentrated their research on how genes are switched 'ON'. This is how a DNA sequence is copied into an RNA message. However, once made RNA messages can suffer alterations in their structure (splicing) that may make them survive for a long time or be destroyed very quickly. My work is focused precisely on the mechanisms that are able to alter RNA structures so that they may be degraded faster or more slowly. Think that if the RNA is eaten away it will not produce any protein, and the gene will not achieve any function for the cell or the organism. In this project I will study a particular gene, one from the fruitfly, whose developmental function has been thoroughly studied. Fruitflies have been used for over a century as a very useful experimental model to study how animals construct themselves. Most of these studies have provided important ideas and information to understand how these processes of animal construction may work in all other animals, including humans.