Regulation of actin dynamics by drosophila drak kinase

动物的复杂形态起源于胚胎发育过程中的简单细胞球和细胞片。用于塑造发育中的组织的一个主要机制是以受控和协调的方式改变组织内细胞的形状。单个细胞的形状是由各种丝状蛋白质组成的支架决定的，这些蛋白质在细胞内起着某种框架的作用。这种所谓的细胞骨架的组织是动态的，允许细胞响应适当的发育信号而伸展、扁平或移动。我们的研究兴趣之一是了解细胞骨架动力学如何在发育过程中控制。我们使用果蝇，黑腹果蝇，作为研究这些过程的遗传学上易处理的模式生物。我们一直在描述一种名为Drak的新型蛋白质，它是苍蝇胚胎中多种组织正确形成所必需的。我们已经证明，这种需要是由于它参与了肌球蛋白II的调节，肌球蛋白II是细胞骨架的主要蛋白质组分，与其丝状结合伴侣肌动蛋白一起在细胞内产生拉力或张力。我们目前的研究有两个主要目标。首先是在分子水平上表征Drak如何调节肌球蛋白II，通过确定它如何与已知控制肌球蛋白II活性的其他蛋白质相互作用。第二个是了解这种调节如何有助于在发育过程中塑造组织，通过表征缺乏Drak的突变动物的组织形状如何受到影响。总之，这些研究将提供一个明确的机制理解的作用，德雷克在细胞骨架的调节，这对于正确的生成复杂的形式在动物组织中的重要性。

The complex forms of animals originate from simple balls and sheets of cells during embryonic development. One major mechanism that is used to sculpt developing tissues is to alter the shapes of cells within the tissues in a controlled and coordinated way. The shapes of individual cells are governed by scaffolds made up of various filamentous proteins, which serve a a sort of frame within the cell. The organization of this so-called cytoskeleton is dynamic, allowing cell to, for instance, stretch, flatten or move in response to the appropriate developmental signal. One of our research interests is in understanding how cytoskeleton dynamics are controlled during development. We use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a genetically tractable model organism for studying these processes. We have been characterizing a novel protein called Drak that is required for proper formation of multiple tissues in the fly embryo. We have shown that requirement is due to its involvement in the regulation of Myosin II, a major protein component of the cytoskeleton that together with its filamentous binding partner Actin generates pulling forces, or tension, within cells. Our current research has two major goals. The first is to characterize at a molecular level how Drak regulates Myosin II, by determining how it interacts with other proteins known to control Myosin II activity. The second is to understand how this regulation contributes to shaping tissues during development, by characterizing how tissue shape is affected in mutant animals lacking Drak. Together, these studies will provide a clear mechanistic understanding of the role of Drak in cytoskeleton regulation, and the importance of this for proper generation of complex forms in animal tissues.