Regulation of actin dynamics by drosophila drak kinase

动物的复杂形式起源于胚胎发育过程中简单的球状和片状细胞。用来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。单个细胞的形状由各种丝状蛋白质组成的支架控制，这些蛋白质在细胞内起到一种框架的作用。这种所谓的细胞骨架的组织是动态的，允许细胞例如伸展、扁平或移动，以响应适当的发育信号。我们的研究兴趣之一是了解细胞骨架动力学在发育过程中是如何控制的。我们用果蝇--黑腹果蝇--作为研究这些过程的遗传易驯化的模式生物。我们一直在鉴定一种名为Drak的新型蛋白质，它是苍蝇胚胎中多种组织正常形成所必需的。我们已经证明，这一要求是因为它参与了肌球蛋白II的调节，肌球蛋白II是细胞骨架的主要蛋白质成分，与其丝状结合伙伴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。第一个是通过确定Drak如何与其他已知的控制肌球蛋白II活性的蛋白质相互作用，在分子水平上描述Drak如何调控肌球蛋白II。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是如何受到影响的。总之，这些研究将提供一个明确的机制了解DRK在细胞骨架调节中的作用，以及这对在动物组织中适当地产生复杂形式的重要性。

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.