Control of mRNA stability and translation by G3BP RNA-binding proteins

包括人类在内的所有多细胞生物体的生长和发育都要求体内的细胞具有特定的功能。 细胞特化涉及不同细胞类型中不同蛋白质的存在（例如，肌肉细胞中的肌肉蛋白，肝细胞中的肝蛋白等）。 细胞在一个称为翻译的过程中使用称为mRNA的特定信号产生单个蛋白质。 我们正在研究两种用于控制特定细胞中存在哪些蛋白质的策略。在一种策略中，可以打开或关闭细胞内特定蛋白质的翻译。 在另一种策略中，可以通过mRNA降解破坏相应的mRNA来阻断蛋白质的产生。翻译或降解mRNA的决定是由蛋白质控制的-称为RNA结合蛋白（RBP）-结合mRNA。该提案中的工作旨在了解RBP如何稳定mRNA并启动其翻译。这些类型的机制在所有多细胞生物的整个生命周期中发挥作用，并在发育的最早阶段发挥特别突出的作用。我们正在使用一种简单的有机体-果蝇-来研究在有机体生命的最早阶段如何控制RBP。由于苍蝇和人类的生长和发育有许多相似之处，我们的工作也适用于人类。

The growth and development of all multi-celled organisms—including humans—requires that cells within the body adopt specialized functions. Cell specialization involves the presence of different proteins in different cell types (e.g. muscle proteins in muscle cells, liver proteins in liver cells, etc.). Cells produce individual proteins using specific signals known as mRNAs in a process called translation. We are studying two strategies that are employed to control which proteins are present in any particular cell. In one strategy, translation of specific proteins within a cell can be turned on or off. In the other strategy, the production of a protein can be blocked by destroying the corresponding mRNA via mRNA degradation. The decision to translate or degrade an mRNA is controlled by proteins—called RNA-binding proteins (RBPs)—that bind mRNAs. The work in this proposal is aimed at understanding how RBPs stabilize mRNAs and turn on their translation. These types of mechanisms function throughout the life span of all multi-celled organisms and play particularly prominent roles during the earliest stages of development. We are using a simple organism—the fruit fly—to study how RBPs are controlled during the earliest stages of the organism's life. Since there are many similarities between how flies and humans grow and develop, our work is applicable to humans.