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的生长和发育都要求体内的细胞具有特殊的功能。细胞特化涉及在不同细胞类型中存在不同的蛋白质(例如，肌肉细胞中的肌肉蛋白质、肝细胞中的肝脏蛋白质等)。在称为翻译的过程中，细胞使用被称为mRNAs的特定信号来产生单独的蛋白质。我们正在研究两种策略，用来控制特定细胞中存在哪些蛋白质。在一种策略中，细胞内特定蛋白质的翻译可以打开或关闭。在另一种策略中，一种蛋白质的产生可以通过mRNA降解来破坏相应的mRNA来阻止。翻译或降解mRNA的决定是由结合mRNAs的蛋白质RNA结合蛋白(RBPs)控制的。本提案中的工作旨在了解限制性商业惯例如何稳定mRNAs并开启其翻译。这些类型的机制在所有多细胞生物体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。我们正在使用一个简单的有机体--果蝇来研究限制性商业惯例在有机体生命的早期阶段是如何受到控制的。由于苍蝇和人类的生长发育方式有许多相似之处，我们的工作也适用于人类。

The growth and development of all multi-celled organismsincluding humansrequires 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 proteinscalled 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 organismthe fruit flyto 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.