Regulation and function of a novel fibroblast growth factor early response gene in embryonic development and cell differentiation

所有生物的形成都始于单个细胞——卵子的受精。发育生物学试图定义控制单个卵子如何分裂成数十亿个细胞的机制，以及这些细胞如何特化成适当的组织类型，从而产生一个可识别的、功能齐全的生物体。胚胎中的细胞接收来自周围环境的信号，告诉它们该做什么，何时生长，何时特化，形成什么样的组织。细胞接收这些信号，然后通过一个回路将其传递到细胞内部，该回路的终点是细胞核，即细胞的“大脑”。一旦接收到信号，细胞核就会发出一组指令，这些指令被翻译成适当的动作。本研究研究了人体的一种自然信号，成纤维细胞生长因子（FGF），它在胚胎发育中起着至关重要的作用。最近，我们发现了一个名为mi-er1的新基因，它在FGF信号到达细胞核时被激活；Mi-er1控制其他基因的激活，对胚胎的正常发育很重要。我们在本提案中的研究旨在揭示这种新的FGF反应基因是如何工作的以及它是如何被调节的。通过这种方式，我们将获得有关帮助形成胚胎的分子的信息。

The formation of all living organisms begins with the fertilization of a single cell, the egg. The discipline of developmental biology attempts to define the mechanisms that control how a single egg divides into billions of cells and how each of these cells specializes into the proper tissue type to give rise to a recognizable, fully functional organism. Cells in the embryo receive signals from their surroundings that tell them what to do, when to grow, when to specialize, what tissue to become. Cells pick up these signals, which are then transferred to the inside of the cell through a circuit that ends in the nucleus, the "brain" of the cell.  Upon receiving the signal, the nucleus issues a set of instructions that are translated into the appropriate action.The work in this proposal investigates a natural signal of the body, fibroblast growth factor (FGF), that plays a crucial role in embryonic development.  Recently, we have discovered a new gene, named mi-er1, which is activated when the FGF signal reaches the nucleus; mi-er1 controls activation of other genes and is important for proper development of the embryo.  Our research in this proposal is aimed at uncovering how this new FGF response gene works and how it is regulated. In this way, we will gain information about the molecules that help shape the embryo.