Slik as a novel Rho GTPase effector in tissue dynamics and growth

细胞间的局部通讯对胚胎组织的正常生长起着重要的控制作用。利用果蝇作为遗传模式生物，我们一直在研究一种名为Slik的蛋白质在这种局部生长控制中所起的作用。有趣的是，当苍蝇发育中的翅膀中的一组细胞中的Slik水平增加时，它会刺激邻近的细胞分裂。我们正在努力确定这是如何运作的。与一位合作者一起，我们发现了一种蛋白质，属于一种名为GTP酶的蛋白质，通常通过与细胞中的Slik结合的蛋白质细丝的“细胞骨架”来组织细胞结构。目前尚不清楚这种名为Rho1的蛋白质对生长组织中的Slik功能有什么影响，反之亦然。我们建议使用细胞中的一系列生化测试和苍蝇的遗传测试来揭示这两种蛋白质结合的重要性，并使用一种强大的新技术来识别细胞中相互作用的蛋白质，以寻找其他与Slik结合并可能对其功能重要的蛋白质。由于人类也有类似Slik和Rho1的蛋白质，我们在苍蝇身上的工作将为我们提供重要的见解，了解控制我们体内组织生长的机制之一。

Local communication between cells plays an important role in controlling the normal growth of tissues in embryos. Using the fruit fly as a genetic model organism, we have been studying the role that a protein called Slik plays in such local control of growth. Interestingly, when the levels of Slik in one group of cells in the developing wing of a fly are increased, it stimulates neighbouring cells to divide. We are trying to determine how this works. With a collaborator, we have identified a protein belonging to a class of proteins called GTPases, often implicated in organizing cell structure through a “cytoskeleton” of protein filaments, that binds to Slik in cells. What effect this protein, called Rho1, has on Slik function in growing tissues and vice versa is not known. We propose to use a series of biochemical tests in cells and genetic tests in flies to uncover the importance of the binding of these two proteins, and to use a powerful new technique for identifying interacting proteins in cells to find other proteins that bind Slik and may be important for its function. Because humans also have Slik and Rho1-like proteins, our work in flies will provide important insights into one of the mechanisms controlling tissue growth in us.