Molecular Genetics of Cell and Tissue Structure

所有的细胞都有一个独特的形状（形态），这是细胞功能所固有的。血细胞被设计为在液体介质中移动，而肌肉细胞则被优化为在附着的骨骼中进行物理运动。我们正在研究控制细胞形状的机制。我们专注于细胞骨架（细胞骨架）的组成部分，这涉及到形状的调节。我们特别研究了基于肌动蛋白的微丝系统。我们之前已经证明，细胞骨架的两种成分能够控制细胞的结构。此外，我们发现这两种成分的变体（称为同种异构体）用于在细胞的不同部位构建结构。这使我们以一种新的方式来思考细胞和组织的解剖学。在某种程度上，这就像建造一座城市。你创造了不同类型的建筑来适应他们的目的。每座建筑都使用了适合房间和整体建筑结构需求的建筑块组合。在这项研究中，我们建议确定这些类型的构建块之一必须发挥的特定作用，以允许正常的细胞生长和胚胎发育。为此，我们计划改变小鼠的这些基因，然后检查对细胞和组织解剖的影响。这将有助于解剖科学和病理学从描述性学科向实验机械性学科的转变。这反过来又会为病理学家提供一套新的诊断工具，并开发针对细胞骨架特定功能的药物。

All cells have a characteristic shape (morphology), which is intrinsic to cellular function. A blood cell is designed to move in a liquid medium whereas a muscle cell is optimised for physical movement of attached bones. We are studying the mechanisms which control cell shape. We focus on the components of the cell skeleton (cytoskeleton) which are implicated in the regulation of shape. In particular, we study the actin based microfilament system. We have previously shown that two types of these components of the cytoskeleton are able to control the structure of cells. In addition, we have found that variants of these two components (called isoforms) are used to build structures in different parts of cells. This has led us to think about the anatomy of cells and tissues in a new way. In some ways its like building a city. You create different kinds of buildings to suit their purpose. Each building uses a combination of building blocks which suit the structural demands of rooms and the overall building. In this study we are proposing to identify the specific job that one of these types of building blocks must play in order to allow normal cell growth and embryo development. To do this, we plan to change these genes in mice and then examine the impact on cell and tissue anatomy. This promises to contribute to the conversion of anatomical science and pathology from descriptive to experimental-mechanistic disciplines. This in turn will lead to a new tool set of diagnostic agents for the pathologist and the development of drugs which target specific functions of the cytoskeleton.