The regulation of epithelial tissue structure in Drosophila

基因组测序已经确定了制造动物所需的所有蛋白质。然而，我们才刚刚开始了解这些蛋白质如何共同发挥作用来做到这一点。人体中最常见的组织结构是构成我们皮肤和器官的细胞片。蛋白质是如何组织这些薄片形成皮肤、肺、心脏或胃的？我的实验室正在使用果蝇作为一个简单的模型系统来解决这个基本问题。我们可以使用苍蝇体内强大的基因技术来扰乱蛋白质功能，并识别对组织发育至关重要的蛋白质。我们将其与先进的成像技术结合起来，以监测组织的形成，并评估扰乱蛋白质功能的影响。通过这种方式，我们正在发现共同作用的蛋白质，这些蛋白质可以引起组织结构的特定变化。通过将一组蛋白质与特定的组织变化联系起来，组织变化的分子基础将被确定，从而基因组和整个动物之间的联系将变得清晰。这对于了解组织是如何正常形成的，以及了解它们在癌症等疾病中是如何分解的很重要。它也与组织和器官的工程学有关。

Genome sequencing has identified all of the proteins required for making an animal. However, we are just beginning to understand how these proteins function together to do so. The most common tissue architecture in the body are the sheets of cells that form our skin and organs. How do proteins organize these sheets to form the skin, lungs, heart or stomach? My lab is addressing this fundamental question using the fruit fly as a simple model system. We can use the powerful genetic techniques available in the fly to disrupt protein function and to identify proteins important for tissue development. We couple this with advanced imaging techniques to monitor the tissues as they form and to assess the effects of disrupting protein functions. In this way, we are discovering the proteins that work together to elicit specific changes in tissue structure. By linking sets of proteins to specific tissue changes, the molecular bases of tissue changes will be defined, and thus the links between the genome and the whole animal will become clear. This is important for understanding how tissues form normally, and for understanding how they break down in diseases like cancer. It is also relevant to the engineering of tissues and organs.