Pilot grant to determine the transcription factor code that specifies CiA interneurons

在这项为期一年的研究资助中，我们将确定哪些基因参与了斑马鱼胚胎中特定的脊髓神经细胞群，称为CiAs。CiAs的产生和功能与哺乳动物的V1神经细胞非常相似，因此我们的发现也应该与人类有关。这项研究很重要，因为我们越了解不同神经元是如何形成的，我们就越有可能开发出治疗神经系统疾病或脊髓损伤的方法。例如，一旦我们知道哪些基因指定特定的神经元，我们就可以利用这些信息来指导干细胞生长成这些神经元。我们将利用斑马鱼胚胎的细胞生物学和遗传学来识别活胚胎中的CiAs，并确定哪些基因控制它们的特定特征（例如神经细胞的形状、它与哪些其他神经细胞进行通讯以及它用来通讯的化学物质）。我们已经确定了两个基因，这两个基因对于指导CiAs获得其特定特征非常重要。这些基因编码转录因子（负责打开和关闭其他基因的蛋白质）。在这个为期一年的项目中，我们的目标是识别CiAs中存在的所有其他转录因子，以便我们可以开始分析它们在制造这些神经细胞中的单独和组合功能。

In this one-year research grant we will determine which genes are involved in making a specific population of spinal cord nerve cells, called CiAs, in zebrafish embryos. CiAs are made, and function in very similar ways to V1 nerve cells in mammals, so our findings should also be relevant to humans. This research is important because the more we learn about how different neurons are made, the more likely we are to be able to develop treatments for neurological diseases or spinal cord injuries. For example, once we know which genes specify particular neurons we can use this information to instruct stem cells to grow into those neurons.We will exploit the cell biology and genetics of zebrafish embryos to identify CiAs in live embryos and determine which genes control their particular characteristics (e.g. shape of the nerve cell, what other nerve cells it communicates with and the chemicals that it uses to communicate). We have already identified two genes that are important for instructing CiAs to acquire their particular characteristics. These genes encode transcription factors (proteins that are responsible for turning other genes on and off). IIn this one-year project, we aim to identify all of the other transcription factors that are present in CiAs, so that we can start to analyse their individual and combined functions in making these nerve cells.