The Drosophila Ommatidium: a model neural system for cell recruitment and fate specification during development

项目摘要 在高度结构化的器官中，细胞以精确的模式排列，每个细胞占据一个定义的 定位并执行特定的功能。因此，细胞之间存在密切的联系 地位及其命运。调节位置的机制通常涉及细胞亲和力的变化。 和细胞的移动，而命运分配的过程涉及 执行特定的细胞分化程序。这就提出了一个问题，即如何在 分子水平决定位置的机制与决定位置的机制是集成的 命运。该方案使用发育中的小果蝇作为模型系统，用于 研究细胞位置和命运之间的联系。小眼是通过精确地招募细胞生长的 细胞在其结构中的位置，以及细胞命运的规格取决于它们接触的细胞。这个 受体酪氨酸激酶和Notch信号通路在眼部发育中起关键作用。 在这项工作中，我们测试了这两条途径是否同时控制着招募和细胞命运 规格。具体地说，我们询问招聘和命运指定步骤是否代表 同一信号传递过程的早期和晚期。

Project Summary In highly structured organs, cells are arranged in precise patterns with each cell occupying a defined position and performing a specific function. Thus, there is an intimate linkage between a cell’s position and its fate. The mechanisms that regulate position usually involve changes in cell affinities and movement of cells, whereas the processes of fate assignment involve the execution of specific programs of cellular differentiation. This raises the question of how at the molecular level the mechanisms that determine position are integrated with those that determine fate. This proposal uses the developing Drosophila ommatidium as a model system with which to study the linkage between cell position and fate. Ommatidia grow by recruiting cells to precise positions in their structure, and the cell fate specifications depends on the cells they contact. The Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and Notch signaling pathways play key roles in ommatidial development, and in this work we test whether these two pathways control both the recruitment and cell fate specifications. Specifically, we ask whether the recruitment and fate specification steps represent early and late aspects of the same signaling process.